Raleigh, NC – North Carolina regulators have been too lax, for too long, in protecting our water from industrial pollution.
We have a crisis, and emerging contaminants like PFAS — “forever chemicals” — and 1,4-dioxane are at the center of it. These substances do not break down, accumulate in the human body, and are linked to cancer, immune suppression, and developmental harm.
They are not rare. They are widespread. North Carolina regulators are, right now, considering industry-written water pollution “rules” that absolutely let this continue.
More than 170 million Americans are exposed to PFAS through drinking water. In North Carolina, at least 3.4 million residents are served by water systems exceeding recommended limits, and more than 300 systems surpass new federal standards. Researchers have identified more than 1,400 likely contamination sites across the state.
This is not abstract. It is a statewide public health failure.
In the Cape Fear River Basin, discharges from the Chemours Fayetteville Works facility contaminated drinking water for an estimated 500,000 people downstream. Families in Wilmington and surrounding communities drank polluted water for years while the company continued releasing these chemicals and regulators failed to stop it. Action came only after sustained public outrage forced accountability.
That is not a system working as intended. It is a system that responds only when people demand it.
In central North Carolina, communities along the Haw River continue to face 1,4-dioxane contamination. Utilities like Pittsboro can detect the chemical but cannot fully remove it. Residents are left paying for costly treatment systems while pollution continues upstream.
People who did not create this problem are being forced to pay for it.
North Carolina’s Environmental Management Commission has been going back and forth for years about how much PFAS and 1,4 Dioxane to allow in our rivers, streams and, ultimately, drinking water. Now they’re considering rules that do little more than monitor the status quo.
Companies would be asked to monitor and report pollution — not to stop it. As long as discharges are tracked, contamination can continue legally.
We cannot monitor our way out of this crisis, and you don’t have to accept this.
A public comment period is open, and comments can be submitted to publiccomments@deq.nc.gov.
But the rules are technical and hard to understand for lay people, so lawmakers must also hear from their constituents that regulators must be held accountable. Corporate polluters must know that North Carolinians will not accept business as usual.
Contamination does not stay contained. PFAS have been found in drinking water, air emissions, soil, and even locally grown produce near industrial sites. Wastewater plants and landfills can redistribute these chemicals, spreading pollution far beyond its original source.
This is not just a water issue. It is a systemic environmental and public health crisis.
It is also an environmental justice failure. Communities with fewer resources are more likely to live near pollution sources — and less able to absorb the costs of cleanup. Across North Carolina, utilities are spending millions, sometimes tens of millions of dollars, to install filtration systems.
Those costs are passed directly to the public, while the corporations responsible continue to operate.
State leaders have the authority to act. They can establish enforceable limits for PFAS and 1,4-dioxane, require industries to eliminate these discharges at the source, and ensure the financial burden of cleanup falls where it belongs — on polluters, not the public.
What has been missing is not science. It is political will.
And that will not appear without pressure.
David M. Klein, Ph.D., is a Weaverville, North Carolina, resident and a Sierra Club member writing on environmental policy, public health, and regulatory accountability.