Despite GenX worries, well water can bring own set of concerns.
Concerned about contamination in the region’s groundwater, Rick Catlin, an environmental engineer and former state legislator, is pushing New Hanover County to adopt a permitting system for private wells.
“We want to make sure people aren’t putting wells in near contaminated sites,” Catlin said.
The safety of the region’s drinking water has been in question after a StarNews story earlier this month revealed researchers had found GenX, a man-made chemical used in Teflon and a host of other products, in the Cape Fear River and the drinking water supply of the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA).
Chemours, a Delaware-based chemical company that makes the chemical at a plant roughly 100 miles up the Cape Fear River from Wilmington, announced this week it will take steps to capture all wastewater containing the GenX chemical, remove the substance and dispose of it.
“In the confined aquifers, I would not think there would be an issue (with GenX),” Shew said.
Personally, for me, I’d like to do substitute for the drinking water for now.” Statewide, national issue During a meeting earlier this week with New Hanover County Manager Chris Coudriet and Health Director Phillip Tarte, Catlin shared his map of known contamination sites with the county officials.
“When you put it on a map and plot it, it is not just relegated to New Hanover County,” Tarte said.
“We have these known (contamination) sites,” Coudriet said.
“By ordinance, once a customer is connected to our system,” a CFPUA spokeswoman wrote, “they are not permitted to disconnect and move to an alternate water source.” Reporter Adam Wagner can be reached at 910-343-2389 or Adam.Wagner@GateHouseMedia.com.

PHENIX CTIY, AL (WTVM) – The Director of Phenix City Utilities is firing back at reports that the local Waste Water Treatment Plant is dumping harmful chemicals and waste into the Chattahoochee River.
The Chattahoochee River races on from Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, spilling millions of gallons of water a day While, some portions of the River may be filled with treacherous waves, Director of Phenix City Utilities, Steve Smith says one thing it is not, is dirty.
"The water is tested all of the time, and it is safe for people to be in.
The Chattahoochee River Warden is attempting to counteract these claims.
Through Facebook, he is attempting to raise awareness to what he claims is an unusual amount of foam and bubbles in parts of the Alabama riverside.
According to Warden Henry Jackson, these bubbles are a possible discharge coming from the Waste Water Treatment Plant, a pipe spewing contamination and waste into the river.
"The River is clean and millions of dollars, billions actually if you go up north to Atlanta have been spent cleaning up this River," says Smith.
Smith says all testing results are public information available to review.
Jackson says his organization will continue to test the water for possible signs of contamination.
All rights reserved.

Cryptosporidium.
Kewaunee County and its neighbors have a serious groundwater contamination problem.
A recent study not only found that wells in areas of greater soil depth were being contaminated with dangerous pathogens, but that up to 60 percent of wells tested were affected, nearly doubling the tally from previous studies.
In 2014, Clean Wisconsin, along with Midwest Environmental Advocates and local citizens, filed a Safe Drinking Water Act petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asking for help for Kewaunee County residents.
Kewaunee County’s geology makes it vulnerable to groundwater contamination from manure spreading on the landscape.
Kewaunee County residents deserve a robust and thorough effort from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to address drinking water contamination.
For much of the past year, the DNR has pointed to a new set of protections being drafted as their effort to address drinking water contamination from livestock manure.
Access to clean, safe drinking water is every Wisconsin citizens’ right.
Through these protections, we think the DNR can reduce the risk of drinking water contamination by: Putting limits on when, where and how manure can be spread.
By writing strong rules, the DNR can help citizens with contaminated drinking water have safe wells that draw clean water while giving farmers the tools to effectively manage their livestock byproduct.

