Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed new rules for limiting PFAS in drinking water, saying these compounds pose health risks. It’s estimated that nearly half the drinking water in our country has PFAS.
For example, residents in the Roanoke Valley learned last year that equipment from a company called Chemours had contaminated a reservoir with a compound called Gen X. The Western Virginia Water Authority installed filters, and says the water now reaching customers is safe to drink. However, the contamination had likely been going on for several years.
Meanwhile, in North Carolina, residents learned they too were exposed to Gen X for decades, after Chemours discharged the compound in the Cape Fear River. Residents in North Carolina were exposed to levels of GenX at almost 140 thousand parts per trillion. For context, residents in the Roanoke area were exposed to 62 ppt, a much smaller level.
Radio IQ’s Roxy Todd talked with Kelly Kenoyer, a reporter with WHQR in Wilmington, North Carolina, to learn how clean-up efforts have been playing out in that state.
To hear more about the contamination of Gen X into the Roanoke River in Virginia, listen to a conversation between Todd and Kenoyer, which aired on WHQR.
