NCDHHS Urges North Carolinians to “Fight the Bite” with Insect Repellant and Other Prevention Tools to Avoid Tick- and Mosquito-Borne Disease
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General News
General News
Reminder: DEQ to hold Community Meeting in Pender County on Private Well Sampling
| RALEIGH – The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will hold a community information meeting on Tuesday, February 28, at Heide Trask Senior High School Auditorium in Rocky Point.
DEQ will share updates on private well sampling underway for PFAS contamination in Columbus, New Hanover, Brunswick, and Pender counties. Staff will also answer questions from the public about the private well sampling and alternate water supplies. When: Tuesday, February 28 at 6 p.m. Where: Heide Trask Senior High School Speaker sign-up will be available upon arrival at the meeting. At DEQ’s direction, Chemours is sampling for PFAS contamination in eligible private drinking water wells downstream of the Fayetteville Works Facility. Chemours is required to provide alternate water supplies to residents whose wells exceed specific action levels. To have your well sampled, call Chemours at (910) 678-1100. Messages to the Chemours call-line are monitored during regular business hours (Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.); Chemours should respond within 24-to-48 hours starting on the next business day. If you don’t currently qualify for well testing, you may qualify in the future. Chemours is required to keep your contact information and notify you if testing expands to your area. Additional well sampling information for residents, including criteria for eligible wells and other resources, are available on the DEQ website. ### |
DEQ to hold Community Meeting in Pender County on Private Well Sampling
| RALEIGH – The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will hold a community information meeting on Tuesday, February 28, at Heide Trask Senior High School Auditorium in Rocky Point.
DEQ will share updates on private well sampling underway for PFAS contamination in Columbus, New Hanover, Brunswick, and Pender counties. Staff will also answer questions from the public about the private well sampling and alternate water supplies. When: Tuesday, February 28 at 6 p.m. Where: Heide Trask Senior High School Speaker sign-up will be available upon arrival at the meeting. At DEQ’s direction, Chemours is sampling for PFAS contamination in eligible private drinking water wells downstream of the Fayetteville Works Facility. Chemours is required to provide alternate water supplies to residents whose wells exceed specific action levels. To have your well sampled, call Chemours at (910) 678-1100. Messages to the Chemours call-line are monitored during regular business hours (Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.); Chemours should respond within 24-to-48 hours starting on the next business day. If you don’t currently qualify for well testing, you may qualify in the future. Chemours is required to keep your contact information and notify you if testing expands to your area. Additional well sampling information for residents, including criteria for eligible wells and other resources, are available on the DEQ website. |
Pender “Homeless Stand Down” event, Jan. 26
The Cape Fear Homeless Continuum of Care (CFHCoC) will conduct the annual Point-in-Time (PIT) survey of individuals and families experiencing both sheltered and unsheltered homelessness in the Cape Fear Region during the last full week of January 2023.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requires that each Homeless Continuum of Care conduct an annual count of people experiencing homelessness on a single night during the last 10 days of January. The CFHCoC will count both sheltered and unsheltered individuals and families experiencing homelessness in 2023.
The CFHCoC has added a “Homeless Stand Down” event for people experiencing homelessness in Pender County. This is in addition to the traditional outreach survey teams that will go out into the community.
The Pender Homeless Stand Down will be from 8 am to 2 pm on Thursday, January 26th at the Burgaw Library located at 103 S Cowan St, Burgaw. We will have volunteers conducting surveys of people experiencing homelessness who are both sheltered and unsheltered in Pender County.
What is the Homeless Stand Down? This event is a combination of a “Resource Fair” for those experiencing homelessness and a data collection site. It provides a place in which people experiencing homelessness can come to engage with service providers as well as volunteers collecting data. The site will host service providers Veteran Service Officers, Pender County Christian Services, Pender Long Term Recovery Group, and similar services and provide items that can be used by people experiencing homelessness.
Settlement ends Chemours challenge of permit to reduce PFAS entering the Cape Fear River
RALEIGH- An agreement signed today ends litigation without changing the discharge permit issued to Chemours for the treatment of contaminated groundwater to significantly reduce PFAS entering the Cape Fear River.
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Cape Fear Public Utility Authority (CFPUA) reached an agreement with Chemours to end the litigation over the permit issued by DEQ on September 15, 2022. Last month, Chemours filed a petition to challenge the permit. CFPUA intervened to support the permit.
