Press Release | January 8, 2025

EPA directs North Carolina to control toxic 1,4-dioxane pollution

EPA letter comes as contamination of drinking water supplies for 1M people spikes

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently confirmed that North Carolina is required to control toxic 1,4-dioxane, a cancer-causing chemical, being released into drinking water supplies for about 1 million North Carolinians after three upstream polluters challenged state limits.  

EPA’s recent letter responds to a ruling by Chief Administrative Law Judge van der Vaart that sided with the N.C. cities of Asheboro, Greensboro, and Reidsville in their lawsuit to prevent the state from protecting North Carolinians downstream from toxic chemical pollution. Van der Vaart sided with the polluting cities, holding that the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality could not limit the amount of toxic 1,4-dioxane released by polluters into our drinking water sources.  

Van der Vaart’s ruling has had devastating impacts. Following the court order, the city of Asheboro dumped extremely high levels of toxic 1,4-dioxane upstream of the drinking water supply for Sanford, Fayetteville, Wilmington, Brunswick County, and Pender County, as well as Pittsboro, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina which have arranged to buy drinking water from Sanford. Asheboro’s 1,4-dioxane discharges in December 2024 reached 813 parts per billion, 2,322 times the cancer risk level for the chemical

“DEQ tried to do the right thing and protect North Carolinians from toxic 1,4-dioxane coming from the city of Asheboro, but three cities tried to overturn our water protection laws in an effort to shield their industrial customers rather than people downstream,” said Jean Zhuang, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center. “EPA’s letter sets the record straight that existing law protects people against pollution, making clear that the North Carolina Administrative Law Judge was wrong in siding with polluters and that DEQ must control toxic 1,4-dioxane pollution. Controlling toxic chemicals at the source is the only way to ensure polluters bear the burden of their pollution, not families and communities downstream.” 

In its letter, EPA directed North Carolina to reissue Asheboro’s permit with strict limits on the city’s 1,4-dioxane pollution in keeping with the Clean Water Act. If DEQ declines, EPA threatened to take over the permit and impose strict limits designed to protect downstream communities.  

“We hope that EPA will stand strong to protect people against toxic water pollution and make sure that the city’s 1,4-dioxane releases are controlled in the future,” said Zhuang.  

In August 2023, DEQ issued a permit to Asheboro that limited the amount of 1,4-dioxane the city could release into downstream drinking water sources. The cities of Asheboro, Greensboro, and Reidsville—three of the largest sources of 1,4-dioxane in North Carolina— collectively filed a lawsuit challenging Asheboro’s permit. In September 2024, North Carolina’s Chief Administrative Law Judge sided with the cities and issued a ruling that dismantled the state’s ability to protect North Carolinians from 1,4-dioxane and other toxic chemicals. A map available here illustrates the communities affected by the three cities’ pollution and threatened by the court’s decision. DEQ has appealed the decision to Wake County Superior Court.  

Asheboro, Greensboro, and Reidsville’s 1,4-dioxane pollution comes from industrial customers that pay the cities to send their industrial waste into the cities’ wastewater sewer plants. Because the cities’ wastewater plants do not remove the toxic chemical, they release the harmful pollution directly into downstream drinking water supplies. The cities have the legal authority and obligation to stop their industries from sending such toxic chemical pollution to their wastewater plants, as recent legal agreements between Burlington, N.C., Calhoun, GA, and groups represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center demonstrate. 

1,4-Dioxane is a manmade chemical that is harmful to people at extremely low levels and has been linked to cancers and liver and kidney damage. 1,4-Dioxane is not removed by conventional water treatment.  

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Kathleen Sullivan

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Phone: 919-945-7106
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