Western Wake Partnership for Wastewater Infrastructure

Changes in western Wake County have increased the challenge of and need for protecting the environment while ensuring adequate water and wastewater treatment capacity in the region. Towns in western Wake County will require more capacity over the long term, even with slow to moderate growth.

The Wake County Board of Commissioners unanimously adopted the Wake County Water/Sewer Plan in September 1998. The plan represented the culmination of an effort that had been initiated in July 1997. During that effort, Wake County worked with key stakeholder groups and the county’s 12 municipal governments to build consensus on the logical and orderly expansion of water and sewer service to the county.

The Western Wake Regional Water Reclamation Facility is a key recommendation of the Wake County Water/Sewer Plan. Because wastewater treatment capacity is an important issue to several local governments in western Wake County [Cape Fear River basin], time has been of the essence to move this project toward implementation.

In May 2002, Apex, Cary, Fuquay-Varina, Holly Springs, Morrisville, and Wake County formally agreed to jointly commission the Western Wake County Regional Wastewater Treatment Studies project. They worked from May 2002 to July 2004 to evaluate options for providing long-term wastewater management services for western Wake County.

As a result of the evaluation, four local governments elected to proceed with plans for the construction of regional wastewater management facilities to serve the needs of western Wake County to the year 2030. These “Partners” include the towns of Apex, Cary, Holly Springs and Morrisville.