Cryptosporidium.
Kewaunee County and its neighbors have a serious groundwater contamination problem.
A recent study not only found that wells in areas of greater soil depth were being contaminated with dangerous pathogens, but that up to 60 percent of wells tested were affected, nearly doubling the tally from previous studies.
In 2014, Clean Wisconsin, along with Midwest Environmental Advocates and local citizens, filed a Safe Drinking Water Act petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asking for help for Kewaunee County residents.
Kewaunee County’s geology makes it vulnerable to groundwater contamination from manure spreading on the landscape.
Kewaunee County residents deserve a robust and thorough effort from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to address drinking water contamination.
For much of the past year, the DNR has pointed to a new set of protections being drafted as their effort to address drinking water contamination from livestock manure.
Access to clean, safe drinking water is every Wisconsin citizens’ right.
Through these protections, we think the DNR can reduce the risk of drinking water contamination by: Putting limits on when, where and how manure can be spread.
By writing strong rules, the DNR can help citizens with contaminated drinking water have safe wells that draw clean water while giving farmers the tools to effectively manage their livestock byproduct.

Kewaunee County and its neighbors have a serious groundwater contamination problem.
A recent study not only found that wells in areas of greater soil depth were being contaminated with dangerous pathogens, but that up to 60 percent of wells tested were affected, nearly doubling the tally from previous studies.
In 2014, Clean Wisconsin, along with Midwest Environmental Advocates and local citizens, filed a Safe Drinking Water Act petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asking for help for Kewaunee County residents.
Kewaunee County’s geology makes it vulnerable to groundwater contamination from manure spreading on the landscape.
Kewaunee County residents deserve a robust and thorough effort from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to address drinking water contamination.
For much of the past year, the DNR has pointed to a new set of protections being drafted as their effort to address drinking water contamination from livestock manure.
Access to clean, safe drinking water is every Wisconsin citizens’ right.
For too long, too many citizens in Kewaunee County and elsewhere in the state have been denied that right.
Through these protections, we think the DNR can reduce the risk of drinking water contamination by: Putting limits on when, where and how manure can be spread.
By writing strong rules, the DNR can help citizens with contaminated drinking water have safe wells that draw clean water while giving farmers the tools to effectively manage their livestock byproduct.

Kewaunee County and its neighbors have a serious groundwater contamination problem.
A recent study not only found that wells in areas of greater soil depth were being contaminated with dangerous pathogens, but that up to 60 percent of wells tested were affected, nearly doubling the tally from previous studies.
In 2014, Clean Wisconsin, along with Midwest Environmental Advocates and local citizens, filed a Safe Drinking Water Act petition with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asking for help for Kewaunee County residents.
Kewaunee County’s geology makes it vulnerable to groundwater contamination from manure spreading on the landscape.
Kewaunee County residents deserve a robust and thorough effort from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources to address drinking water contamination.
For much of the past year, the DNR has pointed to a new set of protections being drafted as their effort to address drinking water contamination from livestock manure.
Access to clean, safe drinking water is every Wisconsin citizens’ right.
For too long, too many citizens in Kewaunee County and elsewhere in the state have been denied that right.
Through these protections, we think the DNR can reduce the risk of drinking water contamination by: Putting limits on when, where and how manure can be spread.
By writing strong rules, the DNR can help citizens with contaminated drinking water have safe wells that draw clean water while giving farmers the tools to effectively manage their livestock byproduct.

Former Wilmington mayor: “We’re here to express our outrage” over GenX contamination in drinking water, Cape Fear.
That study, published in 2016, showed GenX had been detected in drinking water, with its upstream source being Chemours.
Chemours has not sampled its discharge and instead used modeling to estimate levels of GenX.
He emphasized that Knappe’s study indicated GenX is only one of several PFOAs in the Cape Fear.
PFOAs are endocrine disruptors, which affect hormone levels and can play general havoc in the body.
But earlier this week, just a day after DEQ began sampling water from the Cape Fear — and after the EPA launched an investigation — the company announced it would stop discharging GenX into the river.
The EPA, Brander said, “doesn’t have a lot of strength right now to do the research.” Attorney John Green said funding shortages at both the EPA and DEQ prevent those agencies from being legally tough on DuPont and Chemours.
“Because of budget cuts, we don’t have great faith in the regulatory community to joust with DuPont,” Green said.
GenX, also known as C6, is similar to the chemical C8.
Also manufactured by DuPont, C8 was phased out after several class-action lawsuits showed a link between it and cancer and other health problems.

