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Jan 16, 2024

Greensboro's plan to protect you against forever chemicals

Next up in 5 Example video title will go here for this video GREENSBORO, N.C. —

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GREENSBORO, N.C. — Forever chemicals are so-named because they are designed not to break down. That means they could be around forever. They’re found in some non-stick pans, popcorn bags, rain jackets and fast-food containers and many other places.

Through the manufacturing process, they trickle into our water supply. That's where Novant Health Pediatrician Dr. Soren Johnson says they can have some serious side effects.

"Liver and kidney issues have been connected with this. A number of cancer types seems to be loosely associated with it: breast, prostate, testicular cancer," said Dr. Johnson.

Before you freak out, Johnson stresses that the research on this topic is still young and there are a lot of questions about forever chemicals.

"It's bad, but we don't know exactly how bad. It's tough to put numbers on it at a given level of contamination. It's tough to be that concrete about it yet," he said.

That's where changes to Greensboro's water treatment facility come in. For several years, the EPA has capped forever chemicals in the water supply at 70 parts per trillion. The City bought a machine that pumps in a powdered activated carbon. It acts like a magnet pulling the forever chemicals out of the water and settles them at the bottom of the tank.

"It was very good to make sure that we stayed below that," said Mike Borchers, Director of Greensboro's Water Resources.

But with new research into the danger of forever chemicals, the EPA has changed the guidance from 70 parts per trillion to less than one part per trillion. That's what's recommended, but it's such a lofty goal the EPA says they will probably end up requiring a limit of 4 parts per trillion instead.

"So this thing is good, but it's not great enough," Borchers said. "We're going to have to do an expansion at the plant to be able to drain all the water down to that closer to that level to the health advisory level that EPA has established."

The $55 million expansion will sit right next to the current treatment plant on Battleground Avenue. The City has already bought the land and torn down the apartments that used to sit there. But the new treatment facility is still in the design phase. The Water Department thinks it could take three years to get the machines up and running.

"BRISCOE: So before that's built is the water safe to drink?

BORCHERS: Oh absolutely. If you look at these health advisory levels, the EPA looks at it from the standpoint of a lifetime. That's basically two liters per day over 70 years So absolutely, it's safe to drink the water and use it for all its intended purposes. But again, ultimately what we do want to do is we want to remove it more and help us to ensure that we are providing the safest, cleanest water."

While we wait for the new treatment plant, researchers at Duke University suggest using an at-home water filtration system. But they say not all filters work well on forever chemicals. We talked with one of the researchers about the best way to protect your family: