Deep River Riverkeeper Hosts Duke and North Carolina Central University Students

On Tuesday, July 8th, Deep River Riverkeeper (DRRK) hosted four bright students from both Duke University and North Carolina Central University, along with faculty members for a field study of Richland Creek in southwest High Point, NC. Connor Biswell, Caroline Beggs, Kyra Farmer, and Safia Zibo rode to DRRK headquarters at the University of North Carolina Greensboro with professors Dr. Antonio “Tony” Barnes of North Carolina Central University, Jessica Straehie, Megan Hughes and Chiara Klein of Duke University to sit down with Riverkeeper Stephanie Stephens and Executive Director, Dr. Patricia Gray to discuss the water quality and environmental justice issues surrounding Richland Creek and the Deep River.

Richland Creek is roughly 8.1 miles from its source near Ward Avenue and Green Street in southwest High Point, NC to its confluence with the Deep River, at the top of Randleman Reservoir. The entirety of Richland Creek flows through historically industrialized territory. Textiles and furniture manufacturing were a major force in the southwest region of High Point for nearly 100 years. This industrial region has expanded and changed over time, phasing out textile manufacturing and including metal coating and plastic packaging companies. Despite the changing manufacturing, all industries most likely used or are still using PFAS chemicals in their processes. Deep River Riverkeeper has designed a study to sample at six locations on Richland Creek to determine PFAS contamination after finding PFAS chemicals present at the confluence with the Deep River, through Duke Superfund Laboratory. Samples were first collected in December 2024 by DRRK and analyzed by Duke Superfund and again in January and April 2025 at six sites, through the use of Cyclopure PFAS test kits, which can identify up to 55 different types of PFAS. Deep River Riverkeeper believes that PFAS chemicals are entering Richland Creek from many different sources and we hope to track those sources using PFAS forensics. PFAS forensics utilizes advanced analytical techniques, using mass spectrometry (HRMS) to give a “fingerprinting” of PFAS chemicals found in a single water sample (Charbonnet et al., 2021). This method, along with an EPA database of PFAS chemicals and their use, will tell us what types of PFAS are found in-stream and what type of product or manufacturing they come from (EPA, 2020). This case study focuses on two of the six sites sampled on Richland Creek; Sample Site 1RC, the stream headwater in urban High Point and Sample Site 6RC, at the more rural confluence of the Deep River.

Our field trip began with visits to Site 1RC, at the stream headwater where students were able to experience the urban setting of Richland Creek, an industrial area with residential homes mixed in. This area is traditionally African American and many community members have voiced concerns about the water quality of the creek and its degradation over the years. From this location, we travelled past Seaboard Chemical, an EPA Superfund Site located just upstream of the confluence of Deep River and Richland Creek and discussed the legacy pollution that is impacting water quality in this more rural region. Site 6RC is just a quarter mile down the street from the Superfund Site, next to East Side Wastewater Treatment facility, who receives and treats wastewater from 18 significant industrial users that are located within the region of Site 1RC, Richland Creek headwater. At the confluence of Richland Creek and Deep River, there is an enormous amount of in-stream trash pollution, an outfall from the wastewater treatment plant and a mixing zone with Deep River and any contaminants that come downstream from its tributaries and stormwater runoff. Visiting the sites in-person is a powerful way to understand the fundamental issues of human impact on a stream that feeds directly into our drinking water at Randleman Reservoir. 

During our lunch break at Piedmont Environmental Center, our visitors met DRRK Board Members Steve Drew, who worked as Director of Greensboro Water Resources and Interim City Manager and Dr. Ward Robinson, former Medical Director of the Guilford County Department of Public Health. The students had many questions for them and we enjoyed a panel discussion regarding PFAS chemicals and public health with our boxed lunches from local Jamestown restaurant, Southern Roots.

Our final site of the field study was a tour of PTRWA’s John Franklin Kime Water Treatment Plant with Executive Director Greg Flory and Deputy Executive Director Adam Conn. Given all the issues with PFAS chemicals and other emerging contaminants, Flory and Conn, who are dedicated to producing the cleanest water possible, are now at the cutting edge of water treatment to mitigate the pollution in drinking water that serves part of High Point, part of Greensboro, Archdale, Jamestown and some of Randolph County. PTRWA is housing a reverse-osmosis pilot program and developing synthetic chemical destruction technology, creating a unique opportunity for concerned stakeholders to see the effort and investment it takes to step up to the plate and deal with the new era we are in, where water treatment plants and wastewater treatment plants can no longer treat just human waste. We appreciate the hard work and dedication to safe drinking water that this facility provides. 

We want to thank everyone who participated in this field trip and would like to educate on the issues within our region more frequently. If your business, group or organization is interested in learning more about this case study, please contact Riverkeeper Stephanie Stephens at stephanie@deepriverkeepersnc.org.