WILMINGTON — It’s easy to blame companies like Chemours who discharge waste into the Cape Fear River for recent problems with polyfluoralkyl substances like GenX, but it is possible that rainwater runoff from landfills also plays a role in polluting the river.
That is why New Hanover County installed a two-part reverse osmosis system to treat leachate, or rainwater that trickles through the landfill — now the county is partnering with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to test samples of the leachate to see if any of the PFAS in the river can be linked to the landfill.
“Leachate has been identified as a potential source of per- and polyfluoralkyl substances (PFAS) because of the industrial waste, sewage, and other PFAS-containing consumer products found at the landfill. Given this information, New Hanover County has volunteered for its landfill to be the first in the state to be tested by NCDEQ for PFAS. Samples will be taken from the landfill’s raw leachate and treated water, as well as a groundwater well on the site,” according to a county press release.
The sampling will take place in February and results should be available in March and testing will analyze 33 different compounds.
“More than two years ago, the county implemented a very robust and redundant leachate treatment system, through a two-pass reverse osmosis system,” County Manager Chris Coudriet said in the press release.
“We are the only public landfill in North Carolina with this advanced filtration approach, because we recognize the need to be progressive in our environmental stewardship. By partnering with NCDEQ for leachate sampling, the county is taking an additional step to ensure our operations, including the RO system, are efficient and effective in limiting the potential for any PFAS to enter the environment,” Coudriet said.
CFPUA takes its drinking water from Lock and Dam #1 near Riegelwood, in Columbus County, meaning it is unaffected by leachate from New Hanover County’s landfill. However, there are numerous other landfills located upriver from CFPUA’s water access point, according to DEQ records; these, according to Coudriet, lack the same filtration technology as New Hanover County’s.
