Suspected contamination source: DuPont (Lurye, 2016)
Wilmington is the corporate headquarters of DuPont and Chemours (a DuPont spin-off).
Water samples taken near Wilmington Manor were more than 11 times the EPA’s provisional drinking water guidance for PFOS.
Though New Castle County has attributed its PFAS contamination to firefighting foam used at a local airport, Wilmington’s extremely high PFOS levels may be attributed to DuPont’s Chambers Work’s facility, located directly across the Delaware River.
The Chambers Works facility has an on-site waste water treatment plant where it treats wastewater generated from Chambers Works and other U.S. DuPont sites. The waste water treatment plant is located in the northern section of the Chambers Works facility, near Carneys Point.
The treated water is discharged into the Delaware River, into the town of Wilmington, Delaware.
DuPont Chamber Works has been fined many times by the NJDEP for various violations including unauthorized hazardous waste discharge. (source) (source) (source)
Additional Resources:
Drinking Water Notice
http://keepyourpromisesdupont.com/
Media Coverage
- Chemical detection shuts public supply well
- In Delaware, C8 contamination blamed on firefighting foam
Full citations are available on the second page of the full contamination site tracker. We ask for your additions, changes, questions and comments be sent to pfasproject@gmail.com.