Robeson County, N.C, warned to stop landfill’s PFAS pollution of drinking water system for 66,000 people, or face lawsuit 

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — On behalf of Winyah Rivers Alliance and St. Pauls Community Association for Progress, the Southern Environmental Law Center today warned Robeson County that if the county  does not stop polluting public drinking water with toxic PFAS from the Robeson County Landfill, and distributing this contaminated water into the county wide system—which serves over 66,000 people—SELC will take the county to federal court.  

“A county knowingly supplying drinking water that is highly contaminated with toxic PFAS to its residents is shocking and illegal and it needs to stop,” said Maia Hutt, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center. “We’ve repeatedly urged the county to stop the landfill’s PFAS pollution and clean up its drinking water as required by law and for people’s health and safety. People in Robeson County deserve to have clean drinking water as do families and communities everywhere.” 

Testing shows that the finished water coming from the county-owned and operated Rocco Water Treatment Plant has the highest PFAS levels in finished water (the water entering the county’s distribution system) of any water treatment plant in North Carolina, and the highest concentration of GenX, a PFAS compound manufactured by Chemours, of any groundwater-based water system in the United States. Tap water in more than a dozen homes connected to the Robeson County Water System within two miles of the Rocco Plant was tested. Every single sample had PFOA levels at least 3,250 times higher than the level EPA deemed safe for people’s health and more than three times higher than EPA’s limit for this toxic chemical in drinking water. Levels of GenX were approximately three times higher than EPA’s limit, which the Trump administration stated it will abandon.  

“We are taking this step because we are concerned for the health and safety of our families and community and our pleas for action have fallen on deaf ears,” said Sibyl Farr, executive director of St. Pauls Community Association for Progress. “For our families, schools, churches and businesses to thrive and be safe, we need clean water when we turn on our faucets or water fountains to get a drink of water, cook, and wash. Contaminated water is not acceptable.”  

The Robeson County Landfill’s leachate—the wastewater landfills generate—and groundwater beneath the landfill contain extremely high levels of toxic PFAS. The county’s Rocco Plant draws water from four public wells, all of which are located within 4,500 feet of the Robeson County Landfill. The Rocco Plant’s water treatment equipment is not designed to remove PFAS before the water is distributed into the Robeson County Water System.  

The Rocco Plant is one of 12 water treatment plants used by Robeson County to supply drinking water to its residents and businesses. According to the county, its solid waste operations generated $3 million in profits in the 2024-25 fiscal year. For months, SELC attorneys, Winyah Rivers Alliance members and staff, and St. Pauls Community Association for Progress members have urged the Robeson County Board of Commissioners to consider replacing the contaminated water from the Rocco Plant with clean water from another water treatment plant, investing profits generated by the landfill into a water treatment system upgrade at the Rocco Plant capable of removing PFAS, or seeking funding for such an upgrade from the state.   

“Not only is the landfill contaminating our drinking water, but it’s leaching into groundwater and streams that feed the Lumbee River where many of us fish and hunt,” said Jeff Currie, Lumber Riverkeeper at the Winyah Rivers Alliance. “Many families rely on fishing and hunting to put food on their table and we know from fish advisories elsewhere in North Carolina and South Carolina that eating fish contaminated with PFAS is unsafe. It’s irresponsible and illegal for Robeson County to allow PFAS pollution from the landfill to continue to contaminate our waterways and drinking water.” 

If the county continues to endanger its residents and degrade the environment by allowing its landfill to pollute groundwater, contaminate the public drinking water system, and discharge into tributaries of the Lumber River, the Southern Environmental Law Center will sue the county in federal court under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and Clean Water Act for endangering the health and well-being of community members and polluting Big Marsh Swamp, a tributary of the Lumber River.  

The Robeson County Landfill, located in one of North Carolina’s most underserved, overburdened, and racially diverse counties, has long been a dumping ground for Chemours and other industries that generate PFAS containing waste. The landfill has been polluting Big Marsh Swamp and nearby groundwater—used for drinking water by private well owners and the Robeson County Public Water System—for decades. The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality first cited the county for violating environmental and public health laws at the landfill in 1993 but has, nevertheless, repeatedly permitted the landfill to expand. The landfill now takes up 537 acres outside the Town of St. Pauls.  

Private wells in Robeson County may be eligible for replacement water supplies under the Chemours Consent Order that resulted from an earlier lawsuit by the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of Cape Fear River Watch against Chemours. More information about well sampling and eligibility can be found here: https://www.deq.nc.gov/news/key-issues/genx-investigation/genx-information-residents