Wilmington, North Carolina faces a significant challenge in managing PFAS contamination in their drinking water. To combat this, the city employs a $43 million system utilizing granular activated carbon (GAC) to purify water. This process involves transporting carbon to Buffalo, New York, for chemical reactivation, after which it returns for reuse. The urgency of timely reactivation is emphasized by drinking-water plant manager Benjamin Kearns, who worries about potential delays due to weather. With new EPA regulations set for 2024, the financial burden of PFAS remediation looms large over US municipal utilities, which may face costs in the billions.
Kearns's plant is in the vanguard of an almighty remediation effort. In April 2024, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) put strict nationwide limits on the concentrations of six PFASs in drinking water.
The carbon, technically called granular activated carbon (GAC), is at the heart of a US$43-million system that began operating in 2022 to rid Wilmington's drinking water of PFASs.
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