At least 17 PFAS compounds have been detected in Jamestown’s public water system since mandatory EPA testing began in February 2023. High Point and Greensboro’s water is just as bad, if not worse.

In North Carolina’s lower Cape Fear coastal communities, homes in which the combined PFAS levels are greater than 10 PPT get a reverse osmosis system (for wells) or $75 in water bill credits for 20 years (for public system customers) – paid for by Dupont/Chemours. The combined PFAS numbers for Jamestown, High Point and (especially) Greensboro are higher.

Here’s what other N.C. communities are doing about it:

1. In 2019, the Southern Environmental Law Center pushed the city of Burlington to enforce the Clean Water Act to reduce pollution coming from its WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT. “The way that the law is set up, is that it gives community groups and citizen groups the chance to go to step into the state’s shoes when the state’s not enforcing the law,” SELC attorney Geoff Gisler said. A 2019 NOTICE OF INTENT TO SUE led to water testing in Burlington that revealed just how bad the pollution was and who the polluters were (two textile manufacturers). In August, a landmark settlement changed Burlington’s CITY PERMITS to require the companies to use CLOSED LOOP SYSTEMS. That means their contamination doesn’t end up in the treatment plant and Haw River.
2. Greensboro is currently in year three of complying with a Consent Order from a lawsuit brought against the city by the Haw River Assembly and City of Fayetteville (for contaminating downstream communities with high levels of 1,4-Dioxane). 1-4 Dioxane has characteristics similar to PFAS, and requires treatment with expensive UV (ultraviolet) technology. The monitoring component of Greensboro’s remediation program includes strict sampling, reporting, and public alerts about 1,4 Dioxane in the area’s drinking water reservoirs.
3. In 2020, the Haw River Assembly and the City of Burlington reached a memorandum of agreement to identify and reduce sources of 1,4-Dioxane. Burlington is required to notify downstream Haw River communities via public notice and press releases when there is a discharge.
4. As mentioned earlier, DuPont/ Chemours is providing alternative water supplies (reverse osmosis) and water bill reimbursement to customers in NC coastal communities based on a 2019 consent order between Chemours, the NC DEQ and Cape Fear River Watch. As part of that agreement, in homes where water testing shows COMBINED PFAS levels higher than 10 PPT, Chemours pays a maximum of $75,000 per household for installation and maintenance of alternative (reverse osmosis) water systems; for homes connected to a public system, the company must pay up to $75 per month for water bills for 20 years. Chemours also pays for the water testing (Jamestown residents have been paying between $200 and $300 each for PFAS, VOC and 1,4-Dioxane tests).
5. NC Attorney General Josh Stein has filed lawsuits against manufacturers of AFFF, a fire fighting foam that contains PFOA and PFOS – the most notorious of the PFAS chemicals as they are associated with immune system suppression, increased risk of childhood infections, high cholesterol, thyroid disease, cancer, and other illnesses. One of the lawsuits relates to contamination at Piedmont Triad International Airport where groundwater samples show the concentrations of PFOS reaching 8,000 PPT, way above EPA’s health advisory level of 4 PPT. The PFAS contamination from the airport “may” have migrated offsite and “may cause impacts to the surrounding area,” according to an NC Department of Justice press release.
6. The town of PITTSBORO is suing more than 20 companies that made forever chemicals or sold the firefighting foam containing them, alleging the products contributed to the contamination of the Haw River from which the town draws its drinking water. The lawsuit, filed earlier this year in Chatham County Superior Court, states the companies continued to sell the products for decades despite knowing about the risks associated with PFAS. Pittsboro draws its drinking water from the Haw River, which sampling has shown contains high levels of PFAS chemicals.
7. Pittsboro is also one of 80 communities statewide that are receiving nearly $500 million to upgrade water quality, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure — thanks to ARPA and infrastructure federal dollars from two major bills Congress passed in 2021.
8. This August, the Southern Environmental Law Center, on behalf of the Yadkin Riverkeeper and Cape Fear River Watch,  petitioned the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission for a ruling requiring the Department of Environmental Quality to consistently apply existing law to protect all families and communities in North Carolina from industrial water pollution—including PFAS and cancer-causing 1,4-dioxane.  The petition asks for technology-based controls to be required and enforced in ALL discharge permits, placing the responsibility for stopping pollution where it belongs – on the POLLUTER, instead of on the residents of North Carolina communities. The petition asks the commission to require DEQ to evaluate existing pollution-control technologies for all industrial facilities and impose limits based on those technologies in permits moving forward. 

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This table is what the data looks like for each town and test location in the EPA’s UCMR excel spreadsheets. The results are shown in the yellow column on the far right, in parts per billion. To convert to parts per trillion, move the decimal three spots to the right.

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NC NEWSLINE first reported this story in September, noting that Jamestown is one of 11 North Carolina public water systems that had tested positive for unsafe levels of PFAS in its drinking water system.

According to the story, Jamestown is one of FOUR water systems in the state of North Carolina that has never participated in the reporting of PFAS test results until now. Read the story HERE.

Reporter Lisa Sorg said that Jamestown purchases its water from Greensboro and High Point, and that elevated levels of PFAS have been found in Greensboro and High Point’s water supplies since 2019.

Jamestown’s water is sourced from Randleman Lake (PTRWA), and routed to Jamestown through pipes owned by Greensboro and High Point.

In Jamestown’s 2022 Water Planning Report, (which is completed by the town public utilities director and filed each year with the NCDEQ), section 3 states “We (Jamestown) purchase most of our water from PTRWA and that water is routed through the distribution system lines of Greensboro and High Point.” 

In her story, Sorg says that PFAS test information “… is not on the Jamestown government website. Nor is it on the DEQ website because the town didn’t participate in state sampling conducted last year (2022).“

She continues: “Paul Blanchard, Jamestown’s director of public services, told NC Newsline that the town plans to update the public about PFAS via its Town Council meetings, which are recorded and broadcast on YouTube. At the next meeting, Oct. 24, the council plans to hear from their Greensboro and High Point utilities officials to provide information about treatment options. However, it would be difficult to sift through an entire Town Council meeting to find the portion where PFAS is discussed.”