ROBESON COUNTY, NC (WMBF) – Robeson County officials are concerned that the chemical GenX may have contaminated area drinking water.
William Smith, the county’s director of public health, said the source of the contamination is the Chemours plant in Fayetteville.
“As the private drinking well testing widens from the Chemours plant, the likelihood that GenX may have contaminated wells here rises,” Smith said via email.
“Additionally, because this has been found to be airborne and a prevailing wind is southwesterly towards St. Pauls, it heightens the chances more.” GenX is a chemical used in the creation of Teflon.
Smith added that contaminated honey coming from a St. Pauls address increases the chances that GenX is present in Robeson County.
“We are considering testing sites that are closest to the circle being monitored by the state in the new year,” he said.
According to WECT, the NC Department of Environmental Quality moved to revoke Chemours’ permit in mid-November after the company failed to comply with the permit and neglected to report a spill at its Fayetteville Works facility.
NCDEQ cited Chemours for failing to report that spill, which resulted in elevated concentrations of GenX at the company’s primary wastewater discharge outfall, WECT reported.
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