Board hears update on water, sewer projects
An expansion of Johnston County's sewage treatment plant on N.C. 210 is underway.
By year’s end, Johnston County will have more water and sewer treatment capacity to serve its growing population.
County Commissioners heard an update on those projects during the evening meeting on Jan. 5.
“Our biggest project is the expansion of the Timothy G. Broome Water Treatment Plant,” said Kim Rineer, engineering manager in the County’s Public Utilities Department.
That $73.5 million project will increase water treatment capacity to 18 million gallons daily, up 28.5% from the current 14 million. The expansion should come online this spring.
Turning to sewer, Johnston is already expanding the relatively new treatment plant it built on N.C. 210 near the landfill. That nearly $40 million project, with a November completion date, will double the plant’s capacity — from 4 million to 8 million gallons a day.
“It’s on schedule, slightly under budget, going really well,” Rineer said, adding, “I’m knocking on wood here because we’re still in progress.”
She showed Commissioners a photo of the plant. “You can see that big white tank at the bottom,” she said. “That is a new storage tank that will allow us to produce reclaimed water at this site.”
Reclaimed water is highly treated wastewater that is suitable for use in irrigation, reducing demand on the County’s drinking water supply.
In other sewer projects scheduled for completion this year, the County is:
- Spending $9.7 million on improvements at its older treatment plant in Smithfield. Specifically, the County is replacing the fine screen and adding grit removal at the headworks to help the plant operate more efficiently.
- Retooling its flow equalization and pumping station in Selma to route wastewater to the treatment plant on N.C. 210. That wastewater currently flows to the treatment plant in Smithfield. The $17.7 million project will create additional sewer capacity for Pine Level, Selma and Smithfield, Rineer said. “It’s a complicated site, but we’re upgrading it to take all of Pine Level’s flow and almost all of Selma’s flow,” she said. To help route that flow from Pine Level and Selma, the County will build a $3.27 million force main along Buffalo Road.
“All these big plans we put together are coming to fruition, and I love watching it,” Rineer said.
Smaller sewer projects will:
- Retool a pump station in Four Oaks to allow it to send wastewater to both the County’s plant in Smithfield and Benson’s plant. “That gives us really great redundancy and resiliency at this facility,” Rineer said of the $3.57 million project.
- Replace the pump station near the Neuse RIver on U.S. 301 South in Smithfield. The $4.58 million project will also move the station to higher ground. “It’ll have improved access and additional capacity,” Rineer said of the pump station, which should come online early next year.
- Retool a pump station at Austin Pond near Clayton to be able to send wastewater in two directions. That $3.3 million project is wrapping up.
Commissioners liked that so much additional water and sewer capacity would come online this year.
“This is a big year for completion of projects for us,” Commissioner Butch Lawter said.
Looking ahead, Rineer said, “it’s really time to focus on improving our water supply and our water system.”
Toward that end, upcoming projects include piping to allow the County to purchase more water from Raleigh, construction of an elevated water tank in the Cleveland community and, ultimately, a second water plant drawing water from the Neuse River near Princeton..
To learn more about the County water and sewer projects, go to the Projects and Bids section at johnstonnc.gov/utilities.
Page last updated on: January 14, 2026