Conservation groups act to stop the City of Sumter from polluting the Pocotaligo River with toxic ‘forever chemicals’

PFAS levels in the Pocotaligo among the highest in the nation

CHARLESTON, S.C. — On behalf of Winyah Rivers Alliance, the Southern Environmental Law Center today notified the City of Sumter and several of its industrial plants that they must stop illegally discharging per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) into the Pocotaligo River within 60 days or face a federal lawsuit under the Clean Water Act. Testing from the Sumter wastewater treatment plant confirms that it is discharging high levels of toxic PFAS, tainting the water and fish of the Pocotaligo River with harmful chemicals.

Citing extensive sampling data, the notice states that industrial plants are illegally sending PFAS into the City’s sewers, including Sumter-based Giant Resource Recovery, Phibro-Tech, Inc., and Carolina Filters, Inc. Sumter knowingly accepts this PFAS at its wastewater treatment plant, where it discharges the PFAS into the Pocotaligo River. The PFAS also contaminates Sumter’s wastewater treatment sludge, which the City sells for fertilizer that may be spread on lands and crops by farmers unaware of the risks.

“For years, the City of Sumter has allowed industry to pass toxic chemicals through the City’s treatment plant, resulting in one of the most PFAS-polluted rivers in the Nation,” said Carl Brzorad, SELC Senior Attorney. “We are calling on Sumter to follow its own ordinances and the Clean Water Act and tell industry to stop sending toxic PFAS into the City’s sewers. We are prepared to take legal action if the City refuses to follow the law and keeps polluting the Pocotaligo River.”

PFAS are commonly called ‘forever chemicals’ because they do not break down and are linked to a broad range of cancers and other serious illnesses. In 2025, a nationwide report by the Waterkeeper Alliance found that the Pocotaligo River next to the Sumter treatment plant was “the most contaminated” with PFAS out of 32 rivers tested across the country. The report confirmed the findings of the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services, which found that the water and fish in the Pocotaligo River were among the most contaminated with PFAS in South Carolina.

“Sumter is siding with industrial polluters over the fishers, hunters, swimmers, and landowners who depend on the Pocotaligo River and the Black River downstream,” said Erin Donmoyer, the Black-Sampit Riverkeeper. “Families and communities should not bear the costs of this industrial pollution. We are prepared to go to court to defend our clean water and clean fish if Sumter continues to violate the law and pollute our rivers.”