Environmentalists have filed a lawsuit against Robeson County to stop a landfill from contaminating drinking water with pollutants.
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The Robeson County Landfill is infiltrating the county’s public water system with PFAS, or forever chemicals, according to the filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality has allowed the landfill to expand over the years, so it now takes up 537 acres near the town of St. Pauls.
Across the street from the landfill, the Rocco Water Treatment Plant sources its water exclusively from four groundwater wells — all of which are located within 4,500 feet of the landfill, the lawsuit reads.
More than 67,000 people across the county rely on the water system.
The Southern Environmental Law Center filed the lawsuit on behalf of St. Pauls Community Association for Progress, a grassroots organization based in Robeson County, for endangering the health and wellbeing of community members.
“The county’s decision not to address this problem — which they have known about for years — risks residents’ health and safety and leaves us no choice but to take it to court,” SELC senior attorney Jamie Whitlock said in a statement. “People in Robeson County deserve to have safe, clean water when they turn on their taps.”
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A spokesperson for Robeson County did not immediately respond to NC Newsline’s request for comment.
Tests show the plant has the highest PFAS levels in finished water, which enters the county’s distribution system, out of any water treatment plant in North Carolina. Plaintiffs claim Rocco’s water treatment equipment is not designed to remove PFAS before the water is distributed into the Robeson County Water System.
Rocco also has the highest concentration of PFAS compound GenX of any groundwater-based drinking water plant in the country, according to the lawsuit.
“We fear for the health and safety of our families and community and our repeated pleas for the county to stop its contamination have continued to fall on deaf ears,” Sibyl Farr, St. Pauls Community Association for Progress executive director, said. “For our families, schools, churches, and businesses to thrive and be safe, we need clean water when we turn on our faucets to get a drink of water, cook, and wash.”
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