The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality is expanding its work to track, test, and clean up PFAS contamination across the state, with a focus on vulnerable water systems like schools and daycares.
Jennifer Allen reports for Coastal Review.
In short:
- Secretary Reid Wilson said addressing PFAS is a top priority for the state, which has deployed air and water monitoring and is funding PFAS research in partnership with institutions like Duke University.
- The state has allocated $345 million to PFAS-related infrastructure projects, with a recent $13 million added through water and wastewater grants.
- Chemours, the company linked to PFAS contamination in the Cape Fear River, has agreed to expand testing of private wells near its Fayetteville plant.
Key quote:
“We can’t make good decisions without sound, solid and unbiased scientific data. If we don’t rely on science, we will make bad decisions, and people’s health will be harmed. We don’t want that.”
— Reid Wilson, secretary of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality
Why this matters:
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, have quietly saturated everything from drinking water to household dust, earning their nickname as “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down easily in the environment or the body. In North Carolina, the issue has become a public health flashpoint, particularly in communities downstream from Chemours’ Fayetteville Works facility. For years, residents unknowingly drank water laced with these industrial compounds, which have been linked to cancers, liver, and kidney damage, thyroid disease, and developmental delays in children.
While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has taken steps toward tighter oversight, regulation remains slow and fragmented. That’s left states like North Carolina scrambling to fill the gap, testing private wells, issuing fish consumption advisories, and negotiating clean-up agreements with polluters. The burden falls especially hard on low-income and rural communities, many of whom rely on untreated groundwater and have limited resources to advocate for themselves. Scientists warn that PFAS exposure is nearly universal in the U.S., but for families living near contaminated hotspots, the stakes are far more immediate.
Related: PFAS-polluted North Carolina alligators have weakened immune systems
