For over fifty years, the residents of Sampson County, North Carolina, have witnessed their local landfill expand to nearly 1,300 acres, making it the largest in the state. Waste is now transported from various parts of the state to this site. Local residents like Sherri White-Williamson have expressed concerns about the scale of this operation. White-Williamson, who grew up in the county, is particularly worried about the potential for landfill chemicals to seep into groundwater used by residents and its possible impact on public health. “Many of the folks out around that landfill are on well water,” she said. “They are drinking in it, they’re bathing in it, they’re using it to water gardens and animals.”
During her career at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, White-Williamson worked in the Office of Environmental Justice, focusing on public outreach, education, and fostering collaboration between communities and federal agency staff. Realizing the lack of environmental advocacy in her own area, she co-founded the Environmental Justice Community Action Network (EJCAN) in 2020 to help communities advocate for environmental issues.
Shortly after EJCAN’s first meeting in October that same year, the organization began collaborating with residents of Snow Hill, a historically Black rural community near the landfill. Community members expressed various environmental and health concerns, with particular focus on potential contamination of the private wells many households depend on.
In subsequent years, EJCAN collaborated with UNC Chapel Hill and Appalachian State to conduct free well water testing, funded by small grants. “The community felt like they were seeing elevated levels of illnesses and [were] convinced what they were seeing was directly related to their proximity to the landfill, and the water that they’re drinking,” White-Williamson stated, although formal research was lacking. “There’s never been a health impact analysis in that area, so it’s been all anecdotal,” she added. The well testing was an initial step in gathering evidence that landfill contaminants might be affecting residents.
The findings were concerning. After four rounds of testing, 13 percent of the wells were found to be contaminated with PFAS and other harmful substances. These synthetic chemicals have been used in the U.S. since the 1940s in products like water-repellent fabrics, nonstick cookware, and firefighting foam.
PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” due to their persistence in the environment and human body. This category includes “legacy” PFAS, such as PFOA and PFOS, which were commonly used until the 2000s, as well as “novel” PFAS, newer alternatives whose safety is now being questioned by scientists. Much remains unknown about the effects of these newer chemicals, as noted by the Center for Environmental and Health Effects of PFAS at NC State.
“We know that landfills are a common source of [PFAS], because folks have thrown away a range of consumer products,” explained Courtney G. Woods, an environmental sciences professor at the University of North Carolina. A 2020 report in the academic journal Toxicology suggests that PFAS are linked to various health issues, including reduced kidney function, metabolic syndrome, thyroid disruption, and adverse pregnancy outcomes.
Residents raise red flags
Concerns about water quality in Sampson County date back a decade, largely due to the efforts of the late Ellis Tatum from Snow Hill. In 2016, Tatum met Woods and her students at the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network Summit, an event for environmental justice organizations led by people of color. “He was convinced there was something going on with what was in the water,” White-Williamson recalled.
Tatum invited Woods and her students to collaborate with his community. Following neighborhood focus groups, Woods and a student began testing for legacy and novel PFAS, metals, and bacteria in Bearskin Swamp, located north of the Sampson County landfill in Snow Hill. “There was a suspicion that bad things were going into the water from [the landfill],” said White-Williamson.
During their initial research, Woods’ team did not find significant contamination upstream of the landfill, but the situation was different downstream. “We found elevated levels of legacy PFAS, as well as novel PFAS just near the landfill,” Woods noted. These substances include newer agents like GenX and Nafion, which some studies associate with liver damage and other health effects.
Some of these chemicals are consistent with those produced by Chemours, a PFAS manufacturer that has disposed waste in the landfill for years. “We did have some knowledge from Chemours’ permit, as well as knowledge from other folks that Chemours had been sending their industrial sludge for disposal at the Sampson County landfill,” Woods elaborated.
Following Woods’ initial findings, EJCAN sought to develop more partnerships with universities to broaden water testing in Snow Hill. This cooperation was essential in transitioning community concerns to independent scientific validation.
