After Brunswick Co. fires back, Belville clarifies statement on GenX

BRUNSWICK COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — The Town of Belville is clarifying a statement it made concerning GenX, after Brunswick County fired back, calling the statement Belville released ‘inaccurate and sensationalistic.’

It stems from H2Go’s surprise move Tuesday night, when the Board of Commissioners voted to move the utility’s assets to Belville to preserve the work on the Reverse Osmosis Plant.

Belville released a statement, saying in part “Levels of GenX and other contaminants have been severely under reported. Who would stop, blunt or undermine a clean water alternative to a known, polluted water source?”

In response, Brunswick County released the following, “Since the discovery of contaminants being discharged into the Cape Fear River, Brunswick County has been committed to open and honest dialogue about this challenging situation.  We have extended this same commitment to our valued municipal partners, and have trusted that they would act in a similarly responsible way. However, the recent claim from the Town of Belville that “levels of GenX and other contaminants have been severely under reported” is completely baseless.  This type of unfounded speculation has no place in public discourse, and it only serves to confuse citizens.”

Not long after that, Mike McGill with public relations firm WaterPIO, sent a statement on behalf of the Town of Belville, saying there was a misunderstanding about a line in the news release.

“The sentence, “Levels of GenX and other contaminants have been severely under reported,” was not meant to infer that local water utilities are withholding test results from their customers. Instead, it was meant to state our concern about the lack of information that has been relayed to the public over the years about the contaminants being found in the Cape Fear River.” it reads.  “Yesterday, we learned tests are underway to gather data on Nafion 1 and 2, contaminants where there is little known about their health effects. As the StarNews reported, its levels in the Cape Fear River do not appear to be dropping. We hope this clears up the confusion.”