CFPUA board chairman’s July 24 GenX morning update

Mike Brown, CFPUA Board chairman, will provide two daily updates—one morning and one afternoon—with information on activity surrounding GenX. Updates will be provided each weekday. Below please find Chairman Mike Brown’s morning update on Governor Coopers’ Wilmington visit today and GenX water sample test results.

Governor Cooper was in Wilmington this morning to meet with local officials to talk about the State’s next steps to address GenX in the Cape Fear River. CFPUA Board Chairman Mike Brown and CFPUA environmental counsel George House were in attendance at this meeting.

The Governor then held a news conference at 10:00 am. During the news conference, Governor Cooper announced that NC DEQ is going to deny Chemours permit request to release GenX. CFPUA is appreciative of this commitment by NC DEQ and the Governor, and hopes that the prohibitions within the permit will be expanded to not only include GenX but other related per-fluorinated compounds.

As reported by the Star News, the Governor outlined steps to clean up the water. To read those, click here.

Finally, the Office of the Governor shared Water Quality Action Items to interested parties. A PDF of that document can be found here.

• NC Attorney General Josh Stein sent a certified letter to Chemours on Friday to notify the company of a civil investigative demand and to require them to submit records for inspection. Click here to read the full letter.
• Late Friday afternoon, CFPUA received additional GenX water sample data collected from the Sweeney Water Plant on July 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18. Some results are above the NCDHHS recommended health goal of GenX in parts per trillion (ppt). CFPUA immediately contacted NCDHHS and is seeking guidance on next steps. The most recent data is highlighted below:

In keeping with NCDHHS guidance – which is the only measure CFPUA is able to operate under at this time—we are reporting that the most recent sample results include levels above the health goal of 140 ppt. We remain committed to being open and transparent to the public on this important matter. For that reason, we are reporting this finding. We will continue to share more results with the public on future sample test data as soon as it is available.

In today’s news conference, NC DHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen stated that “she would recommend people continue to drink the water.”However, for customers who prefer water from an alternate source, CFPUA is offering free water from a ground source. This water is treated at CFPUA’s nanofiltration plant. On July 13, CFPUA sampled water at this Richardson Nanofiltration Plant—which serves the free water station at Ogden Park—for GenX and it was not detected. This water is supplied by aquifers that have not been affected by Chemours’ discharge of GenX.

Residential CFPUA customers may fill their clean personal containers at New Hanover County’s Ogden Park near the tennis courts at 615 Ogden Park Drive. This is available daily from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

CFPUA remains committed to providing the highest quality drinking water for our customers. We will continue to prioritize communication and transparency as we seek additional information.

• Click here to view Friday’s GenX results. CFPUA encourages the public to check our website and social media channels for updates as this continues to unfold. We are committed to transparency, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with you through the duration of this process.