Testing water at home can be costly for many households. Antrilli noted that private lab tests for PFAS typically start at $380, which many residents in Sampson County cannot afford. “Considering the population in Sampson County, a lot of folks could not pay to have their water tested,” said White-Williamson.
In February 2021, EJCAN teamed up with Appalachian State University to offer free well water testing for bacteria and metals. The non-profit invited community members to participate. “There was a fairly decent amount of response,” White-Williamson noted. The initial testing included professor Rebecca Witter, who specializes in sustainable development, and biologist Shea Tuberty. Witter developed a protocol for community water quality impressions, while Tuberty and his students collected samples, testing for bacteria, nitrates, and heavy metals.
Chris Lang
In subsequent research trips, the team was joined by Woods from UNC, who offered PFAS testing with help from the nonprofit Research Triangle Institute. After sampling approximately 250 homes, they discovered that over thirty families had PFAS in their water.
As more rounds of testing were conducted, labs mailed results to residents and also contacted those with concerning results. Scientists held a meeting with residents, attended by White-Williamson, to answer questions. Woods emphasized that this close communication “was absolutely instrumental” for both research and community engagement.
EJCAN hosts a monthly community meeting open to the public, which Tuberty sometimes attends with his class, “just to be present and answer questions,” he said. “That’s been really useful, because we get more community buy-in when they realize we’re invested long-term.”
The findings prompted White-Williamson to reach out to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Waste Management. In November 2023, the department organized a community meeting, allowing residents living near the landfill to request private well sampling. State staff initially tested 30 wells, later expanding the effort. Vincent Antrilli Jr., the waste management agency’s environmental program supervisor, reported via email that from October 2023 through April 2026, the program collected 241 samples—about 25 percent (61) of which exceeded EPA drinking water standards for PFAS.
The program also offers bottled water and home filtration systems to remove PFAS. “To date, 87 point-of-use filter systems have been installed or authorized statewide, including 37 in Sampson County,” Antrilli wrote.
EJCAN has distributed over 50 Clearly Filtered water pitchers, which can remove PFAS and other contaminants like lead and arsenic. “We worked with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to identify a pitcher that seemed to be pretty efficient in removing a large number of contaminants from drinking water,” White-Williamson noted.
A canceled grant
EJCAN continues to receive requests from individuals wanting their well water tested. “We really need thousands of water samples, and we’ve only done hundreds,” Tuberty from App State remarked.
For about six months, EJCAN, App State, UNC, and the Department of Health and Human Services worked on an EPA grant application. “The grant would have been for a million dollars over the next three years,” White-Williamson explained. With this funding, the coalition could have tested up to 250 homes annually and provided follow-up support for those with issues. “That would have gone a long way,” she added.
In February, they were notified of the grant approval. However, in April 2025, amidst federal program cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the coalition learned the grant might be suspended. Just three days later, Tuberty said they were informed it would be saved. But in early May, there was another reversal.
“Before we got a nickel of it, we got DOGE-d,” Tuberty said. “Most of the money was going to go to the community members to mitigate the problems that we identified, which would have been great.”
While the research has been supported by smaller grants, Tuberty emphasized, “you need that big money to make a significant impact.” The researchers remain hopeful for new opportunities. “I don’t think any of us are giving up on it,” he stated.
With shifting federal priorities, EJCAN is worried about the unmonitored presence of forever chemicals in their community. “These are hard projects to do, because the communities have just been burnt for so long, for so many decades,” Tuberty said. “They’ve just been overlooked over and over again.”
The Environmental Justice Community Action Network (EJCAN) is a North Carolina–based nonprofit that works to advance environmental justice in rural communities, particularly in Sampson County. The organization supports residents facing pollution and other environmental harms by providing scientific research, water and air monitoring, education, and advocacy. EJCAN also helps communities access legal and technical resources, empowering them to hold polluters accountable and push for cleaner air, water, and soil.
