By Erin Smith
Chemours was ordered by North Carolina officials to make bottled water available to eight more residents after their wells tested positive for GenX levels above the state established guidelines. Officials with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services have scheduled a second information session for October 5th.
The second information session will be conducted in the gymnasium at Grays Creek Elementary School located at 2964 School Road, Hope Mills. The state conducted an earlier information on Sept. 14th at St. Pauls Middle School.
Chemours has been testing residential wells for the presence of GenX only and the NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has been testing residential wells for the presence of GenX and two other PFOAs which have been found in the Cape Fear River. The preliminary results of state testing on residential wells showed the presence of GenX in seven wells tested by DEQ. In addition, none of the seven wells showed excessive amounts of PFOA or PFOS but one or both compounds were found in three wells.
According to a release from DEQ, the majority of the positive test results were found in wells located to the north of the Chemours Fayetteville Works facility.
The total number of residential wells which have tested positive for GenX contamination has now reached 19. The state’s recommended level of exposure to GenX is 140 parts per trillion. Both Chemours and state officials have begun testing of residential wells after 13 of 14 groundwater test wells located on the Chemours property were found to be tainted with GenX.
Bladen County Operations Manager Kip McClarey said Bladen County has sent samples from six wells and the county water system to be tested for the presence of GenX. The wells which were sampled were located closest to Chemours and the Cape Fear River. The six county wells being tested are located in Tar Heel, Mt. Horeb (East Arcadia near the Lock and Dam No. 1), Tobermory, Dublin, White Oak and White Lake.
“We don’t have all of the test results in yet,” said McClarey.
He did say county officials are not seeing anything of concern at this point. McClarey said in 2015, the county tested the wells for some of the PFOA compounds which were in use at that time and the all of the tests were negative. McClarey said those tests were for PFOA compounds which were in use prior to GenX.
McClarey said the county’s wells draw water from two different aquifers — the Cape Fear aquifer and the Blacks Creek aquifer. McClarey said the entry point for the water which recharges the Cape Fear aquifer is in Harnett County and the entry point for the water which recharges the Blacks Creek aquifer is located in Sampson County.
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