Do Cary or Apex residents need to worry about 1,4-dioxane coming down the Haw River?
With elevated amounts of 1,4-dioxane heading down the Haw River last week, some drinking water customers in Apex and Cary have been wondering about their own water.
After all, the Haw does empty into Jordan Lake, the drinking water source for the two western Wake County municipalities.
Jamie Revels, the Town of Cary’s utilities director, was unequivocal: A 1,4-dioxane spill that comes down the Haw from Burlington is unlikely to affect drinking water for Apex and Cary.
“The drinking water is perfectly fine in Cary,” Revels told The News & Observer.
Pittsboro has reported that the “slug” of 1,4-dioxane seems to have moved downstream past the town, and preventive measures seem to have limited the amount of the chemical drawn into the town’s drinking water system. Samples taken Wednesday found 1,4-dioxane at one of five sample sites, at levels just over one part per billion.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers 1,4-dioxane, which is used as a solvent and stabilizer, likely to be a human carcinogen. The agency has set a lifetime health advisory level of 35 parts per billion in drinking water.
Here’s what Cary and Apex residents should know about 1,4-dioxane releases on the Haw River:
Where is the water intake for Cary and Apex?
The Haw meets Jordan Lake on the lake’s southern end, near the dam.
The drinking water intake for Cary and Apex — they share a water system — is about six miles northeast, in Jordan Lake about 500 feet from the eastern landing of U.S. 64.
That intake is “upstream” from the Haw, Revels said, adding that it’s unlikely that concentrated amounts of 1,4-dioxane will work their way north on the lake.
“There’s still a natural current to the lake that is taking the water from an upstream to a downstream direction, down to where the dam is. The water goes over the dam and it goes down the Cape Fear River from there,” Revels said.
There are, of course, other utilities downstream on the Cape Fear River, including the Fayetteville Public Works, Brunswick County’s public utilities and the Wilmington-area Cape Fear Public Utility Authority.
Jordan Lake’s size dilutes 1,4-dioxane
The reservoir that provides Apex and Cary’s drinking water contains an average of 70 billion gallons.
Even if a contaminant makes its way downstream, Revels said, its concentration will be greatly diluted in the sheer size of Jordan Lake.
“That’s many thousand times greater than the daily release of all the wastewater from Burlington,” Revels said.
The South Burlington Wastewater Treatment Plant, where the slug of 1,4-dioxane made its way into the Haw, has a capacity of 12 million gallons a day and averages seven to eight million gallons daily.
What has previous Jordan Lake testing found?
Burlington reported a different 1,4-dioxane release last Sept. 14.
Cary had its water tested at the intake four times in the following month, according to records that are available online. Starting on Sept. 22 and ending on Oct. 11, none those tests detected 1,4-dioxane.
“They have these from time to time and we do extra testing,” Revels said, “and every time we do extra testing it doesn’t show that we’re seeing anything noteworthy or detectable at our intake facility.”.
This story was produced with financial support from the Hartfield Foundation and Green South Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. If you would like to help support local journalism, please consider signing up for a digital subscription, which you can do here.
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Pittsboro says chemical ‘slug’ has passed the town, but is still testing its water
