After New Hanover County officials met with representatives of the Chemours Company today to get information about a potentially dangerous chemical in the county’s water supply, Wrightsville Beach officials said the town had no information to believe its water source is also tainted with the chemical.
“Wrightsville Beach water is provided by wells that draw source water from the Pee Dee Aquifer and not surface water from the Cape Fear River. Â We have not received any information, to date, that would lead us to believe that GenX is present in the water provided to town customers,” a town press release said.
Last week, the Wilmington StarNews reported that the chemical GenX is present in Cape Fear River water from the Chemours Company Fayetteville Works facility.
On Monday evening, the NC Department of Health and Human Services (NC DHHS) released a health effects statement on GenX to county public health directors. The statement was prepared for the NC Division of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) by the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch of NC DHHS.
The role of the Division of Public Health is to assist the NCDEQ in understanding the human health effects of GenX, and the health effects statement was reiterated to county officials during a Tuesday morning call with state public health officials.
Below is a key excerpt from their statement:
There are no U.S. regulatory guideline levels for GenX. However, as part of the European chemical registration, a 2-year chronic toxicity and cancer study with rats was performed. They reported a Derived No Effect Level (DNEL) of 0.01 mg/kg bw/day. Based on U.S. risk assessment calculations, this corresponds to a concentration in drinking water of 70,909 ng/L of GenX- more than 100 times greater than the mean value of 631 ng/L detected in the Cape Fear River. Based upon these data, the GenX levels detected in 2013-2014 would be expected to pose a low risk to human health.
