RALEIGH, N.C. – A new Water Infrastructure Competitiveness Analysis released today by the NC Chamber Foundation outlines key opportunities for North Carolina to strengthen its water infrastructure to support long-term economic growth.

The report highlights that the state’s ability to sustain growth will increasingly depend on how well it manages both the built and natural limits of its water systems. The analysis underscores the need for coordinated planning among policymakers, utilities, and business community to keep water a strategic advantage for North Carolina’s future.

“Water infrastructure underpins every facet of North Carolina’s economic vitality,” said Meredith Archie, president of the NC Chamber Foundation. “As our state grows, pressure on our water systems is increasing. This analysis delivers a clear, data-driven roadmap to strengthen infrastructure, close information gaps, and keep water a strategic advantage—not a constraint—for North Carolina’s long-term economic growth.”

Key Findings and Challenges

The report highlights that North Carolina’s rapid growth is increasing demand on water systems that are aging, capacity-limited, and fragmented in how they are managed. Key challenges include:

• Incomplete and inconsistent data on water supply, withdrawals, and system capacity, limiting effective planning.
• Fragmented governance and coordination, leaving no unified framework to manage growth or water risk statewide.
• Limited staffing and analytical capacity within state agencies, constraining the ability to perform comprehensive, statewide water-availability assessments.
• Aging and financially strained utilities, particularly small and rural systems, with limited long-term planning resources.
• Natural-system constraints such as low streamflows, aquifer depletion, and limited assimilative capacity that directly affect site readiness and growth potential.
• Increasing climate and drought risks that heighten uncertainty for supply reliability.
• Complex and lengthy permitting processes that slow project delivery and economic development timelines.
• Uncertain long-term funding, especially as temporary federal ARPA resources expire.
• A shrinking and aging water workforce, reducing operational capacity and slowing modernization.

“The business community can be a powerful driver in advancing solutions, bringing investment, innovation, and urgency to water infrastructure planning and funding,” said Dana Magliola, senior director of infrastructure competitiveness of the NC Chamber Foundation. “A unified, forward-looking approach is key to ensuring North Carolina’s water systems remain reliable, resilient, and ready for the state’s next phase of economic growth.”

Recommendations for Action

The report outlines a coordinated approach to maintain North Carolina’s competitiveness, including:

• Improve data collection and integration by standardizing water withdrawal reporting across all sectors, modernizing hydrologic data, and launching a statewide Water Data Modernization Initiative.
• Conduct Regional Water Availability Assessments using integrated hydrologic and infrastructure data to better plan for growth and drought resilience.
• Advance Regionalization to promote inter-utility cooperation and shared systems to improve resilience and efficiency.
• Establish sustainable, long-term funding mechanisms beyond temporary ARPA resources.
• Expand capacity within state agencies to support proactive planning.
• Align infrastructure and economic development by supporting site-readiness programs and targeted investments where water capacity limits growth.
• Promote proactive permitting and integrated planning by aligning regulatory timelines, ensuring development reflects sustainable availability, and streamlining processes to reduce delays and uncertainty.

INTERA Incorporated, in collaboration with LDA Engineering, conducted the analysis which is available to download here.