Read the full article by Will Atwater (NC Health News)
“Emily Donovan has waged war against per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) since 2017 when the chemicals were first revealed to be fouling the waters of the Cape Fear River Basin, which provides drinking water to nearly 1 million North Carolinians.
Donovan and her family are among that number.
Brunswick County is where Donovan lives and serves as the co-founder of Clean Cape Fear, a watchdog organization. The county is located near the mouth of the river system, where the waters meet the sea, it’s also an area that ‘has some of the highest levels of PFAS in tap water recorded per multiple nationwide tap water studies,’ Donavan wrote in an email.
In addition to contaminating the waters of the Cape Fear, PFAS incinerated and sent up smokestacks at the Chemours Fayetteville Works facility have rained down in the vicinity of the Bladen County plant. Spread by the winds, these emissions have fouled wells and small waterways for miles around.
Now in the past month, two possible solutions to this environmental crisis have the potential to provide some relief for the many homeowners who worry about what’s coming out of their taps.
…New tools in the fight
Cyclopure, a company located in Skokie, Ill., partnered with the Durham-based National Institute of Environmental Health Science (NIEHS) to develop a PFAS filter designed to work with Brita water pitchers. The company claims the filter will remove 11 of the most common PFAS compounds (PFOA, PFOS, GenX, etc), and will last for approximately three months.
Cartridges, costing $45, filter up to 65 gallons of water and could replace 700 single-use water bottles, according to the company’s website.”…