The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources (DWR) will hold a public hearing March 20 on a proposed rule change that would allow DWR to certify commercial, municipal or industrial laboratories to test for per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, and report that data back to the state.

The proposed revision adds PFAS to the list of parameters in 15A NCAC 02H .0804. Adding PFAS to this rule will allow DWR to certify labs to use EPA-approved methods for testing for PFAS and certify those results. The proposed rule can be viewed here.  The regulatory impact analysis may be viewed here.
While the rule change is not expected to add additional requirements for permittees, the rule amendment would allow permittees to comply with requirements that monitoring data reported to the state on PFAS be performed by a certified laboratory.

The public hearing will be held at 6 p.m. March 20 in the Ground Floor Hearing Room of the Archdale Building, located at 512 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh, N.C. 27604. Members of the public can sign up to provide comment upon arrival.

What: Public Hearing on Proposed Rule Change 15A NCAC 02H .0804
When: 6:00 p.m. Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Where: Ground Floor Hearing Room, Archdale Building, 512 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh, N.C. 27604

In addition to receiving comments at the public hearing, DWR is also accepting written comments through April 30. The public can email comments to deq.wr.certificationrulecomments@deq.nc.gov by mail to:

Laboratory Certification Branch Manager
1623 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC, 27699-1623.

All timely-submitted comments will be considered before the Department prepares a summary of the hearing and comment period and delivers it to the Environmental Management Commission for possible adoption of the proposed rule.