By Erin Smith
Some Bladen County residents living along NC 41 East and in the Bay Tree Lakes community have reported receiving a water sampling kit in the mail asking for them to submit a small water sample to a Greensboro company. Kip McClary, Bladen County General Services Manager, said Bladen County officials have not authorized any company to perform testing of water samples on behalf of the county.
“As required in the permits held by the Bladen County Water District uses certified laboratories to test the water supplied to its customers in compliance with the North Carolina Division of Environmental Quality, Division of Water Resources and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Safe Drinking Water Act,” said McClary.
He said all official testing for GenX and other PFAs being done by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality or Chemours officials on residential wells is taking place in the Grays Creek and Tobermory locations.
The mailers are addressed to postal patrons on a rural route and include a postage paid return envelope addressed to DVR Labs in care of Carolina Fresh Water of Greensboro and a blue form to be completed and returned by the resident. McClary said more than likely the company is using the recent GenX scare to target potential customers for home filtration systems.
McClary said, “Should it become necessary for the Bladen County Water District to do additional testing customers will be notified by official public announcements and official notices.”
If residents have questions about their water, McClary said the results of the county’s tests are posted online at the official Bladen County website under Departments – Public Works, or by typing in your browser: https://bladennc.govoffice3.com/eb2017 or https://bladennc.govoffice3.com/wb2017.
A similar incident involving the same company was reported to have ocurred in September 2017 in Brunswick County. In that incident, customers of Brunswick County’s H2Go were solicited for water samples with a similar mailer.
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