The Fayetteville Public Works Commission received $30 million in state and federal funding to go toward developing a water filtration system that will remove harmful PFAS chemicals from PWC’s water supply, which primarily comes from the heavily-contaminated Cape Fear River.
The funding, announced by Gov. Roy Cooper last Wednesday, adds to the $60.5 million the utility has already received in loans to build the $80 million project currently under design, PWC said.
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl, is a group of about 15,000 man-made chemicals. Exposure to PFAS is linked to a number of adverse health effects, ranging from cancer to heart disease to reproductive issues. The toxic chemicals are pervasive and long-lasting in the environment and in humans exposed through drinking water, food and household items, among other exposure paths.
PFAS are extremely slow to break down in the natural environment. PFAS can be effectively removed with a Granulated Active Carbon filtration system, the type of filter that PWC plans to have completed by 2028.
PWC previously conducted a pilot study in 2021, which found a Granulated Activated Carbon filtration system to be the “most effective option for removing PFAS,” the utility system said in a press release. PWC said it plans to send out bids for the new system in 2025.
“Our customers deserve the absolute best drinking water, and these funds will ensure that we are able to continue meeting that standard every day,” PWC CEO Timothy Bryant said in a statement announcing the $30 million funding. “We will continue to pursue federal, state, and local dollars whenever available.”
The award announcement comes just three months after the Environmental Protection Agency announced in Fayetteville unprecedented rules to regulate the levels of PFAS public water utilities can have in their drinking water, which utilities must comply with by 2029.
According to its 2023 water quality report, PWC’s current PFAS levels are higher than the new standards; PWC officials have said the construction of its $80 million filter will allow the utility to meet the deadline and come into compliance with the new standards.
PWC stated it also has improvement plans underway at the P.O. Hoffer Water Treatment Facility to expand the Powder Activated Carbon filtration system there, which is expected to be completed in 2026. It’s unclear yet how much ratepayers will have to pay for the new filter systems to be completed.
At the request of the N.C. Dept. of Environmental Quality, PWC gave a tour of its Hoffer Water Treatment Facility to DEQ staff, including Secretary Elizabeth Biser, on July 8. The meeting was intended to update DEQ on PWC’s progress in meeting the new EPA guidelines and provide feedback on how the state can help, according to a press release.
“I applaud the actions Fayetteville PWC is taking to protect the residents of Fayetteville and Cumberland County from the health impacts of forever chemicals by proactively working to remove PFAS from their drinking water,” Biser said in the release.
Fayetteville is at the epicenter of the PFAS contamination crisis because Chemours and its predecessor, DuPont, dumped the toxic chemicals into the Cape Fear River for decades via its Fayetteville Works plant.
Regulatory challenges
As Fayetteville attempts to remove high-levels of forever chemicals from the city’s drinking supply, state regulators are facing their own challenges in passing immediate health-based standards to curb chemical contamination.
On July 10, the state’s Environmental Management Commission, for the second time this year, postponed adopting the DEQ’s proposed health-based standards for groundwater and surface water of eight types of PFAS. The standards would allow the DEQ to regulate the levels of contaminants companies pollute surface and groundwater with.
In a move that frustrated regulators, the EMC’s groundwater committee also asked the DEQ to remove five of the eight chemicals from the list of chemicals the agency wants to regulate.
Because of a 2023 state law change, two EMC members who had historically been appointed by the governor became the appointees of Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, a Republican, who appointed members in his party that gave the commission a Republican majority. (Cooper previously appointed eight members. Now both he and the Republican-led General Assembly appoint six members).
Since the change, the EMC has been increasingly criticized by DEQ officials and environmental advocates and attorneys, who have argued its actions contradict science showing the harmful impacts of the chemicals.
Notably, the EMC’s inaction on regulating PFAS could lead to higher costs for utility ratepayers, who will have to pay for the pollution clean-up costs instead of the polluting companies whose emissions could be regulated under the proposed standards, DEQ and local government officials have warned.
Jean Zhuang, a senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center, told CityView she believes the 2023 changes in EMC appointing-powers have led to a majority of appointees lacking the expertise to make the informed regulatory decisions.
“The people on there are not experts, and they are clearly very influenced by the regulated community and the industry that’s pushing back against regulation of toxic chemicals,” Zhuang said.
Contact Evey Weisblat at eweisblat@cityviewnc.com or 216-527-3608. To keep CityView Today going and to grow our impact even more, we’re asking our committed readers to consider becoming a member. Click here to join.
