The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources (DWR) has been alerted to elevated levels of 1,4-dioxane being discharged from the City of Asheboro Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) into Hasketts Creek. This creek flows into the Deep River within the Cape Fear River Basin.
1,4-Dioxane is recognized by the EPA as a likely human carcinogen, meaning it may cause cancer. It is used for various industrial purposes.
After Asheboro WWTP reported these elevated levels on May 3, DWR staff informed downstream drinking water utilities. These include the City of Sanford, Fayetteville Public Works Commission, Brunswick County, and the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority in Wilmington.
The concentration detected at Asheboro WWTP was 826 parts per billion (ppb) from their discharge collected on April 25. On the same day, DWR recorded a concentration of 730 ppb in a sample taken from Asheboro WWTP’s discharge. According to DEQ’s calculations using EPA toxicity data for lifetime exposure, an average monthly concentration protective of downstream water supplies should be about 22 ppb for the Asheboro discharge.
These concentrations were obtained through “grab samples,” which are wastewater samples taken at a single point in time by both the facility and DWR. The grab samples use a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-certified test method.
Monitoring is also ongoing at other wastewater treatment plants known to have 1,4-dioxane in their discharges into the Cape Fear River Basin. These plants include those in Burlington, Greensboro, High Point, and Reidsville.
DWR has made sampling data available online under Cape Fear River Basin 1,4-Dioxane Wastewater Discharge Data.
