CALHOUN, Ga. (AP) 鈥� Growing up in northwest Georgia, Stormy Bost lived her life in the water. During summers she plucked crawdads from the neighborhood creek and played in its cool depths, racing home for dinner to beat the setting sun.
Waiting for her were pitchers of sweet tea, which her family brewed using tap water.
鈥淵our family鈥檚 going through a gallon every day or two, and it鈥檚 cheap,鈥� Bost said. 鈥淏ut it comes from the faucet.鈥�
As a parent, Bost made sweet tea the same way for her own children 鈥� until a few years ago when she learned the local tap water contained toxic chemicals called PFAS.
Bost and her husband are raising two daughters in Calhoun, the same small river town dominated by the region鈥檚 multibillion-dollar carpet industry where she was reared. For decades, textile mills relied on PFAS in popular brands like Stainmaster and Scotchgard for stain resistance. Some of the chemicals that didn鈥檛 stick on carpets were flushed with the industry鈥檚 wastewater into local sewer pipes and, eventually, the region鈥檚 rivers.
The same odorless, colorless chemicals in tap water here have accumulated in Bost鈥檚 body, blood tests show. Her PFAS levels are higher than national health guidelines consider safe and, at 34, she has been diagnosed with liver and thyroid conditions 鈥� the types of ailments that research has linked to PFAS.
Bost is not alone. Everyone in the region , including certain types of cancer, could be caused by PFAS, which are commonly known as forever chemicals because they persist in people and take decades or more to break down in the environment.
This crisis was predictable. For more than two decades, scientists have warned of the risks to humans and animals posed by the kinds of chemicals spreading out of the mills.
Even without federal limits on chemicals like PFAS, states have the authority to protect public health and the environment. Instead, Georgia鈥檚 Environmental Protection Division did little to confront the problem, issuing neither fish advisories nor do-not-drink orders to the public even as concerns grew among scientists and federal regulators about the dangers of PFAS, by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Associated Press and FRONTLINE (PBS) has found.
Testing by the University of Georgia that alerted the industry and state in 2008, when Bost was in her teens, showed the local Conasauga River that supplies the region鈥檚 drinking water was polluted. That same year, the state鈥檚 environmental director told carpet manufacturers the agency would not take action on the chemicals.
The state鈥檚 own testing, which did not occur until 2012 and 2016, when Bost was a young mother, confirmed the university鈥檚 results. In 2019, as her daughters turned 8 and 9, federal tests still detected PFAS.
Along the way, Georgia鈥檚 EPD deflected efforts by neighboring Alabama and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to track the chemicals more closely, even as (160 kilometers) downriver and across the state line, according to detailed court records and interviews with former regulators.
Today, Georgia is still not regulating PFAS, in contrast to other states that have invested tens of millions of dollars in cleanups and sued polluters to recoup costs.
Georgia environmental officials gave several reasons for their approach. In an interview, EPD Deputy Director Anna Truszczynski said her agency looked to federal regulators for guidance and waited for scientists to better understand the risks of PFAS. She said EPD helped several cities struggling with contamination by providing testing support, connecting them to potential funding sources and advising them on possible filtration technologies.
鈥淲e believe that there can be a good balance between environment and economy,鈥� Truszczynski said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 have to sacrifice one for the other.鈥�
The agency is also limiting the amount of certain PFAS in public drinking water, following federal standards set to take effect in several years. The federal rules would place drinking water safety limits on two of the forever chemicals once relied on by the carpet industry.
PFAS is a catchall term for thousands of related lab-made compounds more formally known as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances. The carpet industry used the chemicals for decades for stain resistance, even after learning, starting in the late 1990s, that they carried health risks as they spread and persisted in the environment.
Although officials with major carpet manufacturers say they stopped using PFAS in 2019, without extensive cleanup the chemicals will remain in the region’s water and soil for generations.
