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Showing posts with label Water. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Water. Show all posts
Current Activities and Outcomes of Previous Initiatives Undertaken by the Haw River Assembly
Fearrington Green Scene March 13. 2024 Meeting Program
It’s evident that North Carolina, and Chatham County in particular, is undergoing significant population growth. The management and oversight of this growth fall under the purview of various government agencies, with the Chatham County Planning Department playing a crucial role.
At our March 13th meeting, 31 residents attended the program presented by FOUR members from the Chatham County Planning Department team who discussed the nature of their work, covering Current and Long Range Planning projects, including the UDO (Unified Development Ordinance) & Drafting, The Comprehensive Chatham County Plan (Plan Chatham 2017), Plan Moncure, Transportation Planning, & Conservation and Resiliency Planning, and shed light on how the ongoing expansion of Fearrington Village, alongside neighboring communities such as Briar Chapel, might unfold in the foreseeable future.
After each team member spoke, there was an engaged Q&A session at the end. This was a fantastic opportunity to gain insights into local planning initiatives and voice any questions or concerns from those attending the program.
Additionally:
Our friends at Briar Chapel Green Scene have extended an invitation to any interested Fearrington residents to attend educational events on a Group Solar Program. A solar designer from Southern Energy Management, Inc will discuss the environmental and cost benefits of solar energy + battery storage, as well as the process of installing solar panels on your home. Meetings will take place at the Briar Chapel Clubhouse on the following dates:
- March 11th, 10 - 11:30 AM
- March 12th, 7 - 8:30 PM
- March 16th, 10 - 11:30 AM
As always, all residents of Fearrington Village and Galloway Ridge are welcome to attend our ( free ) educational presentations.
Jason Welsch, Moderator
Fearrington Green Scene
Cell Phone: 914-806-4852
Email Questions, Replies, and/or Comments to: janemcw@aol.com
United Nations Concerned About PFAS "Forever Chemicals" in North Carolina Water
United Nations criticizes 'forever chemical' contamination in North Carolina
Use the blue hotlink above to open the full article and to view the short related 4 minute 28 seconds video.
February 22, 2024 -- Experts from the United Nations issued a statement this week criticizing companies for chemical contamination in North Carolina. In a statement, a group from the U.N. that included Marcos Orellana, special rapporteur on toxics and human rights, called out chemical companies DuPont and Chemours. "Even as DuPont and Chemours had information about the toxic impacts...
Turning Waste In Water Into Wealth for the Great Lakes Region
To read this article, use the blue hotlink which is included below.
New water-focused innovation engine aims to turn waste into wealth for Great Lakes region
The waste in our water could soon generate new waves of clean energy development, job creation and economic growth across the Great Lakes thanks to a new regional innovation and economic development initiative launched by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF).
Fearrington Green Scene January 10, 2024 Program Presentation
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT FEARRINGTON VILLAGE DRINKING WATER
Wednesday, January 10, 2024 meeting at 11:00 AM till Noon in The Gathering Place
Those of us who attended the December 13, 2023 meeting experienced an enlightening presentation by Jamie Revels, Utilities Director for the Town of Cary. The presentation was especially enlightening because Cary controls the Water Intake Facility, which is located on the edge of Jordan Lake where our drinking water originates. Cary’s intake facility performs a number of tests of the water on an ongoing basis - with the results ( going back a few years ) are available on their water report website and are now also available via this link on the Green Scene Blog.
This is why we arranged for Blake Mills, Chatham County Director of Public Utilities, together with Chris Summerlin, Assistant Utilities Director, and Daniel Clevenger the Manager of the County Water Treatment Plant who are responsible for the pumping and testing of that water as it travels to our homes who also addressed the 46 residents who attended the presentation.
The PDF file version of the Program Presentation Can Be Accessed By Using This Link.
All are welcome to this ( free ) educational presentation.
Fearrington Green Scene Meeting Program December 13, 2023
Topic: MORE ABOUT FEARRINGTON WATER
All residents who share a concern for the quality of our drinking water are encouraged to attend this ( free ) event.
