[Link to our PFAS MASTER SPREADSHEET of test results through May, 2025 HERE]
It is NOT the public’s responsibility to pay for the PFAS and 1,4-Dioxane polluters’ cleanup costs. The Clean Water Act authorizes states and local governments to require and enforce cleanup by industrial polluters, at the polluters’ expense. That’s the point of the federal UCMR safe drinking water regulations as former NC Environmental Secretary Elizabeth Biser said in her May 2, 2024 press statement. Go to this link to view 1,4-Dioxane test results for some of the Deep River industrial polluters. PFAS sampling has detected SEVENTEEN (17) PFAS ANALYTES IN OUR PUBLIC WATER SYSTEM so far (click the link for details).
Here’s what we know about the pollution and contamination sources here in the Upper Deep River and Randleman Lake watershed. The list continues to grow. Send us a note if you know of more or want to provide information. Let us know if you want to remain anonymous.
INNOSPEC ACTIVE CHEMICALS (located in High Point, discharges to Eastside and Richland/Deep) – Prior to this 2024 test result for 1,4-DIOXANE, the NCDEQ expressed concerns about 1,4-Dioxane discharge flowing into Richland Creek/Deep River from this High Point facility. See the Pretreatment Report about halfway down the article, HERE; if you can’t read it, the Pretreatment Report documents are in HERE (a Dropbox folder).
We are looking for more info on CINTAS CORPORATION, which is located in Greensboro. There is no file on this Greensboro CINTAS location in the NCDEQ public records.
Here are first-time PFAS numbers (September 2024) for TEKNOR APEX (formerly VIKING POLYMERS). This company sits in the woods off Main Street in Jamestown, completely out of view, behind STAPLES LLC at the corner of Main Street and Dillon Road. It’s a chemical company, maker of PVC building materials, vinyl PFAS is a byproduct of PVC and polymers. Public records state that it discharges wastewater to a tributary to Deep River – one document says it discharges to Deep River from the “roof.” Other documents say it discharges somewhere on Wade Avenue in Jamestown. There is very little in the State of North Carolina public records about this company.
In the 2024 Pretreatment Report for High Point Eastside Wastewater Plant, PFAS TEST RESULTS for Teknor Apex’s untreated industrial wastewater is included for the first time. The lab that did the testing, Enthalpy Analytical, appears to be incapable of detecting PFAS at low levels. Its “minimum detection level” for some of the PFAS analytes is in the double digits. The result for PFBA, for example, is “less than 16.0 parts per trillion” which means the result is somewhere between 1.0 ppt (parts per trillion) and 15.99ppt (shown below).
By comparison, the commercial Cyclopure tests used by local residents to test their water, and the tests used by the Environmental Protection Agency, are capable of detecting PFAS levels beginning at 1.0 parts per trillion.
These Deep River surface water samples were drawn by Jamestown residents upstream from, but within view of, Teknor Apex’s outfall to Deep River. The samples were also drawn in the fall of last year:
KERSEY VALLEY LANDFILL – Owner: CITY OF HIGH POINT. Discharges to a tributary to Richland Creek/Deep River and sends 2.3 million gallons of leachate to Eastside Wastewater Treatment Plant via sewer pipes. In its April 2023 SEMI ANNUAL water monitoring report (which is the most recent water monitoring report in the public records), it is noted that cobalt, barium, zinc, nickel and 1,4 Dioxane were detected at levels above North Carolina 2L groundwater standards. In its 2024 Leachate Generation and Management Report, the City of High Point stated that it sends 2,360,000 gallons of leachate annually to Eastside WWTP in Jamestown (about a mile south of the landfill) for treatment, for which it pays an annual total cost of only $50,000 to Eastside. The landfill has been under a monitoring program for 1,4 Dioxane since elevated levels were found in 2019.
JACKSON LAKE ROAD LANDFILL (25-acre PreRegulatory/UNLINED Landfill) – Owner: CITY OF HIGH POINT. Discharges and leaches to a tributary to Richland Creek/Deep River (confirmed 1,4 Dioxane source).
