The North Carolina Environmental Management Commission is considering new regulations for PFAS in groundwater. Monday’s hearing was part of a multi-stage process.
The rules are years in the making — they’re meant to replace interim regulations of PFAS in groundwater. NCDEQ initially proposed groundwater standards for eight PFAS, but this public hearing only covered three of them, after the Environmental Management Commission (EMC) decided to scrap rules for five of them.
The ones that remain are two legacy chemicals, PFOA and PFOS, plus GenX. The maximum contaminant levels proposed are in line with the EPA’s health advisories.
While every speaker at the public hearing supported these rules, many believed they didn’t go far enough, and couldn’t come soon enough.
Kemp Burdette, the Cape Fear Riverkeeper, called for a regulation of all 14,000 PFAS as a category.
“These three groundwater standards should be rapidly followed by an aggressive, class-based approach to regulating PFAs in groundwater and in surface water,” he said.
Cape Fear River Watch Executive Director Dana Sargent brought a stack of documents to share with NCDEQ and EMC staff who came to the public hearing. They included photos of her brother, a firefighter who died of brain cancer in 2019.
"I printed some info on PFAs and brain tumors for you, along with some pictures of Grant and his obituary. I'll leave that with you," she said.
She also printed stacks of paper: more than 50,000 test results from wells in the Cape Fear Region, which Chemours is required to provide for free as a result of her organization's consent order with the company, which has dumped PFAS in the Cape Fear River for decades.
"Forty-eight years of exposure is long enough, 70 years of research is quite enough," Sargent said. "It will take years, even after filtration of the source is put in place, for these chemicals to wash out of our drinking water supplies."
Other speakers brought up different problems, like the bio-accumulation of PFAS in the human body.
Ty Jacobus is an organic farmer in Castle Hayne whose conducted PFAS testing on his farm's well water, among other things.
"We have a combined level of around 60 parts per trillion in our water at my farm, we've had our eggs tested by North Carolina State University, which came back with levels ranging from 250 parts per trillion to 980 parts per trillion in eggs. So water at 60 eggs at 980," Jacobus said.
"A member of my family who has also lived in the Cape Fear, participated in a study and has levels of 20,060 in the water, 980 in the eggs, 20,000 in her blood. This family member has also had to have her thyroid removed and must be medicated for the rest of her life,” he added.
More than a dozen people spoke, raising concerns about their health, contaminated wells, and the fury they feel that they have to pay to clean the water that Chemours contaminated.
Details on the proposed rule and timeline
NCDEQ is accepting public comment on these proposed rules through December 31.
The proposed state standards would apply to groundwater as a source of drinking water and would complement the EPA National Primary Drinking Water Regulation drinking water standards for PFAS that public water systems will be required to meet.
- North Carolina’s proposed groundwater standard for PFOS is 0.7 nanograms per liter (parts per trillion) and for PFOA, it is 0.001 nanograms per liter (parts per trillion). Because it's currently impossible to test that small of an amount in drinking water, the enforceable level will be at the detection level of 4 ppt. and the National Primary Drinking Water Regulation has an enforceable level, or Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL), of 4 ppt for both PFOA and PFOS.
- North Carolina’s proposed groundwater standard for HFPO-DA, also known as GenX, is 10 nanograms per liter, which is the same value as the EPA’s National Primary Drinking Water Regulation MCL.
According to a DEQ spokesperson, the state’s proposed standards are calculated to be protective of human health, and protective of groundwater as a drinking water source.
While these proposed standards are slated to go before the Environmental Management Commission in May 2025 for consideration, with implementation slated for July 2025 if they are approved, separately, DEQ has set interim maximum allowable concentrations, or IMACs, for eight PFAS in groundwater in October 2024. The levels for PFOA, PFOS and GenX are the same as those in the proposed standards under consideration by the EMC. As required, the Division of Water Resources director will make a recommendation to the EMC within 12 months of the Oct. 15 memorandum as to whether any of the IMACs should be replaced by a new groundwater standard or expire.
From Nov. 1 through Dec. 31, 2024, comments may also be sent by email at:
Or by mail to:
Bridget Shelton
NC DEQ Division of Water Resources, Planning Section
1611 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1611
Editor's note: a previous version of this article included an incorrect number for how many test results Dana Sargent printed. It has been updated for accuracy.
