North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality has released a draft water pollution permit for the wastewater treatment plant at the City of Sanford, NC.

The City of Sanford discharges its wastewater, which includes pollution from multiple industrial facilities and treated sewage, into its own drinking water supply.

With so many stakeholders impacted by this permit, we need your help to ensure that NCDEQ holds Sanford, and their industries, accountable in order to protect our rivers and drinking water. Please submit a comment about why this is important to YOU. We will also ask NCDEQ to hold a public hearing and extend the comment period in order to allow for as much public participation as possible.

• Sanford currently provides drinking water to communities in Sanford, Goldston, Lee County, and parts of Chatham County. A planned expansion would also send drinking water to residents in Fuquay-Varina, Holly Springs, and Pittsboro.

• With the planned growth and financial investments, the City of Sanford would send drinking water pulled from downstream of its wastewater treatment plant to more than 100,000 people in the region.

• Downstream of Sanford’s wastewater discharge, Fayetteville, Brunswick County, and Wilmington also source their drinking water from the Cape Fear River.

• In total, nearly 800,000 people are likely to be impacted by Sanford’s discharge of industrial pollution and treated sewage.