Torch Lake water tested for contamination.
TORCH LAKE — Tests on Torch Lake have revealed contamination on the beach and Lake Linden officials are taking immediate and proper actions.
Ten years ago, low lake levels exposed stamp sands around the water’s edge on Torch Lake.
This launched a clean up of the beach near the stormwater outlet by the EPA, who then conducted more tests.
The first area, we’ve cornered off with fencing.
People are recommended not to go inside that fencing.
It’s not the swimming area, it’s an area of underbrush adjacent to the swimming area,” said Robert Poirier, Lake Linden Village Clerk.
As for the swimming area, village officials are taking immediate action as to what the EPA recommends.
Poirier added, “the EPA, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, along with the Western U.P.
Health Department have developed some recommendations as fas as signage and recommended that we put in facilities, such as the hand washing station and the shower to let the public know what the hazards are there.” The signs posted on the beach near Lake Linden Campground are intended to let people know about the hazards pertaining to the sediment, not the water.

DNREC, EPA update Delaware residents on water contamination.
“We want to ensure everyone has safe drinking water, we want to ensure that people that are provided water from Artesian [water company] or have private drinking water wells, have safe drinking waters that do not pose a health hazard to them,” said Tim Ratsep, program administrator for DNREC’s site investigation and restoration section.
“We have to do the evaluation, we have to find out where the sources are, we have to get the sources out of there so concentrations don’t increase, and where it has increased to address them so they go in the opposite direction.” Back in 2005, Artesian Water Company, which provides and treats public drinking water, found small levels of contamination in its Hockessin water well during routine sampling.
DNREC then began to evaluate the impacts of the contamination, as well as potential sources of the contamination.
Prolonged exposure to the contaminant can cause adverse human health effects, including neurological disorders and cancer.
“All the Artesian wells have carbon treatment on them, and they meet federal and state safe drinking water standards, and the routine sampling occurs on a regular basis,” Ratsep said.
There were three locations we did find had low level impact material from the facilities and the state put treatment systems on those, so those wells are safe to drink also.” DNREC focused much of its investigation on evaluating dry cleaners in the area, and believe Hockessin Cleaners and Sunrise Cleaners are the main sources of the PCE contamination.
Ratsep said prior to regulations, cleaning materials containing compounds often were dumped outside, contaminating the soil and in turn, the water.
The EPA also updated the public on its investigation of the Hockessin Ground Water Plume Site, which it began last year.
If the site is put on the NPL, there will be several weeks of public information and comment sessions.

Report identifies ways to reduce water contamination from oil and gas development in Texas.
A new report from the Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas (TAMEST) is shedding more light on what we know and don’t know about the potential health and environmental impacts caused by oil and gas development in Texas.
In fact, according to the report, spilling or leaking wastewater and other substances is the most likely pathway for surface water contamination from oil and gas development in Texas.
Yet Texas is the only major state that doesn’t require companies to report their produced water spills.
Managing the strain on freshwater, without causing more environmental problems TAMEST also looks at the way industry uses water more generally.
Water scarcity is driving debate about whether or not companies should drill wells with brackish (salty) water, or use their own wastewater, rather than freshwater.
This practice could help alleviate water scarcity concerns.
However, as TAMEST notes, the use of these alternative resources “increases the potential for spills or leaks that could lead to further environmental impacts.” Therefore, while TAMEST notes that increased use of fresh water alternatives for oil and gas operations is desirable, the authors also recommend expanded research to understand the potential environmental trade-offs of increasing this practice.
According to the report, “In Texas, both economics and risk considerations dictate that much of the produced water will continue to be injected in deep wells or used as fracturing fluid to minimize impacts on other water sources.” The TAMEST report goes further, saying there are “potential negative impacts of trace contaminants in produced water that might limit their beneficial use” outside the oilfield.
There’s no doubt that water management in the oilfield can and should be improved.