WMBF News reports that ROBESON COUNTY, NC (WMBF) - A community group has filed a federal lawsuit against Robeson County, alleging chemicals linked to the county landfill have contaminated groundwater and the public drinking water supply.
Pauls Community Association for Progress filed the complaint on June 16.
The suit alleges that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS, have migrated from the Robeson County Landfill into groundwater connected to wells that supply the county-owned Rocco Water Treatment Plant.
The lawsuit alleges the Rocco plant relies on four groundwater wells located within about 2,089 to 4,307 feet of the landfill and uses a conventional treatment process, which the lawsuit says is not designed to remove PFAS.
The filing cites multiple rounds of testing that it says detected PFAS compounds in the plant’s finished drinking water, as well as in tap water samples from homes served by the system.
The lawsuit was filed under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, a federal law that allows “citizen suits” when the handling or disposal of solid waste may present what the law calls an “imminent and substantial endangerment” to health or the environment.