At our November Green Scene Meeting we heard an enlightening presentation by “Haw Riverkeeper”, Emily Sutton, who outlined the Haw River Assembly’s four-decades-long commitment to “preserving and protecting” the 110 mile long Haw River watershed. Emily pointed out that the Haw River is one of 3 tributaries to Jordan Lake. And, the other two - Morgan Creek and New Hope Creek - are more important to Fearrington residents, because they empty into the Northern end of Jordan Lake. And it is the Town of Cary Water Intake Facility - on the East shore of the Northern part of the lake, just North of Route 64 - from which we in Fearrington get our drinking water.
At our December 13th Green Scene meeting, at 11:00 AM at The Gathering Place, we will hear a presentation by Jamie Revels, the Town of Cary Utilities Director, who will explain to us the logistics ( including monitoring, periodic testing, and testing results ) of the water system between the Cary Intake and our homes. Mr. Revels is a Professional Engineer who has been with Cary for more than 24 years, and has served as Utilities Director for more than 14 years.
Cary’s intake facility performs a number of tests of the water on an ongoing basis - with the results ( going back a few years ). A number of these water quality reports are available on their water report website and are now also available here, where readers can download the full PDF by selecting the associated icons in the menus at the top of each flip book linked below for the years 2012 to 2022:
- http://townofcary.uberflip.com/i/1498729-2022-annual-water-quality-report/
- http://townofcary.uberflip.com/i/1467830-2021-annual-water-quality-report/
- http://townofcary.uberflip.com/i/1370617-2020-annual-water-quality-report/
- http://townofcary.uberflip.com/i/1247427-2019-annual-water-quality-report/
- http://townofcary.uberflip.com/i/1113892-2018-annual-water-quality-report/
- http://townofcary.uberflip.com/i/985016-2017-annual-water-quality-report/
- http://townofcary.uberflip.com/i/823629-2016-water-quality-report/
- http://townofcary.uberflip.com/i/684048-2015-water-quality-report/
- https://www.townofcary.org/home/showpublisheddocument/21216/636741628594070000/
- https://www.townofcary.org/home/showpublisheddocument/21214/636741628588570000/
- https://www.townofcary.org/home/showpublisheddocument/21212/636741628583730000/
Backlash Forces EPA to Pause Toxic PFAS Waste Imports to US from Netherlands
To open the article, use the blue link below.
Backlash forces EPA to pause toxic PFAS waste imports to US from Netherlands
North Carolina residents push back against environmental agency bringing 4m lbs of 'forever chemical' waste to region...
PFAS in Jordan Lake, in Discharged Wastewater and After Water Treatment
Francis DiGiano, Professor Emeritus
UNC Department of Environmental Science & Engineering
November 2023
To download a PDF file version of this article, use this link.
Historical Background on PFAS Concerns
DuPont began using PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) to manufacture Teflon at its Washington Works plant in Parkersburg, West Virginia in 1951. In 1981, female employees were removed from the Teflon production line because DuPont had noted birth defects among their babies. DuPont monitored the well water around the plant in 1984 and found elevated PFOA. A 1989 DuPont report indicated elevated deaths due to leukemia and a high number of kidney cancers among male workers plant-wide. Those who were exposed directly to PFOA were not separately assessed.
The 2019 film- Dark Waters- chronicles investigation into health issues by Rob Billott, a Cincinnati lawyer with a family connection to the area. This NYT article tracks Billott’s discovery path. Billott waited 7 years for a scientific panel investigating the toxicity of PFOA at DuPont’s Parkersburg facility to issue their report. In December 2011, the panel finally concluded a probable link between PFOA and kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, pre-eclampsia and ulcerative colitis.
