June 6, 2024
Drinking water for at least 2.5 million North Carolinians is contaminated with the toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS at levels exceeding new federal standards, according to an analysis by the Environmental Working Group. EWG’s analysis is based on averaged drinking water testing results from 2022 reported by North Carolina, and information from the EPA’s Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, also known as the UCMR 5.
WRAL reports that some of the largest utilities in the state are dealing with PFAS levels above the EPA’s new standards including Piedmont Triad Regional Water Authority, City of Durham, City of Greensboro, Fayetteville Public Works Commission, and Brunswick County Public Utilities.
“I don’t want everyday people to have to bear the burden of this when we know that there are companies that have put these pollutants in the water and we know we’ve got to clean it up,” Governor Roy Cooper said.
“Now’s the time to make sure that all of these water systems have the filters and technology that they need to make sure that people have clean water,” Cooper said. “And now it’s time to make the polluters pay,” he added.
This week marks the seventh anniversary of when the public learned that forever chemicals, including GenX, had been dumped into the Cape Fear River from the Chemours Fayetteville works chemical plant.
Read New Report Shows Public Drinking Water Systems in NC Contaminated with PFAS.