No one has taken responsibility to date. The country鈥檚 two largest carpet companies, Shaw Industries and Mohawk Industries Inc., both based in the region, blame their chemical suppliers, which they said for years hid the dangers of PFAS in their products. The carpet companies said they followed regulators鈥� guidance and pointed out that there are still no enforceable limits on the chemicals. Neither Shaw nor Mohawk had further comment for this story.
In court filings, chemical suppliers 3M and DuPont said it was ultimately the carpet industry, not them, that put PFAS in the water of northwest Georgia. Neither 3M nor DuPont responded to requests seeking comment for this story.
At EPA, a spokesperson said the federal agency is working to offer technical and financial support in the region.
鈥淓PA鈥檚 focus today is forward鈥憀ooking: working with Georgia, Alabama, affected communities, and water systems to identify PFAS contamination, reduce exposure, and hold polluters accountable where the law supports it,鈥� agency spokesperson Jake Murphy wrote in an email.
While tracing the cause of Bost鈥檚 thyroid and liver conditions is difficult, what she and her doctor know is that the drinking water and the river contained PFAS.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of us and we鈥檙e sick,鈥� Bost said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 next.鈥�
Red alert in Alabama
When PFAS started showing up in Alabama鈥檚 drinking water in 2016, local water utility officials looked to Georgia for answers.
Eastern Alabama and northwest Georgia share a river system that originates in the Blue Ridge Mountains and flows through both states on the way to Mobile Bay. This watershed feeds the region鈥檚 carpet mills, which use vast amounts of water, especially in the dyeing process. It is also the source of drinking water for utilities downriver that serve hundreds of thousands of people.
After tests showed PFAS in water at levels exceeding EPA鈥檚 voluntary health guidelines at the time, Alabama鈥檚 environmental regulators alerted their federal counterparts and asked Georgia鈥檚 EPD for help identifying the source.
Georgia had known for years that the waters flowing from Dalton, the hub of the state鈥檚 dominant carpet industry, contained high levels of PFAS, including versions that research showed were linked to some types of cancer.
Despite Alabama鈥檚 urgent request, Georgia鈥檚 environmental regulators did not respond in kind, according to interviews and internal government records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
At the time, 鈥淓PD was very defensive,鈥� said Jim Giattina, former director of EPA鈥檚 Water Protection Division who organized a call between the two states to coordinate. 鈥淭here was certainly no commitment on their part to do any more monitoring.鈥�
After the call EPA initiated with the two states, Alabama sent letters to Georgia in 2017 and 2018 requesting data. In one research brief, Alabama officials noted that Georgia鈥檚 environmental regulators did not require industrial users to monitor for PFAS.
EPD鈥檚 Truszczynski, who joined the agency in 2016, said she found no record of Georgia鈥檚 response to Alabama.
鈥淲e鈥檙e always very happy to work with our friends in Alabama,鈥� she said.
Alabama鈥檚 Department of Environmental Management did not respond to multiple requests for an interview or comment.
For years, testing in Georgia by industry, academics and government showed the chemicals continued flowing toward Alabama.
In 2008, the University of Georgia study found 鈥渟taggeringly high鈥� levels of PFAS in the water downriver from Dalton-area carpet mills. By that time, an EPA panel had determined the type of stain-resistant chemicals used by carpet manufacturers were likely carcinogenic. Georgia鈥檚 environmental regulators, concerned the levels in the river were much higher than what early research considered safe, funded a subsequent UGA study that found the chemicals in the river鈥檚 fish, state records show.
Absent guidelines from the federal government, EPD did not make any recommendations or issue advisories, the agency said.
Environmental groups imploring EPA leaders and then-EPD Director Carol Couch to regulate PFAS more aggressively. They noted state regulators elsewhere had begun to act.
鈥淭he residents of Georgia deserve no less protection than what has been afforded to residents in other states,鈥� the coalition of 21 organizations wrote in March 2008.
Months later, Couch met privately with carpet company representatives and their trade association, the Carpet and Rug Institute, according to records of testimony given during lawsuits against the companies.