In about 2013, the EPA settled its lawsuit against DuPont assessing only a $16.5 million penalty for the company’s failure to disclose health risks found for PFOA that DuPont discovered in their laboratory toxicity tests. Health effects were not part of the lawsuit. This most likely pointed to the difficulty in proving definitively a cause and effect relationship. In addition to the penalty charge, EPA required DuPont to remediate drinking water with PFOA levels exceeding 0.4 ppb and phase out PFOA by 2015. DuPont never installed filtration systems at the city’s water treatment plant because PFOA was not found to exceed 0.4 ppb consistently. Of note, recent research has lowered the concentration of health concern by a thousand fold.
The Class Action Lawsuit settlement announced in Feb 2017 was for $670 mil. Levels of exposure in Parkersburg, both to plant workers and the community, were far greater than anywhere else in the U.S. But with advances in detection, the widespread presence of PFAS, albeit at relatively low levels, has been confirmed in many rivers and lakes. The NYT article also notes the ubiquitous presence of PFAS in the environment. In addition to water, humans are exposed via air, food and many products used in the home.
Hundreds of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are used in a very wide variety of products. As a class, PFAS are considered forever chemicals because they are not broken down in nature. An in-depth review of current knowledge and strategies to inform future research on the toxicity and human health effects was published in 2020. PFOA and PFOS are by far the most studied. Although phased out of production in the US, as forever chemicals, they are still in the environment. The suspected health effects include: altered immune and thyroid function, liver disease, lipid and insulin dysregulation, kidney disease, adverse reproductive and developmental outcomes, and cancer.
Epidemiological studies of populations examine the strength of association between exposure to PFAS and health outcomes using statistical methods. The robustness of findings depends on many factors: population size; representation by gender, age, socio-economic groups; and presence of a control cohort having little exposure. Clinical studies add data on specific vulnerabilities to exposure, e.g., to pregnant women using PFAS levels found in their blood serum as indicator of exposure. Many epidemiological and clinical studies have been reported over the last decade. However, the evidence to support a cause-effect relationship is not always strong as noted in this report from an Australian research center.
Toxicology is used to investigate adverse health outcomes systematically by exposing animals (in vivo), typically mice/rats and in cells/organ tissues (in vitro), to a range of chemical dosages. A dosage-response curve depicts the pattern of greater response rate with higher dosages. However, the dosages used in these studies are orders of magnitude higher than in the environment in order to observe definitive effects in days, weeks or months rather than over a human lifetime. The scientific challenge is how to extrapolate health risk downward to the level of environmental exposures. Studies often show a threshold dose below which the test animal tolerates exposure. This is also true for humans. Thus complete removal, though never practically possible, is not necessary.
In 2002, EPA updated its Health Advisory (HA) levels for PFOA and PFOS to 0.004 and 0.02 ppt, respectively. HAs assure no adverse health outcomes but are not enforceable. The concentrations selected by EPA are orders of magnitude lower than can be currently detected. EPA primary drinking water regulations instead establish a maximum contaminant level (MCL) that is based on an acceptable risk of one excess adverse health outcome in a population of 1 million. The proposed MCLs for PFOA and PFOS, scheduled for 2025, are both 4 ppt and only slightly above the current detection limit of about 2 ppt. These apply to the finished water leaving the water treatment plant. The 5th Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR) requires all water utilities serving more than 10,000 customers to measure 29 PFAS from 2023 to 2025 in finished water leaving their water treatment plants. The UCMR data will help EPA establish regulations for additional PFAS in the future.
PFAS from NC DEQ sampling on 7 days in 2020 at 5 Stations in Jordan Lake
Conclusion: PFAS is higher in Haw River Arm (CPF055C) than at all stations North of US 64 (CPF087D is very near the Cary/N Chatham County water intake).
PFAS in OWASA Raw Drinking Water and in Discharge from Wastewater Treatment Plant
Conclusion: PFAS is higher in Haw River Arm (CPF055C) than at all stations North of US 64 (CPF087D is very near the Cary/N Chatham County water intake).
