This map shows the private drinking water wells that have been sampled near the Sampson County landfill near the Snow Hill community. The red dots indicate wells with PFAS levels above the EPA's proposed drinking water standards. Yellow dots signify PFAS were detected but not above those proposed standards. Green means no PFAS were detected. (Map: DEQ)
Sampson County residents who want the state to sample their drinking water well can call 919-707-8200.
Six households in Snow Hill, a predominantly Black community in Sampson County, are receiving bottled water from the state after sampling showed their drinking water wells contained elevated levels of toxic PFAS.
While five of these homes are near the Sampson County landfill, which is known to contain PFAS, state regulators said they have yet to definitively pinpoint the source of the contamination.
“The groundwater doesn’t flow toward those communities, but we knew we needed to do more sampling,” said Michael Scott, director of the Division of Waste Management at a public meeting in Roseboro Nov. 16. “We’re not seeing a direct connection, but this work is in its very early stages, so we can’t derive any final conclusions right now.”
DEQ has sampled 31 wells near the landfill so far, but plans to expand the range as more residents give the agency permission to test their wells. DEQ is sampling for six types of PFAS for which the EPA is proposing drinking water standards, plus others that have been used or produced at the Chemours plant.
There are roughly 15,000 PFAS — short for per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances. This family of compounds has been proven to harm human health, including increasing the risk of testicular, kidney, liver and pancreatic cancers, low birth weight, reproductive disorders, depressed immune responses and high cholesterol. They are widespread in the environment, where they don’t degrade, earning them the nickname “forever chemicals.”
Owned by GFL, the 1,300-acre landfill is the largest in the state and accepts waste from 44 counties in North Carolina. It lies 23 miles northeast of a Chemours plant in Bladen County that long emitted large quantities of the PFAS known as GenX. However, as part of its years-long Chemours investigation, DEQ has found drinking water wells containing PFAS that distance from the chemical facility, “and we’ve not yet found the edge of the contamination,” Scott said.
Some well users in Autryville, which is in Sampson County between Chemours and the landfill, have been given alternate water supplies because the PFAS in their drinking water has been tied back to the chemical company.
A lot of people are frustrated because their groundwater can’t be trusted
– Danielle Koonce
There is a link between Chemours, its predecessor, DuPont, and the Sampson County landfill. For years, the chemical company shipped PFAS-contaminated sludge, including material containing GenX, to the Sampson County landfill.
There are no state rules prohibiting that type of disposal, but DEQ no longer allows Chemours to do so. The company instead ships its PFAS-contaminated material to facilities out of state that are in predominantly low-income, non-white neighborhoods.
As for the contaminated landfill leachate (the garbage juice that collects in tanks), GFL pays the City of Lumberton’s wastewater treatment plant to accept it.
No one from GFL attended the state’s meeting in Roseboro.
Many landfills contain PFAS because they receive waste – household garbage, industrial sludge and other materials – that are contaminated with the compounds. In July, DEQ asked landfills statewide to test surface water, groundwater and leachate for PFAS.
At the Sampson County landfill, DEQ sampled those same sources, as well as soil.
The results revealed astronomical levels of contamination. Groundwater at the operating, lined landfill had concentrations of 6,477 parts per trillion (ppt); concentration in the leachate, Scott said, “was in the six digits, hundreds of thousands.”
There is no standard for PFAS in landfill leachate. However, for comparison, the EPA is recommending a maximum contaminant level of 4 ppt in drinking water for four types of the compounds. The agency is proposing a goal of zero.
Groundwater at the closed, unlined Sampson County landfill contained 3,600 parts per trillion for PFAS compounds. Landfills built before 1983 were not required to be lined.
Twenty families live as close as 200 feet from the edge of the closed, unlined landfill, according to research by Courtney Woods, an associate professor at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health.
Woods conducted her independent research in 2019 and 2020. She found the highest concentrations of four types of the compounds, including GenX, produced by Chemours, in surface water near the landfill. Lowest concentrations were upstream of the facility; levels declined farther downstream, past the landfill.
Even though landfills are now required to be lined, those barriers can leak, as can the tanks that store the leachate.
“These findings lend strong support for our hypothesis that contamination via landfill leachate or runoff is entering the surrounding environment,” Woods wrote.
Bearskin Swamp Creek runs 560 feet from the edge of the landfill. It also contained very high levels of PFAS, Scott said, “in the four digit” parts per trillion range.
