Emerging Contaminants

As technology evolves and improves, laboratories become able to detect a wider range of compounds, including some that previously were unknown. When found in drinking water supplies, these newly discovered chemicals are known as “emerging contaminants."

Notable examples of emerging contaminants in our region’s source water include GenX and other types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and 1,4-dioxane.

Emerging contaminants can pose a challenge for drinking water providers because, aside from a handful of exceptions, they are unregulated, and little is known about their potential risks to human health and the environment.

PFAS

In 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the first federal regulation for six types of PFAS: GenX/HFPO-DA, PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS, PFNA, and PFBS.

However, CFPUA tests your drinking water for more than 70 types of PFAS, including many that are unregulated and are known to be contaminating the Cape Fear River.

Click here to see PFAS testing results and learn more about how CFPUA effectively treats your drinking water for GenX and other PFAS.

What are PFAS?

According to the U.S. Environmental Agency (EPA), Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) “are a group of manufactured chemicals that have been used in industry and consumer products since the 1940s because of their useful properties. There are thousands of different PFAS, some of which have been more widely used and studied than others.

“One common characteristic of concern of PFAS is that many break down very slowly and can build up in people, animals, and the environment over time.”

One PFAS compound that is among the most familiar to many people in our community is GenX, which is manufactured by Chemours at its Fayetteville Works chemical plant upriver from CFPUA’s raw water intakes on the Cape Fear River at Kings Bluff in Bladen County.

Recently, smaller PFAS compounds called ultrashort-chain PFAS have drawn the attention of regulators and researchers. More information on three of these – PFMOAA, PFPrA, and TFA – can be found here.

How does PFAS get into the Cape Fear River?

In 2017, our community learned that Chemours, and before it DuPont, had been discharging GenX and several other PFAS compounds from the Fayetteville Works into the river since 1980. Subsequent investigations by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the EPA determined that PFAS emissions from the Fayetteville Works into the air and groundwater also were contaminating the river.

A 2019 Consent Order between Chemours and DEQ and Cape Fear River Watch outlined steps Chemours must take to mitigate its contamination and reduce the amount of its PFAS reaching the Cape Fear. Even so, CFPUA continues to detect Chemours’ PFAS in raw water from the river as part of our ongoing monitoring.

What are the health risks of PFAS exposure?

Relatively few of the thousands of PFAS compounds have been studied to determine risks to human health from consumption in drinking water. According to the EPA:

Current peer-reviewed scientific studies have shown that exposure to certain levels of PFAS may lead to:

Reproductive effects such as decreased fertility or increased high blood pressure in pregnant women.
Developmental effects or delays in children, including low birth weight, accelerated puberty, bone variations, or behavioral changes.
Increased risk of some cancers, including prostate, kidney, and testicular cancers.
Reduced ability of the body’s immune system to fight infections, including reduced vaccine response.
Interference with the body’s natural hormones.
Increased cholesterol levels and/or risk of obesity.

How CFPUA treats for PFAS

In 2022, new Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) filters came online at the Sweeney Water Treatment Plant, which treats raw water from the Cape Fear River and provides about 80 percent of the drinking water CFPUA distributes to customers. Learn more about the filters and how they’re effectively treating Chemours’ PFAS here.

CFPUA’s Richardson Water Treatment Plant, which treats groundwater and provides about 15 percent of our drinking water, also uses treatment technology that is highly effective at removing PFAS: reverse osmosis filtration. Read the latest PFAS sampling results from our Richardson Plant here.

Where can I find out more?

1,4-dioxane

This graph displays results of CFPUA's regular 1,4-dioxane monitoring at the Sweeney Water Treatment Plant. Click the three horizontal lines in the upper-right of the graph to show export options for data currently displayed or to download data. You can zoom in on a specific date range by clicking and dragging within the graph to highlight the desired range.

Samples collected from raw water on February 10, and finished water on February 11, 2025, are not included because CFPUA could not verify the accuracy of the results.

What is 1,4-dioxane?

According to the EPA: “1,4-dioxane is currently used as a solvent in a variety of commercial and industrial applications such as in the manufacture of other chemicals, a processing aid, functional fluid, a laboratory chemical, in adhesives and sealants, in spray polyurethane foam, in printing inks, and as a dry film lubricant. 1,4-dioxane may be found as a contaminant in consumer products such as soaps and detergents.” The EPA also states that 1,4-dioxane is a byproduct in the manufacture of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic.

How does it get into the Cape Fear River?

A number of sources of 1,4-dioxane in the Cape Fear River have been identified by the State and researchers. In 2014, the DEQ and researchers from North Carolina universities sampled the Cape Fear River Basin and try to pinpoint sources of 1,4-dioxane contamination. A number of “hot spots” were identified, including downstream of wastewater treatment plants in Asheboro, Greensboro, and Reidsville. Following a 2021 Special Order of Consent between the State and City of Greensboro, releases from the city’s T.Z. Osborne Wastewater Treatment Plant have decreased significantly.

On September 12, 2024, Chief Administrative Law Judge van der Vaart ruled in favor of the cities of Asheboro, Greensboro, and Reidsville in a case challenging DEQ's authority to: (1) include 1,4-dioxane effluent limits and conditions contained in the City of Asheboro's NPDES renewal permit; and (2) enforce 1,4-dioxane limits and conditions against Greensboro and Reidsville. DEQ has appealed the ruling.

In addition, Alpek Polyester in Fayetteville, which manufactures PET, has been identified as a major source of the 1,4-dioxane CFPUA detects in its monitoring of raw water from its intakes on the Cape Fear River downstream from Alpek. In May 2025, Alpek announced that it was closing its Fayetteville plant.

CFPUA actively pursues actions aimed at reducing 1,4-dioxane contamination in the Cape Fear River, including engaging with State regulators, the N.C. Environmental Management Commission and relevant stakeholders, as well as exploring available legal actions.

What are the health risks of 1,4-dioxane exposure?

The U.S. EPA considers 1,4-dioxane to be a likely carcinogen. Although 1,4-dioxane is not regulated, the EPA has established a drinking water concentration of 0.35 parts per billion (ppb) as presenting a 1-in-1 million cancer risk level for lifetime exposure to 1,4-dioxane.

How CFPUA treats for 1,4-dioxane

Raw, untreated water sourced from the Cape Fear River is treated at the Sweeney Water Treatment Plant. Sweeney is among the most advanced treatment plants in North Carolina and one of the few treatment plants equipped to treat for 1,4-dioxane. Sweeney’s treatment technology includes ozonation and biological filters, which are able to remove an average of two-thirds of 1,4-dioxane from untreated water.

It is important to note that the efficacy of Sweeney’s removal of 1,4-dioxane depends on the levels of 1,4-dioxane in raw, untreated water.