PITTSBORO — The Town of Pittsboro Board of Commissioners met at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 13, for a water and wastewater utility merger workshop special meeting.
Commissioners discussed recent June raw water samples from Sanford and Pittsboro, asked questions regarding the recent PFAS lawsuit settlements and went over how town employees would be impacted by the water and wastewater utility merger. No action was taken at this meeting.
To start off the meeting, Assistant Town Manager and Engineering Director Kent Jackson said that Sanford and Pittsboro drinking water meets current regulation and proceeded to give a presentation to the commissioners on recent raw water samplings, which has not gone through the treatment process, taken from the water utility systems’ water intake.
“Ours [Pittsboro’s] is located on the Haw River just north of Town,” Town of Pittsboro’s Public Information Officer & Emergency Management Coordinator Colby Sawyer said. “And Sanford's is on the Cape Fear River near N.C. 42."
These samples tested for levels of PFOA, PFOS and 1,4-Dioxane. For PFOA, Pittsboro’s water had double the amount than Sanford’s raw water samples across the board, from 14 ug/L (micrograms per liter) in November 2022, incrementally growing to 29 ug/L in June 2023. However, Sanford’s sample fluctuated from 5.96 ug/L to 8.14 ug/L between that same time period.
“Sanford tests raw water monthly since 2020,” the presentation read. “Pittsboro tests bimonthly since GAC [granular activated carbon system] was completed in November 2022.”
PFOS in raw water for Pittsboro in June 2023 was at 21 ug/L, while Sanford’s was at 14.2 ug/L. Finally the last 1,4-Dioxane reading in June 2023 for Pittsboro was at 1.5 ug/L while Sanford’s last reading come out to 0 ug/L.
“The bar graphs show how these currently unregulated chemicals differ between each water source at the point of intake,” Sawyer said. “Across all measurements, the measurements taken at the Sanford intake were lower, meaning there is a lower volume of chemicals that need to be filtered/removed from the beginning of the treatment process (and infers a higher quality of water).”
Next, the commissioners, Town Manager Jonathan Franklin, Town Attorney Paul Messick and Poyner Spruill LLP attorney Bob Hagemann went over wording of the PFAS lawsuit settlement to better understand possible future scenarios, and gave the opportunity for the commissioners to ask the lawyers questions.
Finally, Jackson said that the city of Sanford has expressed concern about its employees who will be impacted by the merger, but said that the transfer date of employees will be no later than June 30, 2024.
Before adjourning the work session, Mayor Cindy Perry congratulated the town for its recent water and wastewater utility merger website.
“The merger website that you all developed is absolutely outstanding,” Perry said. “And I would like to thank the staff for that.”
Questions about the utility merger can be asked under the “Submit a Question” tab at the website they have recently launched: https://pittsboronc.gov/475/Merger.