Two public hearings will be held next month, according to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Division of Water Resources (DWR), to give the public a chance to comment on the draft discharge permit Chemours has proposed for its groundwater treatment system.
In 2017, the NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) ordered Chemours to stop dumping toxic wastewater into the Cape Fear River. Two years later, the company entered a consent order with the state and Cape Fear River Watch to reduce emissions, with a treatment system put in place to address residual PFAS seeping into the ground on the plant’s property in Fayetteville.
“Currently, contaminated groundwater flowing into the river is not intercepted or treated,” according to a release from DWR.
Chemours is proposing installation of an underground barrier wall to run a mile alongside the Cape Fear to intercept the wastewater before flowing into the river. It’s also including extraction wells that will pump the contaminated groundwater to a treatment system to remove 99% of PFAS, as required by the draft permit.
“Without this treatment system intervention and accompanying discharge permit, this heavily contaminated groundwater would continue to flow to the river untreated and continue to impact downstream water supplies,” the press release continues.
The NPDES permit (NC0090042) covers only the discharge of treated water associated with groundwater remediation efforts, not the processes associated with discharging wastewater from Chemours manufacturing plant. According to the NCDEQ the groundwater could equate to over 60% of the PFAS flowing from the facility to the river.
DWR will hear public comments on the proposed National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) wastewater permit through 5 p.m., June 24. Anyone who submitted a comment during the previous period, March 25 to May 2, will not need to resubmit.
Hearings will take place both in-person and online:
IN PERSON
Tuesday, June 21, 6 p.m.
Cape Fear Community College, 411 N. Front St.
Union Station, first floor auditorium
Speaker registration opens 5 p.m.
REMOTE/ONLINE
Thursday, June 23,at 6 p.m.
Sign up here
Event number: 2421 589 1484
Event password: NCDEQ
Audio conference: US TOLL +1-415-655-0003, Access code: 2421 589 1484
Register to Speak: Speaker registration is open until noon on June 23, at https://forms.office.com/g/YEqDLDDDp7
To submit comments by email, send to [email protected] with CHEMOURS noted in the subject line. Public comments may also be mailed to Wastewater Permitting, Attn: Chemours Permit, 1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C., 27699-1617.
For more information, readers can access the draft permit and fact sheet.
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