Levels of chemical fall in Pittsboro water, City of Burlington finds potential source
Levels of a toxic chemical have declined in Pittsboro’s drinking water as Burlington officials continue to investigate a company they believe may have led to a discharge that started in mid-September.
Pittsboro officials said declines in 1,4-dioxane in raw water from the Haw River taken Monday and Tuesday indicate a slug of 1,4-dioxane discharged from Burlington’s South Wastewater Treatment Plant has passed the town’s drinking water intake.
Levels of 1,4-dioxane from several samples are below the Environmental Protection Agency’s 35 parts per billion health advisory goal but above the 0.35 ppb in-stream target value the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality set for drinking water supplies.
Samples taken Tuesday showed levels of 5.21 ppb in raw water from the Haw, 3.38 ppb in water leaving Pittsboro’s drinking water plant and between 3.2 and 3.57 ppb in a trio of drinking water tanks around the town.
The levels in raw water and finished drinking water decreased from Monday to Tuesday, but levels in the water tanks increased slightly. That increase was expected, Colby Sawyer, a town spokesman, said in a press release because drinking water containing higher concentrations of the chemical is entering the tanks.
Free drinking water treated by reverse osmosis, which removes 1,4-dioxane, will continue to be available at Chatham Marketplace until Friday at 5 p.m. To access the free water, residents should use code 64261.
“Although our water meets and exceeds all state and federal guidelines for regulated chemicals and is below the HAL for unregulated chemicals, we want to allow plenty of time for notice of the program’s discontinuation to spread and give those who still aren’t comfortable with the water some extra time to take advantage of the program,” Sawyer wrote.
On Burlington’s end, city officials have identified Apollo Chemical as the “potential but still unconfirmed source” for the 1,4-dioxane discharge, John Vernon, a city spokesman, told The News & Observer.,
Apollo’s discharge to the city’s wastewater system will be sampled daily for the chemical, Vernon wrote. Management from the company is also reviewing its manufacturing processes to see if it is discharging chemicals that could be combining in the wastewater to form 1,4-dioxane.
The EPA says 1,4-dioxane is a probable human carcinogen. The chemical is used to stabilize solvents in products like paints, cosmetics and deodorant.
Late last Friday, Pittsboro announced that the City of Burlington had notified it that samples taken from Burlington’s South Wastewater Treatment Plant showed elevated levels of 1,4-dioxane.
The Sept. 14 sample showed 459 parts per billion of 1,4-dioxane leaving the wastewate plant, significantly higher than a June release that caused the chemical to spike in Pittsboro.
Water takes about a week to move 30 miles downstream on the Haw River from Burlington to Pittsboro’s drinking water intake, meaning that at the time of Pittsboro’s warning the chemical would have been either at or nearing its water supply.
This story was produced with financial support from 1Earth Fund, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work.
