FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. — The EPA has announced stricter standards for four drinking water health advisories for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) including GenX.

GenX is part of a large group of synthetic chemical compounds, sometimes known as forever chemicals. Some people are worried about the chemicals' impact on their health.

What You Need To Know

  • The EPA has announced new drinking water health advisories for PFAS chemicals

  • PFAS are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances sometimes know as "forever chemicals"

  • The new restrictions lower the amount of GenX that can be found in drinking water

  • Some people who have been affected by the chemicals are still calling for stronger standards ​

It was summer 2017 when thousands of people in North Carolina learned that GenX had infiltrated public drinking water supplies along the Cape Fear River Basin into Wilmington.

The contamination was creating problems for veterans like Mike Watters, who lives just over a mile from the Chemours Fayetteville Works chemical plant. Watters is also the founder of the Facebook group Grays Creek Residents united againist PFAS in our wells and rivers.

"I know what my blood looks like," Watters said. "I'm unique because I have joined everything I could test. My wife has (gotten her blood) tested. And I've got astronomical numbers of PFAs, PFOA … there’s nine chemicals in my blood.”

Watters served in Special Forces and was stationed at Fort Bragg for more than two decades.

"Twenty-three years in Special Forces … the enemy couldn’t kill me, but my water is," Watters said.

His well water was tested by Chemours, the Department of Environmental Quality and an additional lab he hired.

The results showed more than a dozen PFAS in his water. He thinks the chemicals not only impact his plants but his health.

"Since I moved out here, (my) health has declined rapidly," Watters said. "Liver, kidneys, triglycerides, cholesterol, diabetes … you name it.”

Since contamination, the DEQ installed an air quality monitoring station on his land to measure how many PFAS are in the air and rainwater.

Chemours also had to pay for a filtration system for his well called a granular activated carbon filter, or GAC. The filter removes chemicals.

Watters' GAC was completed in early July. It's a system more people will now get because of the EPA's stricter standards on GenX.

Related

The EPA's new limit for GenX in drinking water is 10 parts per trillion. That's 14 times lower than the limit the state first set at 140 parts per trillion back in 2018.

But even with the new standards for GenX, Watters is still concerned.

"What about the other 14 chemicals in the well?" Watters asked. "You (Chemours) contaminated our vegetation, our grounds for decades. We have no idea how long it will take for this to go away."

The EPA's new standards will require Chemours to provide filtration systems for wells with GenX concentrations above the health advisory. More than 1,700 additional people will now be eligible.

Since the new requirements, Chemours has filed a legal petition against the EPA arguing that the new guidelines for GenX are too strict.