GFL ENVIRONMENTAL C&D LANDFILL – This landfill, owned by a Canadian company sits next to Kersey Valley Landfill in Jamestown 27282, on Riverdale Road. For years, it has gone by the name “WI High Point Landfill.” The “WI” stands for Waste Industries, previous owner. It enjoys lax permitting and monitoring by the City of High Point even though it leaches and sends water runoff to Deep River. In its most recent annual waste management report, the GFL Operations Manager said there are two waterbodies within 1,500 feet of the landfill’s edge of waste. However, engineers who performed a January 2023 groundwater assessment said “there are three small unnamed streams that traverse the site and flow into an unnamed tributary of Richland Creek, which forms the southern property boundary.” What neither of them say is that everything flows into Richland Creek AT Deep River.
GFL sends some of its wastewater to Robeson County “as a preventive measure” according to the Environmental Health Specialist who was on site for a June 2024 compliance inspection. Item number 34 of the inspection report notes that three wells were installed along the east side of the landfill to hold “about 6,000 gallons of leachate” pumped out per day that GFL sends to the City of Lumberton wastewater treatment plant. (GFL says it pays the City of Lumberton to accept contaminated landfill leachate from GFL’s massive Sampson County Landfill.)
In that June 2024 inspection report, the NCDEQ notes show that GFL is authorized to dispose up to a limit of 98,600 tons of waste annually yet the report shows an overage (115,027 tons). When the NCDEQ inspector asked about the overage, the GFL employee showed the inspector a new agreement GFL has with the City of High Point dated May 6, 2024, stating that “the High Point City Council voted unanimously” to MORE THAN DOUBLE GFL Landfill’s allowable tonnage – to 218,400 tons. Since then, TWO FIRES have occurred at the landfill.
SEABOARD CHEMICAL DUMP /Inactive High Point Landfill, Guilford County, sits on Deep River. Owner: CITY OF HIGH POINT. This site is more than 100 acres, and it sits between Deep River and Riverdale Drive, across the street from (and upstream from) Eastside Wastewater Treatment Plant. It has been leaching and draining directly to Deep River, the soil, and groundwater for more than 30 years. This is an inactive, highly contaminated site that was abandoned when the owners declared bankruptcy. It’s a mess. Latest reports (2025) show high concentrations of PFAS, 1,4 DIOXANE and VOCs (benzene, vinyl chloride, chlorobenzene and more) continue. In August 2024, METHANE GAS was detected at levels above the “explosive” limit.
WILEY DAVIS LANDFILL – Owner: D.H. GRIFFIN. Inactive landfill, leaches and discharges to a tributary to Deep River (Reddicks Creek and/or Jenny’s Branch). Investigative reporting by the Greensboro News & Record raised awareness about water contamination from the site causing illnesses in nearby neighborhoods:
Here’s the Wiley Davis Landfill historical file:
EASTSIDE WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT – Owner: CITY OF HIGH POINT. Discharges to Deep River. Too to write about this one. It has its own section, HERE. Noncompliant, expired permit, six-figure fines for dirty emissions and contaminants. BUT, the state is trying to push through an EXPANSION of capacity – from 26 million gallons per day to 32 million gallons per day – to handle all these new residential developments and the manufacturers/companies that have been given millions of dollars in incentives to set up their plastics, packaging, airplane, electric battery and chip-making businesses here. The problem is, Eastside can’t even handle the 26 million gallons per day currently running through its facility. OH – and Jamestown is paying for $13 MILLION of this dirty expansion.
THOMAS BUSES – Scroll halfway down THIS POST to read what we just found out about this one. Located in High Point, this big guy has its own “priority” wastewater pipeline from High Point to Eastside Wastewater Treatment Plant and Deep River. NCDEQ files state that Thomas Buses is a big discharger of “lead and lead compounds.” See their Pretreatment Report about halfway down the article HERE; if you can’t read it, the Pretreatment Report documents are in HERE (a Dropbox folder).
FORTRESS WOOD PRODUCTS – Owner: LESTER PROPERTIES. This 18-acre contaminated site at the corner of MacKay and West Gate City Blvd is highly contaminated and has been leaching into groundwater that flows into Bull Run/Deep River. It won “Brownfield” status last July. It has been listed for sale by a Martinsville, Va. company called Lester Properties, whose family of brands includes Fortress Wood Products, the contaminator of the site. Here’s the kicker: Brownfield designation isn’t supposed to be given to the same company that contaminated the property – that would be like rewarding them for not cleaning it up. Here, however, the company that contaminated the property DID get the reward.
