DEQ-CFW_00081235

Michael S. Regan, Secretary
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Release: PdMEDIATE Contact: Jamie Kritzer
Date: Aug. 2, 2017 Phone: [phone]
EMBARGOED. State's finished drinking water results for GenX below health goal
All results trending downward
RALEIGH — Concentrations of GenX in the Cape Fear River are trending downward and all the latest test results in
finished drinking water show that concentrations of the unregulated chemical compound continue to be 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 17-20 when the
N.C. Department of Environmental Quality completed its fifth week of testing. The state also has partial test results for July
24, when the sixth week of testing started. 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 that the levels of GenX continue to be below the state's health goal at the finished
drinking water sites and are trending downward since Chemours stopped releasing 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."
The state results for drinking water remained below the 140 parts per trillion health goal developed 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.
Water sampling and analysis will continue at finished water sites for the foreseeable future. Also, DEQ officials started this
week conducting groundwater sampling to look for any concentrations of GenX in 18 monitoring wells at Chemours'
facility in Fayetteville. The agency will use the results of the groundwater tests to determine whether sampling is necessary
at any private wells identified near the Chemours facility.
DEQ has created a map on its GenX web page to better illustrate the state's sampling results. Results may be viewed at:
sltes. For more information about the state's
investigation, you can check out the GenX web page at:
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DEQ-CFW-00081235