Contaminated water supplies in Cumberland County, North Carolina

February 27, 2008 - Suppliers of public drinking water in Cumberland County have been bombarded with contamination problems — from the giant Fayetteville Public Works Commission to the tiny country stores and churches that dot the roadsides.

Potentially unsafe levels of radium, nitrates and coliform bacteria commonly find their way into public systems.

Schools, churches, subdivisions, convenience stores, day-care centers and other businesses are considered to have public supply systems if they serve more than 25 people. All of them draw their water from wells or buy it from the PWC, which gets most of its water from the Cape Fear River.

Like most public water supplies, the PWC has not been immune to contamination. In 2003, the Environmental Protection Agency cited the PWC for unsafe levels of trihalomethanes, a byproduct of chlorination that is known to cause cancer.

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