It’s PFAS awareness week, marking the seventh anniversary of when the public found out Chemours had been dumping toxic chemicals into the Cape Fear River.
PFAS, also called forever chemicals, are used for nonstick and waterproof coatings in consumer products and have been linked to health problems, including cancer.
The drinking water of more than 3.4 million people in the state is contaminated, according to the Department of Environmental Quality.
Officials, including congresswoman Deborah Ross and North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Elizabeth Biser, toured the EM Johnson water treatment plant on Wednesday in Raleigh. A number of construction projects are underway at the plant, including the expansion of a powder activated carbon treatment program that removes PFAS from the water.
Utilities across the state and nation are undertaking upgrade projects to comply with new federal PFAS drinking water standards.
Raleigh Water's test results show the drinking water is already below the new limits, but says it will need upgrades to stay under the threshold as demand increases.
Biser said more than 40 utilities in the state have PFAS contamination levels above the federal limits, likely requiring utilities to install expensive technology to remove the forever chemicals.
In Raleigh, the PFAS-removal upgrades here will likely only raise water bills by about 1%, but that number will likely be much higher for utilities in Fayetteville, Durham, and Burlington with higher levels of contamination.
The Cape Fear Public Utility Authority spent $43 million on a granular activated carbon filter to remove PFAS, including GenX, from the drinking water.
“Stopping the pollution at the source is obviously the move cost-effective way to address PFAS pollution," Biser said.
DEQ has proposed ground and surface water standards that would reduce industrial discharges of PFAS into drinking water supplies, but some Republican-appointed members of the Environmental Management Commission have delayed those efforts.
“I firmly believe that the polluters should shoulder that burden," Ross said.
DEQ officials are hoping the EMC will move forward with the rulemaking process at its July meeting.
The Environmental Management Commission meets again on July 10, 2024. The public can join in-person at 512 N. Salisbury St. in Raleigh or online.