PFAS in OWASA Raw Drinking Water and in Discharge from Wastewater Treatment Plant
Conclusion: PFAS is present in the protected watershed surrounding the two lakes of the OWASA raw water supply. The suspected source of PFAS is application of biosolids hauled from wastewater treatment plants in the region to spread on agricultural land. PFAS can sorb onto biosolids that are separated out from wastewater treatment plant flows. Equally important is the increase in PFAS after leaving the water treatment plant as observed in the effluent of the OWASA Wastewater Treatment Plant. Yet, there are no significant industrial sources of PFAS in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro service area. However, PFAS can enter water through uses within homes and commercial businesses and be subsequently discharged to the sewer. Municipal wastewater treatment plants do not include a process to remove PFAS because publicly owned treatment works are required to remove trace organic contaminants. The discharge from the OWASA Wastewater Treatment Plant [8 mil gal per day] is to Morgan Creek that enters at the northern end of Jordan Lake, 10 miles above the Cary/N Chatham County Water Intake. A similar increase in levels of PFAS is likely occurring through community/light industrial water uses that accounts for PFAS measured in the effluents of the South Durham [10 mil gal per day] and Triangle (Durham County) [5 mil gal per day] Wastewater Treatment Plants. These discharge into New Hope Creek and Northeast Creek, respectively at the north end of the lake, both located about 14 miles above the Cary/N Chatham County Water Intake.
PFAS Monitoring at Cary Water Intake
Conclusion: The wide variation in PFAS concentrations could be due to changes over time in lake volume and/or mass input of PFAS in wastewater discharged up-lake from OWASA, South Durham and Durham County Regional Treatment Plants. Lake volume increases during heavy rainfalls and decreases during drought periods. If PFAS discharges remain constant (same mass amount), their concentrations will be lower when the lake level is higher than normal because of greater dilution and conversely, higher at lower than normal lake levels. Lake level can rise 10 to 15 ft during heavy rains and 30 ft during hurricanes. That’s because the Army Corps of Engineers stores water by closing the gates at the dam to minimize flood damage downstream. As a result, lake volume can increase by 25 to 50%, thereby diluting contaminant concentrations. However, the dilution effect does not explain most of the bar chart data. Lake level was near normal in November 2019 but PFAS was at its highest. PFAS was also high in February 2020 when the lake was 12 ft above normal that shows the opposite of a dilution effect. The lake was near normal for samplings in August 2019, May 2020, November 2020, May 2021 and August 2021. The only agreement with a dilution effect was in February 2021 when lake level increased by 14 ft and PFAS decreased to its lowest value. Temporary increases in mass inputs of PFAS from various sources may offer a better explanation for the highest PFAS values. PFAS entering from the Haw River would seem to have little impact. The UNC-Charlotte Reservoir Model in the 2019 UNC Collaboratory Report of Jordan Lake predicts a low percentage of water from Haw River moves as far north as the Cary/N Chatham County water intake.
Conclusion: PFOS and PFOA, the two PFAS components considered for regulation by EPA are very low (under 10 parts per trillion, ppt) at the water intake.
PFAS Monitoring at Cary Finished Water Leaving Treatment Plant
PFAS Most Recent (5-9-23) in Cary Finished Water Leaving Treatment Plant
Conclusion: Explanation of terms. RL = reporting limit, i.e., detection limit; ng = nanograms per liter which is the same ppt, parts per trillion. Only the four PFAS components shown in blue were above detection limit, the highest level being 7.2 ppt. PFOS and PFOA are below their detection limits.
Fearrington Green Scene November 08, 2023 Meeting Program
Large Room at The Gathering Place, 11:00 AM till Noon
Email Questions, Replies, and/or Comments to: janemcw@aol.com
SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER
Who Is Monitoring Our Drinking Water ?
Also see “Analysis of PFAS Data in Jordan Lake, Cary Water Treatment and OWASA Discharge to Jordan Lake” an excellent companion scientific resource prepared by Fran DiGiano, Ph.D. following this program.
One such person is Emily Sutton, the "Haw Riverkeeper." Emily will be the speaker at next Wednesday's Green Scene meeting at 11:00 AM at The Gathering Place. All Fearrington Village and Galloway Ridge residents are welcome to attend, and there is no charge for doing so.
