North Georgia Water Crisis - Part Two: How Did This Happen?

 

The origin of PFAS, or "Forever Chemicals," in the waters of Northern Georgia and Northeastern Alabama mostly originate from a commons source: The carpet industry in Dalton, GA. 

The Dalton Convention Center.
Photo by Wesb25, Creative Commons.

Since the early-twentieth century, this small city's dominant industry has been textile manufacturing. Over the course of the last century, that industry expanded rapidly. Dalton is often known as the "Carpital Capital of the World," and for good reason: by 1960, the industry was producing over 70% of the world's carpet, and by 2011, that number rose to around 90%. At it's height from the 1980s until the 2008 recession, there were over 150 carpet mills in Dalton and the surrounding areas, which employed tens-of-thousands of workers. 

As is the case with most large-scale industrial manufacturing, these mills produce a lot of wastewater that must be treated properly before it is reintroduced to the environment. The largest wastewater treatment plant in Dalton is owned by the local municipal water and power company, Dalton Utilities, and located southeast of the city in an area called Loopers Bend. 

Because of health concerns about PFAS in the area way back in 2009, we learned via a statement prepared by the EPA (check out the full statement here) what exactly happens to this wastewater: "After treatment, the 30 mgd of wastewater is land applied to a 9800-acre tract of land owned by Dalton Utilities using approximately 19,000 sprayheads. The biosolids are mixed with wood chips, composted on-site, and sold in bulk as a soil amendment to businesses and individuals in northwest Georgia and southeastern Tennessee. " 

Put simply: this water is treated at Loopers Bend, and it is then sprayed back on to land owned by Dalton Utilities (like the fields and woodlands around Loopers Bend), so it can be reintroduced to the local waterways, gradually, via runoff. Biosolids are then combined with mulch and sold for fertilizer.

Loopers Bend is the primary industrial wastewater facility in Dalton, GA. It takes its name from the bend in the Consauga River surrounding the property. Its proximity to the river means PFAS were able to enter and travel through the water supply more readily.

This sounds all well and good, right? The issue, however, is that PFAS are water soluble and highly mobile--they spread through the water without breaking down. To remove them from a water source requires specialized types of filtration, like activated carbon treatment or ion exchange treatment, which are quite expensive to operate and maintain on a large scale. Neither Dalton's wastewater facilities, nor any of the facilities in the surrounding areas affected by PFAS, were using filtration systems which could remove the substances.

So, when carpet manufacturers in Dalton used products like Scotchgard or Stainmaster to treat carpet, the PFAS in these chemicals were not properly filtered from the wastewater before it was reintroduced to the environment via runoff. This runoff, rich in PFAS, then seeped into rivers like the Conasauga, where it eventually flowed downstream to towns like Gadsen or Centre, Alabama. 

Though the carpet industry in Dalton has stopped using stain resistant products containing PFAS in recent years, it is an unfortunate case of too little, too late, since they used these products for decades and PFAS do not decay naturally. 

The question now for many residents is: who is at fault? The suppliers of these PFAS? The carpet manufacturers? Dalton Utilities and other wastewater facilities? All of the above?

The answer is, unfortunately, complicated. In my next post, we will take a closer look at ongoing legal battles against these various industries and what is being done to protect residents from PFAS in the future.