NC Community Wins Clean Water After Exposing Landfill PFAS

When Sherri White-Williamson returned to her hometown in Sampson County, North Carolina, something felt wrong. The local landfill had grown to 1,300 acres, and neighbors kept talking about mysterious illnesses near their homes.

White-Williamson knew how to get answers. After years working at the EPA's Office of Environmental Justice, she understood that rural communities often lack resources to investigate environmental hazards on their own.

In 2020, she co-founded the Environmental Justice Community Action Network to change that. The nonprofit's first mission focused on Snow Hill, a historically Black rural community where families relied on private wells for drinking water, cooking, and farming.

Residents had suspected contamination for years, but suspicion isn't proof. Working with universities, EJCAN organized free well testing for households that couldn't afford the expensive lab fees on their own.

The results confirmed their fears. Thirteen percent of tested wells contained PFAS, synthetic chemicals known as "forever chemicals" because they never break down in the environment or human body.

These chemicals hide in everyday products like nonstick pans and water-resistant clothing. When thrown away, they leach from landfills into groundwater, where they can cause kidney problems, thyroid issues, and pregnancy complications.

The contamination story actually began a decade earlier with Ellis Tatum, a Snow Hill resident who believed something was poisoning his neighbors. In 2016, he convinced University of North Carolina professor Courtney Woods to test the local Bearskin Swamp.

Woods found clean water upstream from the landfill but discovered elevated PFAS levels downstream. Some chemicals matched waste from Chemours, a manufacturing facility that had been dumping industrial sludge at the Sampson County site for years.

Armed with scientific evidence, EJCAN expanded testing beyond the swamp to household wells. Community members finally had data to back up what their bodies had been telling them.

The partnership between residents and researchers created something powerful. Families who felt ignored now had proof, and scientists gained insight into how landfill contamination affects real people in rural America.

The Ripple Effect

EJCAN's work sparked action beyond individual households. The organization is now helping other North Carolina communities test their water and advocate for environmental protections.

Their success shows what's possible when communities refuse to accept "that's just how it is" as an answer. Free testing programs have given dozens of families the information they need to protect their health and demand accountability.

The collaboration also bridges a critical gap in environmental justice. Rural communities often lack the political power and financial resources of wealthier areas, making it easier for polluters to escape scrutiny.

By combining community knowledge with scientific expertise, groups like EJCAN are rewriting that story. They're proving that zip codes shouldn't determine who gets clean water and who gets excuses.

White-Williamson brought federal experience home to create local change, and now families in Snow Hill have something they didn't before: evidence, empowerment, and a fighting chance for clean water.