Toxic chemical spill affects Pittsboro's drinking water

The chemical was spilled into the Haw River, which is Pittsboro's source for drinking water, in August, but no one in town knew about it until a researcher found high levels of it and started asking questions.

But DEQ wasn't notified of the spill until Sept. 27, and officials said Tuesday that Greensboro holds the discharge permit for the pretreatment program. The agency is "pursuing appropriate enforcement for all identified permit violations," officials said in a statement.

Report: Extremely high levels of GenX-like chemicals in Wilmington drinking water for years

Haw River Keeper Emily Sutton said state regulators need to do more to force polluters upstream to clean up their acts.

Levels of 1,4 dioxane in the Haw River were hundreds of times higher than the state recommends – 107 micrograms per liter in treated water versus the recommended maximum of 0.35 micrograms per liter.

Sutton said local water officials have been slow to acknowledge there’s a problem.

"The staff has been really adamant about how their water quality is meeting every state standard – because there’s no state standard for these compounds," Sutton said. "We know that they’re toxic, but they’re technically unregulated because they don’t have limits."

Sutton says conventional water treatment often doesn’t remove those compounds.

"Now I drink tap water, but I filter it through a Brita, and that’s about the best I can do because I don’t want to do the bottled water and all the plastic," Taylor said. "You’re kind of between a rock and a hard place."