ALBERDINGK BOLEY – chemical company headquartered in Krefeld, Germany; founded in 1772 by Hendrik Alberdingk, privately owned. CEO is Thomas Baur. Discharges to Bull Run/Deep River via several outfalls and lax monitoring of wastewater tanks that overflow and spill. This facility is also emitting hazardous stuff into the air in this residential and commercial area, across the street from PUBLIX, Chick Fil A, and the Shops at Grandover. Both Alberdingk Boley (and the GTCC Advanced Manufacturing complex next to it), sit on a 60+ acre contaminated Brownfield property that was once a BURLINGTON INDUSTRIES plant. Bull Run runs parallel to this entire stretch of contaminated acreage within the new D.R. Horton 1,500-home development in Jamestown, that is currently being cleared and graded, stirring up all kinds of dust:
HIGHLAND CONTAINER aka HOOD Industries – Corrugated cardboard packaging manufacturer on 7 acres, on Main Street, in the middle of town. It’s been there a LONG time. We’ll call it Highland since that’s how Jamestowners know it. All of Highland Container’s information in the EPA’s ECHO database is outdated, the address is wrong, the name is wrong, the NPDES Stormwater permit is for the wrong industry (apparel piecing/cutting instead of corrugated cardboard manufacturing), so a Jamestown resident brought it to the attention of the EPA using this LINK. The EPA notified the NCDEQ, someone was sent to take a look, and they found: the Stormwater (NPDES) permit is expired, the name of the company is out of date, no monitoring of water discharge is taking place, and they’re operating without a STORMWATER POLLUTION PREVENTION PLAN.
STAPLES LLC, corner of Main Street and Dillon Road – This rundown brick building and site is a contaminated Superfund site. Former owner is a metal fasteners manufacturer called L.P. Staples/Powerline Fasteners. A memo to the file states that this former manufacturing facility also had a toxic waste lagoon (like Monarch Furniture on N. Scientific). Groundwater sampling at Staples in June, 1993, found 23,000 ppb of Acetone and 6 ppb of perchloroethylene. VOCs and petroleum hydrocarbons were also found in the groundwater. In April 1993, Pyrene, chrysene and benzo-anthracene were found in soil samples. On site excavation revealed leaking pipes and other problems. In July and August 1994, monitoring wells found high levels of acetone, tetrachloroethane, and bis (ethylhexy) phthalate. Present condition is unknown but nothing appears to be going on at the site.
UNIVAR CHEMICAL (Formerly CHEMCENTRAL) – contaminated Superfund site – leaking and leaching of chemicals from tanks stored in underground tank farm on the site; leaches/groundwater flows to tributary to Deep River. UNIVAR enjoys lax permitting that requires little monitoring – except there is some sort of fixed groundwater monitoring program in place due to leftover contamination from their underground tank farm. More on that – and the TCE and PCE under Main Street – is HERE.
RIVERDALE GLOBAL – this is the former MONARCH FURNITURE/CHROMECRAFT FURNITURE site at 301 N. Scientific. It’s number 82 on the state of North Carolina’s Inactive HAZARDOUS WASTE sites. There’s a “toxic lagoon” on the property. Riverdale Global is the Pennsylvania company that owns both 301 N. Scientific and the property next to it, 600 N. Scientific. The contaminated half is zoned in Jamestown. The “clean” half is zoned in High Point. The 24/7 water pipe is on the High Point side of the property, but it flows onto the Jamestown side of the property, to a tributary to Deep River. Don’t know who’s responsible, but SOMEBODY needs to clean it up.
102 WEST MAIN STREET, JAMESTOWN – contaminated and empty, this is a former “A Cleaner World” drycleaner, beneath which a contaminated groundwater plume runs southwest to the property next door, and a tributary to Deep River. See recent vapor intrusion reports HERE. Also sits directly across the street from UNIVAR and its underground tank farm.
109 EAST MAIN STREET, JAMESTOWN – contaminated and empty, this is a former print shop beneath which the contaminated plume flows. See “102 EAST MAIN STREET” above.
MICKEY TRUCK BODIES – located in High Point, one of the biggest 1,4-Dioxane dischargers to RIchland/Deep River. See the Pretreatment Report about halfway down the article, HERE; if you can’t read it, the Pretreatment Report documents are in HERE (a Dropbox folder).
