The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources (DWR) has renewed the wastewater discharge permit for Badin Business Park, formerly known as Alcoa Badin Works, in Stanly County. The facility stopped aluminum production in 2010, but DWR continues to oversee its groundwater, stormwater, and fire protection water discharges under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit No. NC0004308.
The updated permit comes after a comprehensive review process that included a 48-day public comment period, a public hearing on August 19, and several meetings with community members and the local riverkeeper. The previous permit was last renewed in 2019.
Key changes in the new permit were largely influenced by feedback from the public. These updates include more detailed requirements for fluoride treatment systems at outfall 005 and the maintenance of a logbook to track influent and internal sampling results. The frequency of cyanide and fluoride monitoring at outfall 005 has been increased to twice per month.
Under the renewed permit, Badin Business Park must conduct effluent pollutant scans for all parameters listed on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Form 3510-2C within 180 days of the permit’s effective date for outfalls 005, 012, and 013. This includes analysis for polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and metals.
Other additions include requiring use of sensitive analytical methods by certified laboratories capable of detecting pollutants at or below applicable limits. The park is also required to post signage at specific outfalls—outfall 013 near the northwest edge of Badin public recreation area off N.C. 740, as well as Outfalls 011 and 012 near the recreation area—to identify them as wastewater discharge points into Badin Lake.
A re-opener clause allows DWR to require more frequent monitoring if data show additional oversight is needed to protect water quality. There are also new quarterly monitoring requirements for dissolved organic carbon and total hardness at all outfalls; these parameters help determine safe levels of aluminum along with pH readings.
The structure of discharge limitations is designed to protect both human health and aquatic life in waters receiving discharges from the site’s twelve outfalls—six flowing into an unnamed tributary of Little Mountain Creek and six into Badin Lake. Both bodies are classified as Water Supply IV sources within the Yadkin-Pee Dee River Basin.
NCDEQ stated its ongoing commitment to transparency by continuing practices such as “split sampling” with Badin Business Park staff to ensure accuracy, as well as collecting samples alongside community members when possible.
“All supporting materials, including the renewed permit and the fact sheet, are available in NCDEQ’s online document repository: Badin Business Park online permit file.”
