The Fayetteville Public Works Commission will hear an update Wednesday on regulations regarding PFAS in drinking water, according to the agenda for Wednesday’s board meeting.
Last week, the federal Environmental Protection Agency proposed the nation’s first public drinking water standards for PFAS, an acronym for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, CityView reported.
The PWC update on PFAS regulation will be given by interim CEO Mick Noland.
Residents can attend the meeting online via phone or video call, or they can attend in person. The meeting is at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday in the PWC offices at 955 Old Wilmington Road.
The EPA proposal, if enacted, would set standards for six different PFAS, including PFOS, PFOA and GenX. The standards would set a maximum contaminant level at 4 parts per trillion in drinking water for PFOS and PFOA.
The standards would also regulate GenX, a trade name for one PFAS, as well as four other PFAS as a class using a hazard index calculation to determine if the combined levels of those chemicals pose a potential human health risk.
The Chemours plant off the Cape Fear River in Bladen County produces GenX, a trade name for one PFAS. DuPont, the predecessor to Chemours at the plant, started manufacturing PFOA there in the early 2000s. DuPont switched from PFOA to GenX about 2009.
In 2019, the Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of North Carolina and Cape Fear River Watch, filed a lawsuit against Chemours over GenX contamination of drinking water and the Cape Fear River.
Ben Sessoms covers Fayetteville and education for CityView. He can be reached at bsessoms@cityviewnc.com.
