Environmentalists have filed a lawsuit against Robeson County to stop the landfill from contaminating drinking water.
According to the Robeson County Landfill, PFAS (permanent chemicals) are seeping into the county’s public water system. lawsuit It was 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 and now occupies 537 acres near the town of St. Paul.
The complaint states that the Rocco Water Treatment Plant, located across the street from the landfill, supplies water only from four groundwater wells, all of which are located within 4,500 feet of the landfill.
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. Paul’s Community Association for Progress, a grassroots organization based in Robeson County, alleging it endangered the health and welfare of community members.
“The county’s decision not to address this issue, which we have known for years, puts the health and safety of our residents at risk, and we have no choice but to go to court,” SELC senior attorney Jamie Whitlock said in a statement. “The people of Robeson County deserve safe, clean water at the turn of their tap.”
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A Robeson County spokesperson did not immediately respond to NC Newsline’s request for comment.
Testing revealed that the facility had the highest levels of PFAS in finished water entering the county’s water distribution system of any water treatment facility in North Carolina. The plaintiffs allege that Rocco’s water treatment equipment is not designed to remove PFAS before the water is distributed to the Robeson County Water System.
Rocco also has the highest concentration of the PFAS compound GenX of any groundwater-based drinking water plant in the country, according to the complaint.
“We are concerned for the health and safety of our families and our community, and our repeated appeals to the county to stop the contamination have fallen on deaf ears,” said Sybil Farr, executive director of the St. Pauls Community Progress Association. “For our families, schools, churches, and businesses to thrive and be safe, we need clean water when we turn on the tap to drink, cook, and do our laundry.”