Werner Braun, then the carpet institute鈥檚 director, later informed his board about the meeting with Couch, noting EPD 鈥渉as no plans to initiate regulatory action鈥� on PFAS, according to two court deposition transcripts. Braun told his board that Couch also indicated EPD 鈥渨ould probably look at the issue again in five years.鈥� Braun noted the subject of drinking water never came up, according to one of the depositions.
The meeting with Couch went so well that one carpet executive thanked the attendees for 鈥済aining this good outcome,鈥� according to the transcripts.
In response to a request for comment, Couch wrote in a text message that PFAS were only an 鈥渆merging concern鈥� at the time and that EPA had not established drinking water standards. EPA鈥檚 first guidance about PFAS levels came in 2009.
鈥淭o the Carpet and Rug Institute I offered no respite from state regulation of PFAS,鈥� Couch wrote to the AJC and AP. She added that the five-year time frame was typical for new water rules and that, in 2008, EPD 鈥渉ad neither the sufficient science, expertise nor resources to undertake action independent of USEPA.鈥�
A representative for the carpet institute declined to comment. Braun did not respond to a request to comment for this story.
It would be another four years until EPD tested the Conasauga River.
鈥楽moking gun鈥�
During the nearly two decades since that meeting with carpet executives in 2008, Georgia regulators intermittently tested the waters south of Dalton, confirming time and again the extensive contamination.
Despite these results, and the discovery of PFAS in the drinking water of several northwest Georgia towns, EPD did not post this until 2020.
By that time, EPD testing had found PFAS in Calhoun鈥檚 drinking water 鈥� the same water that Bost, her husband and two daughters relied on. When EPA in 2022 issued stricter guidelines for the amount of PFAS in drinking water it considered safe, the city of about 20,000 was several times above this new limit.
The local riverkeeper, Jesse Demonbreun-Chapman, took action.
On a cold, drizzly December day in 2022, Demonbreun-Chapman idled his boat on the Coosawattee River, a waterway that feeds into the Conasauga near Calhoun.
The rain made conditions ideal to test for PFAS pollution flowing into the river, He watched as ribbons of water ran off the riverbank from a local farm.
Demonbreun-Chapman suspected the massive farm was contaminated by PFAS-laden sludge used as fertilizer. The sludge, also known as biosolids, was made from wastewater sent to the local utility and spread on land throughout the area.
Downstream from the farm is the spot where Calhoun鈥檚 municipal water system draws river water to treat and eventually deliver to the taps of thousands of customers.
The test results alarmed Demonbreun-Chapman. The water running off the farm tested thousands of times higher than federal drinking water standards for forever chemicals. The city had no effective system to remove PFAS when treating it for the tap. The riverkeeper believed he had found a major source of contamination.
鈥淭hat was the smoking gun,鈥� Demonbreun-Chapman said.
The samples collected that rainy day became key to a lawsuit his organization, the Coosa River Basin Initiative, filed along with the Southern Environmental Law Center against Calhoun more than a year later.
The complaint alleged stain-resistant chemicals used by carpet mills in Calhoun had contaminated the sludge, which in turn polluted the water.
In a victory for environmental groups, Calhoun settled the case in 2024 and agreed to filter its water for PFAS, stop spreading sludge, test private drinking wells and keep the community informed of risk. The city did not admit liability.
EPD requires none of these actions. Years of static budgets, staffing turnover, a culture of industry deference and a sluggish response by federal regulators have left the agency unprepared to address a contamination crisis of this size and scope, said Demonbreun-Chapman and others.
鈥淣obody else was coming,鈥� he said.
EPD has a broad mandate, tasked with issuing permits, conducting inspections and providing emergency response to hazardous spills. The agency鈥檚 $128 million budget comes from fees as well as state and federal funds. EPD is overseen by the Board of Natural Resources, whose members are appointed by the governor. A spokesperson for Gov. Brian Kemp said in a statement that PFAS contamination is a problem facing states across the U.S.
鈥淎ddressing this issue has been a top priority for the state and EPD for several years,鈥� said Kemp spokesperson Andrew Isenhour.
In 2022, then-EPD Director Richard Dunn the agency sees so many annual departures that it turns over its entire staff every five or six years. Most leave to take other positions with EPA or in the private sector, often for higher pay, he said.
