State officials have directed Chemours to provide bottled water to seven more well owners near the company’s Fayetteville Works facility after the most recent preliminary test results show GenX above the state health goal in residential drinking wells.
This brings to 26 the total number of residential well owners living near Chemours’ Fayetteville Works facility who are now receiving bottled water because of GenX detections above the provisional state health goal of 140 parts per trillion. Last week, the state directed Chemours to provide bottled water to eight well owners. Earlier this month, the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality directed the company to provide 11 well owners with bottled water.
The state and Chemours have sampled 85 drinking water wells, and data from tests conducted last week is arriving and being analyzed by DEQ staff. Testing of residential wells by Chemours and the state started soon after GenX was detected in 13 industrial, non-drinking water wells on the facility’s property.
The state departments of Environmental Quality and Health and Human Services will hold a community information session from 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday, to help residents understand the test results and answer questions. It will be held in the gymnasium of Gray’s Creek Elementary School, 2964 School Road, Hope Mills.
“Protecting peoples’ drinking water is our top priority,” said Michael Regan, secretary of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality. “As we get results, we want to make sure people whose wells have been found to have high levels of fluorinated compounds are provided bottled water. We are calling people, providing them with their results and answering their questions. We will continue to do so until all the results are received and finalized.”
Chemours is testing residential drinking water wells near the facility for GenX. DEQ is also testing residential wells; in addition to testing for GenX, the state agency is testing for two other fluorinated compounds, PFOA and PFOS. The state agency is testing for the three fluorinated compounds because they all have established health goals.
There is some overlap in the testing being conducted by DEQ and Chemours. Six of the wells tested by both DEQ and Chemours had concentrations of GenX above the state’s provisional health goal. Most of the wells with elevated levels of GenX are north of the facility. None of the wells tested by the state had exceedences of the EPA’s drinking water health advisory level for PFOA or PFOS.
State officials have been reaching out to residents living near the facility to inform them of test results and alert them to Thursday’s information session.
More information about the state’s ongoing testing and investigation of fluorinated compounds can be found at: https://deq.nc.gov/news/hot-topics/genx-investigation