Dangerous chemicals released into Haw River from Burlington threatens drinking water for downstream communities

The City of Burlington has reported high levels of 1,4-dioxane in its wastewater discharge to the Haw River, threatening downstream communities.

“1-4,dioxane is an industrial solvent and it’s been shown to have human health effects at certain levels, includign cancer,” said Bob Patterson, the water resources director for Burlington.

Patterson says the city has recently started ramping up its testing and has discovered multiple slugs of 1,4-dioxane over the past year.

Burlington officials have identified Apollo Chemical as the potential source of the spike and ordered the company to temporarily cease production.

“Now we’re in discussions with the company to see what happened and we’re in the process of issuing them a pre-treatment permit,” Patterson said.

The business doesn’t fall under normal regulatory scope, but the city is working to change requirements because it continues to be a drinking water issue.

While the town of Pittsboro awaits test results, it’s minimized the water it is drawing from the Haw and asked residents to conserve water.

Pittsboro residents can get drinking water for free from Chatham Marketplace that been treated with a reverse osmosis system that can filter out the chemicals.

Emily Sutton is the Haw Riverkeeper and has been pushing for more regulation of 1,4-dioxane, including limiting discharge permits to the EPA’s health advisory of 35 parts per billion.

“There’s a lot of litigation happening right now to get that standard put into place and put on permits, so that’s what we’re waiting to see,” said Sutton.

Now, Burlington is working with the Department of Environmental Quality to require Apollo Chemical to test its effluent and notify when levels are high, as well as develop a plan to minimize chemical discharges.