鈥淗aving a lot of institutional knowledge is critical,鈥� Dunn said, adding: 鈥淗aving a turnover rate that high is almost an existential challenge for us.鈥�
Truszczynski, EPD鈥檚 deputy director, said in an interview that the agency is adequately funded and has made strides over the past few years in keeping staff. She added that the agency took action to address Calhoun鈥檚 PFAS contamination, contacting city officials in 2022 and putting the city on a drinking water monitoring plan.
鈥淢y perspective is that EPD is really directly involved,鈥� she said.
Georgia defiant
In the vacuum left by the state, questions about who is responsible and who should pay for cleanup are being hashed out in the courts as cities and counties face hundreds of millions of dollars in costs to filter drinking water.
In 2016, the Alabama cities of Gadsden and Centre sued Mohawk, Shaw, 3M, DuPont and others to fund advanced filtration systems, ultimately settling for an undisclosed sum and no admission of wrongdoing by the companies.
Other cities in Alabama and northwest Georgia have followed. , filed in 2019, and is using the funds to build a $100 million water treatment plant. Calhoun, following its settlement with the Southern Environmental Law Center and Demonbreun-Chapman鈥檚 group, turned around and sued carpet manufacturers and their chemical suppliers in 2024, as did Dalton.
鈥淚t remains our goal to hold those that contaminated our water supply with PFAS responsible for all past, present, and future costs associated with removing their PFAS contamination from our drinking water,鈥� Calhoun Water and Wastewater Director Erik Henson wrote in an email.
Shaw and Mohawk in court papers and in statements to the AJC and AP said they are not to blame. They point the finger at chemical companies, who they say assured them their products were safe. The carpet giants say they followed state and federal regulations.
EPD said in a statement that it is tracking the litigation in northwest Georgia. The wave of lawsuits has expanded in recent years as dozens of residents and farmers allege PFAS contamination has devalued their properties and put their health and livelihoods at risk.
鈥淧eople don鈥檛 want to put their health on the line and wait for the state to catch up,鈥� said April Lipscomb, an attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center.
Some northwest Georgia lawmakers have sought to counter these lawsuits by that would restrict the ability of cities and residents to sue carpet companies.
The bills drew bipartisan condemnation when they were introduced earlier this year, as , including the contest to replace former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Increased attention on PFAS came after a recent how carpet companies continued to use forever chemicals for years, despite growing concerns about the health risks.
Residents protested in February at the Dalton restaurant of Republican Rep. Kasey Carpenter, who sponsored a bill to shield carpet companies from legal liability. Carpenter has said chemical manufacturers, not carpet manufacturers, are to blame. His legislation didn鈥檛 pass.
A few weeks later, locals trekked to the Capitol for a hearing on a bill co-sponsored by state Sen. Chuck Payne, another Dalton Republican, that would have given authority to EPD and Georgia鈥檚 attorney general to handle PFAS lawsuits brought by local government.
Backers said the approach would create a more coordinated response. Critics said it would slow drinking water improvements by shifting litigation to an agency that does not have the resources to handle the cases. That bill also failed. Payne did not respond to a request for comment.
In March, convention halls in Rome and Dalton erupted in applause as speakers, including environmental activist Erin Brockovich, cast the legislative efforts as a dire threat to accountability. The pair of town hall meetings hosted by law firms operating under the name PFAS Georgia turned out nearly 1,000 people and served as an informal campaign stop for about a dozen political candidates 鈥� a nod to the grassroots outrage over the topic.
鈥淵ou need to rise up,鈥� Brockovich told one crowd. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the only way this is going to work, and it鈥檚 the only way it has ever worked.鈥�
Other states are taking a more aggressive approach to PFAS.
Wisconsin, Michigan and Maine each have committed millions of dollars for cleanup, and sued to hold polluters and manufacturers accountable. Throughout the U.S., PFAS have been manufactured and used in a variety of products, including nonstick cookware, waterproof sunscreen, firefighting foam, dental floss and microwave popcorn bags.
