Thus far, seventeen (17) different PFAS analytes have been detected in the Jamestown/PTRWA public water system via testing conducted by residential customers/private citizens, the NC Department of Environmental Quality, the Environmental Protection Agency, and local utility departments.
PRIVATE RESIDENTS’ TEST RESULTS
This is an ongoing round-up of PFAS tests conducted by residents in Jamestown, High Point and Greensboro. Tests for 1,4 Dioxane, VOCs and metals are more expensive and thus our residential water data for those is more limited. View our master PFAS TEST RESULTS spreadsheet HERE.
APRIL 14, 2025 – This round provides our first look at PFAS levels in local FILTERED tap water. The results are from samples drawn from two water sources that use filtration systems: (1) a residence in the Town of Jamestown on the Jamestown/PTRWA/Randleman Lake public water system, and (2) a residence in Sedgefield with a private well. The filtration systems are NOT reverse-osmosis systems. Results are shown below:
A January 2025 tap water sample from a home in Forestdale East returned the highest aggregate number of PFAS since residents began testing their water two years ago (below left).
CITY OF HIGH POINT PUBLIC WATER SYSTEM: January 2025 tap water testing by a City of High Point water customer decreased slightly from a November test round:
PRIVATE WELL TESTS
A private well at a residence in Sedgefield was tested in February, 2025. The results found four different PFAS analytes, even though the home has a filtration system:
Two private wells were sampled in September 2024 – one at a home on Harvey Road between Riverdale and MLK Jr Drive, and the other at a home near Vickery Chapel Road and Reddicks Creek. The Vickery/Reddicks well sample had the highest PFAS levels of all of the residential samples to date, while the Harvey Road well sample had the lowest:
SURFACE WATER (in-stream) tests show PFAS in Deep River and Bull Run within town limits: Tests conducted on samples drawn from Bull Run and Deep River in the middle of town found eight PFAS (see below). The PFAS concentrations in town were approximately 30% lower than the Jamestown tap water samples:
MASTER SPREADSHEET, INCLUDING PUBLIC UTILITIES AND STATE RESULTS
Testing by the public utilities and state has yielded increasingly higher PFAS numbers. The following spreadsheet includes some of those results, and is updated with new results as they become available (and as our time allows). If you have test results to add to our list, please send them to susan@thejamestowner9.com.
View our PFAS MASTER SPREADSHEET of Test Results HERE, or at the link below:
WHY THE “AGGREGATE” PFAS NUMBER MATTERS (tap image to read):
UCMR5 PFAS TESTING
From 2022 to 2024, thousands of public water systems across the country tested for PFAS and reported the results to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as mandated by the Safe Drinking Water Act 5th Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring RULE (“UCMR5”).
The Town of Jamestown/PTRWA stopped UCMR5 PFAS testing and reporting in November 2023. In January 2024, PTRWA began submitting to the EPA the results of testing it conducts at an Archdale water connection. The most recent results reported to the EPA (from the July 2024 Archdale sample) show the highest PFOS level to date for PTRWA/Randleman Lake: 10.6 PPT.
Here’s an easier way to look at the PFAS numbers and last test dates for High Point, Archdale, Greensboro and Jamestown from the Environmental Working Group, one of several national databases that collects and reports water quality information. Click on the images to enlarge:
PFPrA DETECTED IN RANDLEMAN AND HIGH POINT CITY LAKES – In 2022, PFPrA (an ultra-short-chain analyte once thought to be unique to the DuPont/Chemours plant 100 miles downstream on the Cape Fear) was detected in Randleman Lake at levels ranging from 6.61 PPT to 9.83 PPT, and in High Point City Lake at levels ranging from 2.23 PPT to 17.1 PPT. See story and sources HERE.
ABOUT PFAS
The FEDERAL LIMIT for PFOS and PFOA in public drinking water supplies nationwide is 4 ppt (parts per trillion). There are thousands of different PFAS analytes but only a handful of these contaminants have been tested and studied well enough to trigger monitoring requirements and limits on their discharge into our waterways by landfills, metal workers, and manufacturers of PVC, plastics, resin, printing compositions, packaging, lacquers and chemicals.
PFAS bioaccumulate. They build up in our bodies over time. More PFAS analytes = bigger impact on our health. It’s worse when there are more than one PFAS analyte in your water.
PFAS never go away (which is why they’re called “forever chemicals”). Like 1,4-Dioxane (which is also in our PTRWA/Jamestown drinking water), you can’t filter it out with refrigerator cartridges.
Since 2010, PTRWA/Randleman Lake has been selling its finished drinking water to Jamestown, Greensboro, High Point, Archdale and Randleman.