There are no numeric standards for PFAS in surface water or groundwater, but DEQ announced last week at the Environmental Management Commission that it plans to propose rules that could go into effect as soon as late 2024.
It’s also possible the drinking water wells and surface water have become contaminated through “atmospheric deposition”: The compounds have entered the air through a facility’s stacks, traveled on the wind, and then dropped to the earth, where they have infiltrated the groundwater and drinking water.
This occurred near the Chemours plant, where there was no direct groundwater connection between the facility and contaminated wells.
Chemours is required to limit its air emissions of PFAS to no more than 23 pounds per year, according to a consent order with DEQ and Cape Fear River Watch. But since these compounds don’t break down in the environment, the contamination could have occurred years ago.
More testing is also required to determine if the PFAS are being released from the landfill flares, which emit excess methane and other gasses. The landfill also used to operate an evaporator, Scott said. Those systems use landfill gas to heat and evaporate the leachate, then emit it into the air.
A subsidiary of GFL, which operates the Sampson County landfill, recently received a permit from DEQ’s Division of Air Quality to operate a renewable natural gas plant adjacent to the facility. It would capture the methane gas from the landfill, clean it of impurities, then inject it into a natural gas pipeline. Duke Energy would buy the gas from Sapphire and use it to generate electricity.
In part because of public concerns, DEQ is requiring initial sampling of the gas for PFAS contamination entering the plant. The company also must disclose sampling results.
This map shows the areas in Roseboro and the unincorporated Snow Hill community that could be connected to public water. Sampson County received $4.1 million in stand funds for public water connections. The blue lines are the roads where the lines could run; the white stars represent the three landfills that make up the larger county disposal complex. (Map: Sampson County Public Works)
Some Sampson County residents with contaminated wells could receive free permanent alternative water supplies, including whole-house or reverse osmosis filtration systems, both of which can remove PFAS from drinking water. If Chemours is determined to be the source of the contamination, then the company would also pay for system maintenance for 20 years.
If landfill is the source – or the origin is unknown – it’s likely the residents would have to cover maintenance costs, barring the emergence of other funding sources.
Other Snow Hill residents could be connected to the county’s public water system. Mark Turlington, Sampson County’s public works director, said the county received $4.1 million in state funds to connect some residents to the system.
Similarly, whether residents would have to pay their monthly water bills would depend on the contaminant source.
Sampson County buys its water from Clinton, which in turn sources it from groundwater. Scientists in the PFAS Testing Network sampled Clinton’s drinking water four years ago and did not detect the compounds. However, Scott acknowledged that more up-to-date sampling should be conducted. “We don’t want to offer people water without knowing what’s in it,” Scott said.
Additionally, with $1 million in funding from the Biden Administration, the state Department of Health and Human Services will provide water treatment for at least 175 private wells per year in Sampson County — not just those contaminated with PFAS, but those impacted by nitrites, bacteria or other pollutants.
DHHS oversees private drinking wells, while DEQ is in charge of public drinking water supplies.
DHHS has issued guidance for private health care providers to address PFAS exposure in their patients. “We have serious concerns about PFAS exposures,” said Dr. Virginia Guidry, who leads DHHS’s Occupational and Epidemiology Branch, at the meeting. “Many doctors don’t know about PFAS. They don’t learn about it in medical school and don’t know how to treat their patients appropriately.”
Guidry is also the environmental justice lead for DHHS.
Top DEQ officials attended the meeting – including Secretary Elizabeth Biser, Assistant Secretary Sushma Masemore – which is not routine. Their presence underscored the urgency of the issue, as well as the influence of Sampson County residents, many of whom have organized with EJCAN, a nonprofit environmental justice advocacy group.
Danielle Koonce, who was born and lives in Roseboro, has interviewed dozens of Sampson County residents as part of her doctoral research at the University of Maryland. “A lot of people are frustrated because their groundwater can’t be trusted. They’ve been using bottled water for 20 years,” Koonce told state officials. “The individuals I spoke with in Autryville were in tears because they couldn’t drink their water and there is no end in sight.”
“These people are suffering,” Koonce said. “Chemours is still in business and making money. Now we have a situation with the landfill. Remember the people who live here don’t receive any of the profits but we receive the burden. It seems like you favor the industries and then try to create solutions that aren’t really solutions.”
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