Sunday, November 3, 2024

Pender approves new PFAS treatment alternatives contract

Access to clean water remains a chief issue for Pender County residents as leaders agreed to carry out a $400,000 study to determine the best methods for limiting PFAS pollution. (Courtesy Port City Daily)

PENDER COUNTY — Access to clean water remains a chief issue for Pender County residents as leaders agreed to carry out a $400,000 study to determine the best methods for limiting PFAS pollution.

READ MORE: DEQ establishes interim groundwater limits to guide clean-up for 8 PFAS compounds

Pender County Commissioners unanimously approved a $400,000 contract with Cary-based engineering firm WithersRavenel at the Monday meeting. The project aims to identify enhanced filtration options to help Pender County meet current and proposed PFAS regulations at the national and state levels.

The six-month study will be funded by a forgivable Division of Water Quality loan covering the entirety of the project. WithersRavenel will carry out an assessment of the Pender County Surface Water Plant’s conditions and performance history, treatability gaps for contaminants of concern, provide a pilot study of treatment enhancement options, and make recommendations for the best upgrades.

Spokesperson Brandi Cobb said Pender Utility’s most recent post-treatment testing showed levels for three PFAS compounds below the EPA’s enforceable maximum contaminant levels:

  • PFOA 1.95 parts per trillion
  • PFOS 2.10 ppt
  • GenX 2.13 ppt 

However, PFOA and PFOS levels are both above the interim maximum allowable contaminant levels (IMACs) established by the Department of Environmental Quality last week. The IMACs will set temporary guidelines for groundwater cleanup of eight PFAS compounds in the absence of permanent standards; interim levels are .001 ppt for PFOA and .7 ppt for PFOS.

County spokesperson Brandi Cobb said the other five PFAS compounds with IMACs have been tested but results have not been publicly posted. 

“If there was an alarming number a letter would have gone out to the public,” she wrote in an email to Port City Daily.

According to county documents, Pender’s four granular activated carbon filters do not remove PFHxA. DEQ has proposed a surface water level for the compound of 3,000 ppt and its groundwater IMAC is 4,000 ppt.

United States Geological Survey researchers published a study Thursday finding 71-to-95 million people in the U.S. potentially rely on groundwater contaminated with PFAS. The USGS published an interactive map showing high probability of PFAS groundwater contamination throughout large portions of the tri-county region.

“This study provides the first national predictions of PFAS occurrence in groundwater at the depths of domestic (private) supply and may be the only information private well users have on groundwater quality in their area,” USGS research hydrologist Andrea Tokranov told Port City Daily. “The study results can be used to guide sampling towards areas of predicted impacts to determine if there is PFAS contamination.”

The highest probability regions of Pender County include sections of Topsail, Surf City, and Burgaw. November 2022 testing results showed roughly a third of 188 Pender wells sampled had detectable PFAS levels with a cluster along the U.S. 17 corridor.

Chemours provides well-sampling for Pender County residents as part of a 2019 consent agreement with Wilmington-based Cape Fear River Watch; the company is required to pay for filtration technology for homeowners with GenX levels above 10 ppt.

Pender County Utilities Director Anthony Colon expressed support for the Department of Environmental Quality’s proposed standards for eight PFAS compounds in a statement to Port City Daily. 

“However, I’m concerned that the core issue — discharging contaminants into the river — isn’t being fully addressed,” he said.

Surface water standards would require dischargers to implement filtration technology to limit PFAS emissions into public waterways. The Environmental Management Commission — an appointed body charged with reviewing and approving DEQ’s proposed regulations — has chosen not to move forward with the standards in multiple meetings throughout 2024.

The county cited PFAS regulation as a focus of its $42,000 lobbying contract with Maynard Nexsen but the county did not lobby this year, according to Cobb. Commissioners approved the contract in April.

Cobb said the county recently tested for 1,4-dioxane levels and are waiting for the results. The Department of Environmental Quality proposes 1,4-dioxane limits of 330 parts per trillion for safe drinking water consumption.DEQ’s attempts to regulate the compound were struck down last month by chief administrative judge Donald van der Vaart. 

DEQ officials were aware of PFAS and 1,4-dioxane contamination in the Cape Fear region during Van der Vaart’s time as DEQ secretary from 2015 to 2016 before a StarNews report brought public attention to the issue in 2017.


Cobb noted the utility director was concerned about other emerging compounds, including unregulated PFAS compounds. Residents in Pender County’s WyndWater neighborhood were sent an advisory warning of elevated haloacetic acids — a group of chemicals the EPA considers potentially carcinogenic — in June. A 2021 Environmental Working Group analysis states Pender Utilities had haloacetic acid levels of 12.7 parts per billion.

Water and sewer public intendant Brian Terry told PCD staff has installed automatic flushing units at the back of the WyndWater subdivision and other county sites to address the issue.

“Thanks to our increased flushing operations over the past year, levels of both trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids have shown improvement,” he said. “However, fluctuations in the local running annual average are still possible based on sample results.”

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