The Haw River is one of 3 major tributaries flowing into Jordan Lake, from which Fearrington Village obtains our drinking water. The “Haw River Assembly” is a non-profit citizens group, founded in 1982, to restore and protect the Haw River and Jordan Lake. Their work involves the 110 miles of the river itself, as well as the 920 miles of streams that flow into the river. They pursue their goals with a “Haw Riverkeeper," as well as a small and dedicated staff. They also collaborate with with other area environmental groups, such as the Chatham Conservation Partnership (“CCP”) and others.
Historically, the upriver cities and towns in the watershed have been significant pollution contributors to the river. In particular, the City of Burlington. In response to an unusually egregious spill earlier this year, the Assembly, working with the Southern Environmental Law Center, was able to negotiate a legally significant Settlement Agreement with the City of Burlington, and its largest industrial polluter, Elevate Textiles.
The agreement requires the City of Burlington and it’s largest industries to take specific, concrete steps designed to alleviate the polluting discharges problem. As the Haw Riverkeeper, Emily Sutton was an important participant in the negotiations that resulted in the Settlement Agreement referenced above.
Fearrington's raw (untreated) water comes not from the Haw River but from Jordan Lake just to the north of US 64 on the east side of the highway bridge. It is transported from there to the treatment plant on the south side of US64. The Town of Cary also takes its raw water from this same intake.
All Fearrington and Galloway residents are invited to attend and learn more about what is being done to preserve and protect the quality of our drinking water.
Mark your calendars, and bring a friend !
Jason Welsch, Moderator
Fearrington Green Scene
914-806-4852 Cell Phone
Email Questions, Replies, and/or Comments to: janemcw@aol.com
Fearrington-Galloway Ridge Drinking Water Quality
This guest article has been prepared and submitted by Don Francisco. We want to express our appreciation to Don for this very nice community contribution. Residents can find his contact information listed in the 2016 Fearrington Village Directory and Handbook.
I am a retired clinical professor of environmental biology from the UNC Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering. My specialty was limnology (study of freshwater systems), wastewater treatment microbiology, and drinking water treatment. I was the first to study Jordan Lake beginning just after the dam was closed in 1982. I began my career researching taste and odor problems in drinking water reservoirs. We lived in Chapel Hill for 48 years, and we are now residents of Galloway Ridge.
Some residents have told me that they are very concerned about the quality of our drinking water. Some are even regularly boiling their drinking water. I think this concern is overblown.
Our raw (untreated) water comes from Jordan Lake just to the north of US 64 on the east side of the highway bridge. It is transported from there to the treatment plant on the south side of US64. The Town of Cary also takes its raw water from this same intake.
The North Chatham Water Treatment Plant is a standard design treatment facility that provides suspended solids (turbidity) removal, pH control, and chlorination for disinfection. Occasionally, they use powdered activated carbon to control tastes and odors. I have visited the plant and talked with the operators. While the plant is small, it seems to be quite competently operated. They also have a close relationship with the personnel at the much larger Cary plant that treats the same raw water. I’m confident that they do a good job treating our drinking water.
There is no reason to be concerned about the quality of our water. It is basically the same as all other drinking water produced from reservoirs in North Carolina. The greatest hazard is that runoff containing nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) will promote excessive growth of algae in the Lake. Many of these produce compounds which cause objectionable tastes and odors. This is an aesthetic problem not a human health problem.
The most accepted means for limiting the growth of algae is to limit the amount of nutrients entering the Lake. The greatest current source of these is in runoff from agricultural and urban land uses. This is what the recently canceled “Jordan Lake Rules” were intended to accomplish. The best way to show concern for the quality of our drinking water is to advocate rational means for limiting the input of nutrients into the Lake.
Of course, treated wastewater is introduced upstream from the Lake. Most of the reservoirs in the US have treated wastewater discharged upstream. In our case, the wastewater treatment plants are some of the most advanced in the world. They remove contaminants to very low concentrations. When discharges enter the reservoir, they are diluted by a huge volume of water. This further decreases the concentration of the contaminants.
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