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EPA Reaches Consent Agreement with DuPont on Plan to Supply Drinking Water

Release Date: 3/12/2002
Contact Information: Roy Seneca 215-814-5567

Contact: Roy Seneca 215-814-5567

PHILADELPHIA – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized a consent agreement with E. I. Dupont de Nemours & Co. (DuPont), which would require the company to provide an alternate drinking water supply to residents in communities surrounding its Washington Works facility near Parkersburg, W. Va. if water supplies show high levels of Ammonium Perfluorooctanoate (or C8), an unregulated contaminant.

C8 has been used since the 1950s by DuPont in its fluoropolymer manufacturing processes at the Washington Works facility. The company has historically disposed of C8 wastes through direct discharges to the Ohio River, into three nearby landfills and by air emissions.

Levels of C8 have been identified in municipal wells in Lubeck, W. Va. and Little Hocking, Ohio, in the Ohio River, and in monitoring wells near factory discharges. This has raised concern since studies have shown C8 to be toxic to animals and persistent in humans.

“This consent agreement is a proactive approach involving the cooperation of the state and federal governments, and private industry to ensure residents a safe drinking water supply,” said Donald S. Welsh, regional administrator for EPA’s mid-Atlantic region.

In November 2001, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, and DuPont signed an agreement that provides for the human health risk assessment of C8, groundwater and surface water monitoring, and plume identification and remediation.