Chemours has told state officials that it wants to install water filter systems at some homes where a potentially cancer-causing compound has been discovered in private wells.
[File photo/The Fayetteville Observer] Staff writer @WriterDeVane ​The company that makes a potentially cancer-causing compound that has been discovered in private wells near its Bladen County plants wants to install water filter systems at residences served by those wells, state records show.
The state has been investigating GenX since news broke in June that researchers had discovered it in the Cape Fear River in 2016.
Chemours has since agreed to stop discharging the compound into the river, but the chemical also has been found in more than 250 private wells around the plant, including more than 120 at levels above what the state’s Department of Health and Human Services considers safe.
State officials said in late November that the company was testing a water filter system at a home near the plant.
Scott’s letter to Chemours didn’t have details about the system or say on how many homes the company wanted to install it.
The letter said Chemours sent the state information on its plans Jan. 11.
The company indicated that it wanted to start installing the filter systems on Jan. 22, according to the letter.
Scott said in the letter that state officials “strongly recommend” not implementing the plan or notifying residents about it until the Department of Environmental Quality approves the proposal, which he said would not happen by Jan. 22.
He recommends in the letter that the company start with a pilot program on four residences for at least three months while continuing to provide bottled water to the families with the filter systems.