DEQ-CFW_00081182

Michael S. Regan, Secretary
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Release: FdMEDIATE Contact: Jamie Kritzer
Date: Aug. 2, 2017 Phone: [phone]
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RALEIGH — Concentrations of GenX in the Cape Fear River are trending downward and all of the latest test results in
finished drinking water show that concentrations of the unregulated chemical compound are below the state's public health
goal.
The state's latest test results were released Wednesday and reflect conditions in the Cape Fear River July 17-24 when the
N.C. Department of Environmental Quality completed its fifth and sixth weeks of testing. The state DEQ and the N.C.
Department of Health and Human Services have been investigating the presence of GenX in the Cape Fear River since June
19. That investigation and pressure from residents and local officials prompted Chemours, the company manufacturing the
unregulated chemical, to stop discharging GenX into the Cape Fear.
"The good news is we have seen the levels of GenX below the state's health goal at the finished drinking water sites and
are continuing to decrease significantly since Chemours stopped discharging this compound into the river," said Michael
Regan, secretary of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality. "We will continue to investigate and will share the
results of our investigation with the public in a timely fashion."
Testing has been completed at multiple sites raw and finished (treated) drinking water at and near the Chemours facility in
Fayetteville where GenX was being made and downstream in the Wilmington area where most public water systems are
located.
the state remained below the 140 parts per trillion health goal developed last week by the N.C. Department of Health and
Human Services. The health goal represents the concentration of GenX at which no adverse non -cancer health effects
would be anticipated over an entire lifetime of exposure to the most sensitive populations. State officials stress that some
fluctuation in results is expected for measurements in the parts -per -trillion range.
Staff with the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality will sample the water in the Cape Fear River for an unregulated
chemical compound known as GenX starting today and continuing Thursday.
DEQ staff will sample at 13 locations this week and will continue collecting samples for analysis in the same locations for
the next three weeks. Today, DEQ staff in the Fayetteville regional office are collecting water samples at the Chemours
plant that produces GenX during industrial processes, the Bladen Bluff intake and their finished water, and a water supply
well in Bladen County.
On Thursday, DEQ staff in the Wilmington regional office plan to sample the Lower Cape Fear Water and Sewer
Authority's intake, the International Paper intake, the International Paper finished water, the Cape Fear Public Utility
Authority's finished water, the Pender County public utility's finished water, the Brunswick County public utility's
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finished water, the Cape Fear Public Utility's Aquifer Storage and Recovery well, and the Wrightsville Beach water supply
well.
Officials are waiting three days between sampling events since that is the estimated travel time for the Cape Fear to flow
the '70 miles from the Chemours plant in Fayetteville to the downstream river int-ikes near Wilmington. Officials are trying
to sample similar water parcels in the two areas foi- a. more consistent and representative analysis.
DEQ staff, in consultation with state Department of Health and Human Services, are investigating the presence of the
unregulated compound known as GenX that was detected in the Cape Fear River.
State environmental regulators will collect the water samples and will send those to two laboratories capable of detecting
GenX in water at low concentrations.
After meeting with DEQ staff last week, Chemours agreed to bear all costs for the water collection and testing. The state
believes the completed results will be back from the laboratory in Colorado within four weeks from when the samples are
received. But multiple rounds of testing and analysis will be necessary for a meaningful evaluation of the water quality.
Samples also will be sent to the Environmental Protection Agency's lab in the Research Triangle Park. Officials have not
yet determined a timeline for when analysis from the EPA lab would be completed.
To learn more about sampling locations, please contact Jamie Kritzer, communications director for DEQ, at 919-707-8602.
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DEQ-CFW 00081183