The state is hosting a community forum Thursday night at Gray’s Creek High School to discuss the chemical compound GenX that has been found in private wells near the Chemours’ Fayetteville Works facility in Bladen County.
[File photo/The Fayetteville Observer] Staff writer @RodgerMullen State officials have ordered Chemours to provide bottled water to 30 more well owners near the company’s Fayetteville Works facility after unacceptable levels of the chemical GenX showed up in tests, the state Department of Environmental Quality said Wednesday.
The testing results will be discussed at a community forum Thursday in the Gray’s Creek High School auditorium.
“We will ensure that Chemours is providing bottled water to those homeowners with elevated concentrations of GenX, and work with Bladen and Cumberland counties to develop long-terms solutions for clean water.” At the department’s direction, Chemours has expanded its sampling to 450 parcels one mile from the facility’s property boundary.
In all, there are 115 private well owners living near Chemours’ Fayetteville Works facility who are receiving bottled water because of GenX detections above the provisional state health goal of 140 parts per trillion, the department said.
So far, samples from 349 wells have been collected and verified from both the initial sampling by DEQ and Chemours, and the recent expanded sampling.
The spill came to light one month after it occurred when department officials questioned Chemours about state water quality results indicating elevated concentrations of GenX at Chemours’ primary wastewater discharge outfall.
In conjunction with moving to revoke Chemours’ wastewater permit, DEQ officials also notified Chemours the state would suspend its permit to discharge process wastewater from its manufacturing area including the areas where GenX and other fluorinated compounds are produced effective Nov. 30.
On Thursday, state environmental and health officials will be on hand at an information session to answer questions about the private well results and plans for continued sampling.
They also will discuss results from the initial and expanded rounds of sampling, plans to continue testing of drinking water wells, and the status of alternative water solutions.