Forever Chemicals: Unpacking the Chemours Crisis and Its Impact on West Virginia Water
"A deep dive into the fluoroether contamination near a Chemours plant and what it means for your health."
In April, an announcement by the U.S. EPA revealed the presence of fluoroether near a Chemours plant in West Virginia, contaminating public and private water sources across state lines in Ohio. This marked a concerning discovery: the industrial chemical hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA) had been detected in U.S. waters beyond North Carolina, where similar contamination issues have previously surfaced.
HFPO-DA’s presence wasn't confined to surface water, it was also found in river sediments, local well water (reaching up to 11 km from the plant), and even rainwater. Tests conducted in West Virginia and Ohio revealed HFPO-DA levels fluctuating between 16 to 81 parts per trillion in untreated drinking water sourced from nine out of fourteen wells. These samples were gathered by Chemours earlier this year, prompted by EPA concerns.
Local water treatment processes use granulated activated carbon filters to strip out perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), another industrial compound, and HFPO-DA, these filters seem to be doing the job. The filters were installed between August 2011 and February 2019, and are successfully doing what they should be. Post filtration samples show that that the levels of HFPO-DA fall to below 10 parts per trillion, the analysis detection level.
PFAS Testing: Standards and Limits
For environmental media including soil, sediment, potable and non-potable water, groundwater, and fish, USEPA methods are considered by most scientists to be the best available, though each has caveats and limitations. The EPA says it is developing validated analytical methods for drinking water, groundwater, surface water, wastewater, and solids such as soils, sediments, biota, and biosolids; some may eventually become standard or research methods. A 2026 review notes that the agency set Maximum Contaminant Levels for six PFAS and a Hazard Index for four others in 2024, while monitoring and implementation remain concerns. Extractable organofluorine (EOF) sum-parameter analysis is increasingly used to assess PFAS in drinking water, but its environmental interpretation remains challenging.
Fluoride’s Water-History Milestones
The history of community water fluoridation is a distinct public-health story from PFAS contamination. HISTORY reports that the benefits of fluoridated water were recognized in the early 1900s after health officials in a Colorado city observed residents with stained but remarkably healthy teeth. The CDC’s timeline presents key events in the use of fluoride to protect community oral health. Debate over fluoride’s safety and purpose has continued, with a history stretching back more than 100 years.
What Exactly is HFPO-DA and Why Should You Care?
HFPO-DA, a type of fluoroether, has emerged as a concerning contaminant due to its persistence and potential health impacts. As industries evolve, understanding the nature and implications of such chemicals becomes crucial for protecting public health and environmental integrity. These chemicals, often byproducts of industrial processes, have raised questions about the safety of our water and the long-term consequences of exposure.
- PFOA stands for perfluorooctanoic acid.
- DuPont used to own the plant but span it off in 2015 to Chemours.
- In 2017, DuPont and Chemours agreed to pay $670 million to settle 3,550 lawsuits from residents, due to PFOA-tainted water.
- The International Agency for Research on Cancer has said that it’s possibly carcinogenic to humans.
- DuPont introduced GenX about eight years ago as a sustainable replacement for PFOA.
Chemours Sampling Agreement
An EPA Region 3 fact sheet describes a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Section 3013 agreement requiring Chemours to sample and analyze soil, surface water, sediment, groundwater, and certain facility waste streams. The sampling is intended to gather information on known and potential PFAS contamination at the Washington Works facility in Washington, West Virginia. EPA says the resulting data will improve its understanding of contamination extent and how PFAS migration may affect communities. A separate EPA document says DuPont and Chemours reported that DuPont discontinued PFOA use and discharge at Washington Works in 2013 and that PFOA was replaced with GenX, manufactured at Chemours’ Fayetteville, North Carolina facility.
Limits in Exposure Assessment
A study of private water supplies in northern West Virginia found that semiquantitative, nontargeted analysis showed concentrations of emergent PFAS that were potentially higher than those of targeted PFAS. In a separate study around a fluoropolymer production facility, excluding six participants who reported drinking bottled water had little effect on the magnitude of the association between serum and drinking-water PFOA. GIS-based exposure assessment could not determine water sources for 12,804 addresses that could not be geocoded; researchers therefore relied on self-reported water supplies for 12,601 people. For 12,124 of those participants, ZIP-code intersection with the water district provided GIS support that the reported supply was plausible.
Filtration and Fluorosurfactant Alternatives
A study titled “Rate of Decline in Serum PFOA Concentrations after Granular Activated Carbon Filtration at Two Public Water Systems in Ohio and West Virginia” reports, in its cited comparison, annual declines of 10–20% from baseline serum PFOA concentrations of about 22–25 ng/mL in a German cohort after residential drinking-water filtration began in 2006. That comparison involved 164 mothers, 90 children, and 100 men. Separately, a 2023 study reports designing and synthesizing fluoroether double-chain phosphate surfactants C72 diPAP-Na and C72 diPAP-NH4, initially to explore new fluorosurfactants containing oxygen heteroatoms. These sources address different questions—serum trends after filtration and development of alternative surfactants—rather than providing a direct comparison of their effectiveness.
Moving Forward: Ensuring Safe Water for West Virginia Communities
The situation in West Virginia highlights the critical need for ongoing monitoring and proactive measures to address chemical contamination in our water supplies. As research continues to clarify the health risks associated with HFPO-DA and similar compounds, it is essential that regulatory agencies, industries, and communities work together to implement effective solutions, ensuring access to clean and safe drinking water for all.
Integrated PFAS Detection and Remediation
A 2025 perspective critically evaluates integrated PFAS detection–remediation strategies for water systems. It considers their advancements, challenges, and future potential. The perspective frames scalability as an important issue for PFAS management in water systems. Its focus is on combining detection and remediation, rather than treating them as separate tasks.
Community Research and Drinking-Water Standards
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences says it funds researchers who work with communities to identify sources of exposure to harmful chemicals such as PFAS and help prevent those exposures. The ITRC case-studies resource includes an example on data visualization at an AFFF release site and cites research on remediation-induced changes in subsurface PFAS distribution at a former firefighter training area. The Environmental Working Group reports that in March 2023 the EPA announced a national drinking-water standard using maximum contaminant levels for six PFAS chemicals, with legally enforced limits requiring utilities to clean and filter water until it meets the standard.