Haw River continually contaminated by Burlington companies
The town of Pittsboro is performing tests on the water it receives from the Haw River due to a 1,4-dioxane leak in Burlington — the second time in two months. On Sept. 22, the city of Burlington received a test it had conducted by its wastewater treatment plant from Sept. 14 showing 459 parts per billion of 1,4-dioxane were leaving Burlington’s wastewater treatment plant at that time. The Environmental Protection Agency’s health advisory for 1,4-dioxane is .35 parts per billion in rivers and 35 parts per billion in drinking water — meaning this contamination is 1,300 times the EPA’s health advisory levels for rivers.