Greensboro's City Council approved a roughly $260 million contract with the Haskell Company to remove PFAS from drinking water at the Mitchell Water Treatment Plant. The project uses granular activated carbon contactors, large concrete basins packed with about 15 feet of carbon, to filter forever chemicals from water drawn from Lake Brandt and Lake Townsend. City officials expect construction to wrap up in 2029. The vote comes as PFAS contamination drives new treatment spending across the country. EPA data cited in the article suggests about 176 million Americans drink tap water with PFAS. Other utilities are taking different paths: Fairfax Water is weighing a cheaper powdered activated carbon alternative, while Tucson Water retired more than 40 wells instead of building new filtration. Greensboro's project is one of the larger GAC commitments so far. North Carolina is backing similar work with state funding. The Local Government Commission approved more than $814 million in water and wastewater financing in August, and smaller systems like Siler City are relying on state grants for their own $20 million GAC project. For Greensboro ratepayers, the open question is how much of the $260 million lands on their bills.