Today’s agreement does not change the final permit conditions and includes measures by which Chemours will proceed toward compliance with the final PFAS permit limits. Those limits take effect six months after discharge from the treatment system begins. In the agreement, Chemours agrees to take specific steps and provide monthly reports on its progress during the six-month optimization period. Chemours also agrees to dismiss its petition for a contested case hearing on the permit.
The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for the treatment system is part of the larger barrier wall remediation project to substantially reduce PFAS entering the Cape Fear River and impacting downstream communities. Currently, contaminated groundwater from the facility site flows untreated directly into the Cape Fear River. This project is designed to reduce the largest ongoing source of PFAS at the Chemours facility that contaminates the river and reaches downstream water intakes. The project must be operational by March 15, 2023, under the terms of the Consent Order. DEQ expects Chemours to take necessary actions to comply with the permit conditions and the Consent Order and meet its obligations to clean up the PFAS contamination impacting thousands of residents in at least eight counties and provide them with alternate water. DEQ will continue to hold Chemours accountable for the cleanup and for preventing future impacts to North Carolinians.
The agreement is available online here.
DEQ Statement on Chemours Appeal of the NPDES Permit
The NPDES permit for the treatment system is part of the larger barrier wall remediation project to substantially reduce PFAS entering the Cape Fear River and impacting downstream communities. Chemours is required to fulfill its obligations under the Consent Order and reduce the amount of contaminated groundwater reaching the Cape Fear River from the Chemours Fayetteville Works facility.
The Consent Order Addendum specifies a minimum reduction of 99% for the treatment system. DEQ expects Chemours to take all necessary steps to minimize its PFAS impacts on the environment. Pursuing litigation threatens to delay implementation beyond the Consent Order deadline of March 2023 and extend the ongoing contamination reaching the river and impacting downstream residents.
REMINDER: DEQ to hold community meeting October 11 on the Lower Cape Fear River private well sampling
RALEIGH – The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will hold a community information meeting on Tuesday, October 11, at Roland-Grise Middle School in Wilmington. DEQ will share updates on private well sampling underway for PFAS contamination in New Hanover, Brunswick, Columbus and Pender counties. Staff will also answer questions from the public about the private well sampling and alternate water supplies.
When: Tuesday, October 11 at 6 p.m.
Where: Roland-Grise Middle School Auditorium
4412 Lake Ave, Wilmington, NC 28403
Speaker sign-up will be available upon arrival at the meeting.
At DEQ’s direction, Chemours is sampling for PFAS contamination in eligible private drinking water wells downstream of the Fayetteville Works Facility. Chemours is required to provide alternate water supplies to residents whose wells exceed specific action levels.
To have your well sampled, call Chemours at (910) 678-1100. Messages to the Chemours call line are monitored during regular business hours (Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.); Chemours should respond within 24-to-48 hours starting on the next business day. Chemours is also sending letters to well owners/residents requesting information about primary drinking water sources and offering sampling.
Additional well sampling information for residents is available on the DEQ website: https://deq.nc.gov/news/key-issues/genx-investigation/well-sampling-information-lower-cape-fear-area-residents.
Healthy Pender Survey 2022
https://unc.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8oGDg4dXu6dT6MC?Source=email
DEQ to hold community meeting October 11 on the Lower Cape Fear River private well sampling
RALEIGH – The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will hold a community information meeting on Tuesday, October 11, at Roland-Grise Middle School in Wilmington. DEQ will share updates on private well sampling underway for PFAS contamination in New Hanover, Brunswick, Columbus, and Pender counties. Staff will also answer questions from the public about the private well sampling and alternate water supplies.
When: Tuesday, October 11 at 6 p.m.
Where: Roland-Grise Middle School Auditorium
4412 Lake Ave, Wilmington, NC 28403
Speaker sign-up will be available upon arrival at the meeting.
At DEQ’s direction, Chemours is sampling for PFAS contamination in eligible private drinking water wells downstream of the Fayetteville Works Facility. Chemours is required to provide alternate water supplies to residents whose wells exceed specific action levels.
To have your well sampled, call Chemours at (910) 678-1100. Messages to the Chemours call-line are monitored during regular business hours (Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.); Chemours should respond within 24-to-48 hours starting on the next business day. Chemours is also sending letters to well owners/residents requesting information about primary drinking water sources and offering sampling.
Additional well sampling information for residents is available on the DEQ website: https://deq.nc.gov/news/key-issues/genx-investigation/well-sampling-information-lower-cape-fear-area-residents