TERRA NOVA SOLUTIONS (located in High Point, discharges to Eastside and Richland/Deep). See the Pretreatment Report about halfway down the article, HERE; if you can’t read it, the Pretreatment Report documents are in HERE (a Dropbox folder).
SLANE FAIRFIELD (located in High Point, discharges to Eastside and Richland/Deep). See the Pretreatment Report about halfway down the article, HERE; if you can’t read it, the Pretreatment Report documents are in HERE (a Dropbox folder).
PANTHEON SOFTGELS (located in High Point, discharges to Eastside and Richland/Deep). See the Pretreatment Report about halfway down the article, HERE; if you can’t read it, the Pretreatment Report documents are in HERE (a Dropbox folder).
SAFEGUARD (located in High Point, discharges to Eastside and Richland/Deep). See the Pretreatment Report about halfway down the article, HERE; if you can’t read it, the Pretreatment Report documents are in HERE (a Dropbox folder).
CUSTOM DRUM SERVICES (located in High Point, discharges to Eastside and Richland/Deep). See the Pretreatment Report about halfway down the article, HERE; if you can’t read it, the Pretreatment Report documents are in HERE (a Dropbox folder).
APAC ASPHALT – located on Riverdale Drive in Jamestown; hazardous superfund site that has enjoyed lax permitting and monitoring since 2015. A 2016 memo to the NCDEQ’s APAC file concerning 1,4 DIOXANE said this facility should be sampled for 1,4 DIOXANE. No records exist to indicate this has been done. Contaminated groundwater circle extends to a schoolyard with 900 K-12 kids enrolled. Drains to Copper Branch, WSIV-CA drinking water supply to Deep River. Despite the lack of information, and desppite the fact that Copper Branch practically runs right across this asphalt plant, the NCDEQ told them to just keep doing whatever they’re doing.
DIVERSIFIED TECHNOLOGIES – circuit boards, electroplating. Another key source of contaminants, has had violations in the past, but no monitoring in recent years. Located on WADE STREET in Jamestown, the back of this building faces LENNOX DRIVE (where the town wants to allow rezoning for two new residential buildings).
HIGH POINT MATERIALS RECOVERY – Owned by CITY OF HIGH POINT. This is a reclamation/recycling operation, located in a building on the banks of Deep River in Jamestown, on Riverdale Drive. Little is known. There are no records to indicate the NCDEQ is monitoring their discharge and/or leachate for 1,4 DIOXANE or ANY contaminants.
PIEDMONT LAKE LANDFILL (drives all of its dredge to Kersey Valley Landfill to dump). Unknown what is in their “dredge” but the Army Corps of Engineers deemed it too unsuitable for their (Piedmont’s) landfill – which flows to High Point City Lake – so they drive it to Kersey Valley to be dumped in Jamestown’s water system.
PTI AIRPORT – At least six lawsuits have been filed against PFAS and for PFOA/firefighting foam manufacturers by North Carolina Attorney General JOSH STEIN.
After years of studying the effects of Dupont/Chemour’s contaminant discharges into the LOWER CAPE FEAR RIVER BASIN water system, local communities and towns can hopefully feel a bit relieved knowing that research scientists, hydrogeologists, universities and National Institutes of Health decision-makers are looking at the disturbingly high levels of industrial contaminants in the UPPER CAPE FEAR RIVER BASIN – in which the Randleman and Deep River Watersheds sit.
Because of the Upper Deep River’s multi-generational legacy as a designated “waste stream” for North Carolina’s furniture, textiles, air and chemical manufacturers … 1,4-DIOXANE and PFAS contamination is nothing new to industrial and waste facilities in Jamestown and southern Guilford County. The State of North Carolina Public Records Archives are filled with surveys, inspection reports… even an expensive failed phytoremediation and UV initiative for 1,4 Dioxane removal at the Seaboard Chemical Dump Superfund Site on Riverdale Drive.
The public records and files are, however, disturbingly void of cleanup, water sampling, ongoing monitoring, remediation and mitigation initiatives for our neck of the woods.
This list will always be a work in progress and will be updated as we continue to upload, edit and research. If you want to join our information-gathering efforts, drop us a note in the comments section below (mark it “private” it you don’t want it shared). .
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