A bipartisan group of Wisconsin lawmakers earlier this year for PFAS cleanup. That vote capped a long journey for Jill Billings, a Democratic state assembly member. In 2019, a town in her district was contaminated. Residents have been drinking bottled water provided by the state since 2021.
Billings said state-led action becomes more important as the federal government , including on PFAS. While EPA has still not put enforceable limits on forever chemicals, the agency鈥檚 proposed limits include the two that carpet manufacturers used most. Those limits are set to go into effect in 2031.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 up to us to solve the problems of regular folks because the federal government seems to be struggling,鈥� Billings said in an interview. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 fine. We鈥檙e ready.鈥�
鈥業 was screwed鈥�
Today, even though northwest Georgia鈥檚 major carpet manufacturers said they stopped using PFAS in their U.S. production several years ago, the Conasauga River south of Dalton is still being polluted.
The major source is a 9,600-acre (3,900-hectare) tract latticed by a tangle of pipes and sprinklers along the river. Each year, this 鈥渓and application system鈥� operated at Loopers Bend by the local water agency, Dalton Utilities, sprays the soil with billions of gallons of treated wastewater, most of it from the carpet industry.
The concept 鈥� much celebrated during the development of Loopers Bend in the 1980s, before PFAS were widely known 鈥� was that the soil and vegetation would filter out pollutants before they reached the Conasauga.
Yet design flaws led to consistent leaks and broken pipes, state and federal regulatory records show. Dead fish bobbed on the river鈥檚 surface as wastewater ran off directly into the Conasauga. Scott Gordon, chief of water enforcement for EPA鈥檚 regional office at the time, toured the site in 2000 and said he was shocked by how the industrial water found its path into the river, sometimes through gullies cut by the flow.
The utility said it redesigned its wastewater treatment program years ago and has remained compliant and transparent with regulators.
EPA inspectors in 2001 pushed to bring the site under the permitting system of the federal Clean Water Act.
That permit, administered by the state in partnership with EPA, would require Dalton Utilities to report pollution levels and chemical discharges to regulators. It would have also empowered citizens to sue in federal court if the utility or the government didn鈥檛 comply with environmental laws.
鈥淭hat ability for citizens to take matters into their own hands is an extremely powerful tool,鈥� said Gordon, who led EPA negotiations with Georgia.
Congress wrote the Clean Water Act to delegate to states a powerful role in the federal permit process, giving Georgia鈥檚 regulators the final say at sites like Loopers Bend. The agreement was in its last stages when EPD鈥檚 lawyers sent it back to EPA and asked for a few tweaks, Gordon said. One change to the wording required Dalton Utilities merely to submit the application, rather than to obtain a permit, as EPA had urged.
Gordon did not catch the significance of the change and signed off on it, he said in a recent interview.
Seemingly a bureaucratic detail, the new language sidelined EPA.
Days after Gordon approved the changes in 2001, EPD rejected the application, saying Dalton Utilities didn鈥檛 require EPA oversight.
鈥淚 was screwed in my federal career twice by state agencies. This is one of them,鈥� Gordon remembered.
In a statement, Georgia鈥檚 EPD said PFAS were not regulated in 2001 and neither a federal nor state permit would have included limits on the chemicals.
Today, under EPD oversight, PFAS levels at Loopers Bend remain largely unmonitored.
鈥淭hey remained in the complete shadows,鈥� said Gordon, referring to Dalton Utilities and the carpet industry. 鈥淎nd, honestly, they still are.鈥�
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Margaret Kates of contributed reporting to this story.
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About the collaboration
This story is part of an investigative collaboration with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, FRONTLINE (PBS), The Post and Courier and AL.com that includes the FRONTLINE documentary 鈥淐ontaminated: The Carpet Industry鈥檚 Toxic Legacy.鈥� It is supported through and , which is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Watch the documentary
Watch the documentary 鈥淐ontaminated: The Carpet Industry鈥檚 Toxic Legacy鈥� and in the , on or on the .
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