Yes, if the house is on Cape Fear Public Utility Authority water. CFPUA has run granular activated carbon filters at its Sweeney plant since 2022, those filters remove PFAS to levels at or near non-detection, and the authority reported outperforming every federal and state drinking water standard in 2025.
The reason people ask is GenX. The lower Cape Fear River carries PFAS, including the compound known as GenX, from decades of discharges at the Chemours Fayetteville Works plant upriver. That story broke in 2017, it made national news, and it still shapes how people outside the region think about Wilmington water. If you are relocating here, you almost certainly read about it before you read anything else.
What changed is the treatment. The utility that serves most of Wilmington and New Hanover County spent years and a great deal of money building filtration for exactly this problem, and it has been running for four years. That does not make the river clean. It makes the water coming out of your tap different from the water in the river.
What CFPUA actually treats for, and what it reports
In 2022 CFPUA brought new granular activated carbon filters online at the Sweeney Water Treatment Plant. In the authority’s own words, those filters “consistently remove PFAS to levels at or near non-detection.” CFPUA publishes its regular PFAS sampling results on its website, which means you do not have to take anyone’s summary for it, including ours.
- Granular activated carbon filters came online at the Sweeney plant in 2022 CFPUA drinking water quality page, read September 2026
- CFPUA tests for more than 150 potential contaminants CFPUA, 2025 Drinking Water Quality Report announcement, April 15, 2026
- “In 2025, CFPUA once again outperformed all rigorous federal and State standards for drinking water in both of our systems” CFPUA, April 15, 2026
- EPA action levels referenced by CFPUA: 15 parts per billion for lead, 1.3 parts per million for copper CFPUA drinking water quality page, read September 2026
The 2025 report was published on April 15, 2026 and covers the prior calendar year, which is how these reports work everywhere. If you want the current picture rather than last year’s, the PFAS sampling page is updated more often than the annual report.
The answer changes with the county line
This is the part that matters when you are picking a house, and it is the part most relocation guides skip. Wilmington is not one water system, and our service area covers three counties with three different situations.
New Hanover County
Most homes in Wilmington and the unincorporated county are on CFPUA water, treated at Sweeney with the carbon filters described above. Some outlying areas are on private wells. Which one you get is a property-by-property question, not a neighborhood question.
Brunswick County
Brunswick County draws from the same river and has been building a low-pressure reverse osmosis system at its Northwest Water Treatment Plant to remove PFAS including GenX. As of the county’s August 2026 project update, the expanded treatment capacity was expected to be available in August 2026 and the reverse osmosis system was expected to be operational by the end of calendar year 2026. Once finished it will be among the largest reverse osmosis drinking water plants in the country. If you are buying in Leland, Southport, Oak Island or Shallotte, ask where that project stands on the day you go under contract, because the answer is still moving. Several towns here run their own distribution system but buy treated water from the county, so the plant that matters to you may not be the one whose name is on your bill.
Pender County and the rural edges
Large parts of Pender County, and pockets of northern New Hanover and inland Brunswick, are on private wells. Hampstead, Burgaw, Rocky Point and Castle Hayne all have well-and-septic areas. A private well is not tested by any utility and nobody sends you an annual report. It is yours. That is not a reason to avoid these areas, and plenty of our buyers are very happy on wells, but it is a reason to test.
What we tell buyers to do during due diligence
Find out which utility serves the exact address before you write the offer, not after. The listing will often say “county water” or “municipal,” and that is not specific enough. Ask the seller’s agent to name the utility.
If the house is on a well, order a water test as part of your inspection package. Test for the standard bacteriological and chemical panel, and in this region ask your inspector whether a PFAS panel is worth adding for that location. It costs more and it takes longer to come back, so schedule it early in your due diligence window rather than in the last week.
If the house is on a well and a septic system, treat those as one inspection item, not two. We wrote a full guide to septic versus city sewer in Wilmington because the two systems change your timeline, your financing and what you own after closing.
Treated water is not the same as a solved problem. The source water in the lower Cape Fear River still carries PFAS, the litigation and the federal rules around those compounds have kept changing, and a treatment plant is only as good as its continued operation and funding. Brunswick County’s reverse osmosis system was not finished as of the county’s August 2026 update, so a Brunswick buyer today is buying into a system that is mid-upgrade. And none of this touches private wells, where there is no treatment plant between the aquifer and your kitchen. If water quality is a serious concern for you, that should push you toward a utility-served address rather than a rural one, and it is a fair thing to weigh alongside lot size and price.
Related questions people also ask
Do people in Wilmington drink the tap water?
Many do, and many also use a filter pitcher or an under-sink filter out of habit or preference. Both are reasonable. The utility reports that its treated water meets and exceeds federal and state standards, and a home filter is an inexpensive extra step if it makes you comfortable. What matters more than the pitcher is knowing which system serves your house, because a filter designed for taste does not do the same job as a treatment plant.
Should I get the water tested before buying a house here?
If the house is on a private well, yes, without exception, and you should do it inside your due diligence period while you can still act on the result. If the house is on a public utility, a test is usually unnecessary because the utility already tests and publishes results, though you may still want to check for lead if the home is older and has original plumbing. Your inspector can advise on which panels make sense for the specific property.
Is the water different in Leland and Southport than in Wilmington?
Yes, because they are different systems. Wilmington and most of New Hanover County are served by CFPUA, while Leland, Southport, Oak Island and much of Brunswick County depend on Brunswick County’s system, in some cases through a town utility that buys treated water from the county. Brunswick draws from the same river but treats it at a different plant using different technology. Each utility publishes its own water quality report, so read the one that actually serves the address you are considering rather than assuming the region shares a single answer.
Before you tour, ask your agent to confirm the water and sewer situation for each address on your list, and flag any that are on a private well so you can budget the extra inspection. If you are relocating and trying to understand how this varies across New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties, bring us your shortlist and we will tell you what serves each address and what we would test.
Sources: Cape Fear Public Utility Authority, Drinking Water Quality page, read September 30, 2026. Cape Fear Public Utility Authority, “2025 Drinking Water Quality Report Published,” April 15, 2026. Brunswick County, Northwest Water Treatment Project progress update, August 2026. Our own New Hanover County market update and relocation resources.
