The location of the Brenntag Mid-South facility, along with many other businesses in the area, faces a number of different environmental challenges. What were normal practices for large industrial operations or manufacturers in the late 1800s to early 1900s created many of the environmental challenges we have today. At Brenntag Mid-South, we’re proud to be part of the investigative team to help identify both the problem and the solution. Already, Brenntag Mid-South has invested millions to treat groundwater that was contaminated through past industrial processes.
Over 25 years ago, groundwater impacted with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at the property was discovered. Working in conjunction with and oversight by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) Inactive Hazardous Sites Branch, Southchem, Inc., Brenntag Mid-South’s predecessor at the property, previously installed a remediation system to treat impacted groundwater at the property through the operation of a groundwater extraction and treatment system with a permitted effluent discharge outfall to Third Fork Creek. Brenntag has continued to pay for the operation of that remediation, which is monitored and regulated by NCDEQ. The system has been operating to treat groundwater at the property for more than 20 years with a permit from NCDEQ.
Throughout the property assessment and remediation process, sampling events have periodically shown VOCs and intermittent toxicity test failures at a stormwater outfall to Third Ford Creek on Brenntag’s property. Both the City of Durham and Brenntag Mid-South want to address this important issue for future Durham businesses and residents.
As of 2022, and continuing to today, Brenntag Mid-South has taken additional action at the City’s request to contain and dispose of all process water generated at the facility. The volume of water removed, and investment required by Brenntag, to date has been significant.
Based on discussions with the city in 2023, Brenntag Mid-South’s consultants conducted a surface water and groundwater sampling event in late June 2023. That evaluation, which was completed in mid-August 2023, found toxicity test failures and VOCs. Given the fact that Brenntag has been disposing of all of its process water since 2022, these results indicate that there is likely a different source to the problem.
This may suggest a potential connection between groundwater in contact with the buried Durham Cotton Manufacturing Company lagoon and the outfall to Third Fork Creek. Although the pathway between groundwater and surface water is not clear, there appears to be a correlation between groundwater in contact with the buried lagoon and the impaired surface water quality at the outfall, especially during periods of heavy rainfall. This is just one of many investigative trails the company and City of Durham are exploring.
Since 2022, and in close coordination with the City of Durham, Brenntag Mid-South has taken the following steps, as documented in our quarterly reporting to the city:
1. Collected and treated all stormwater from on-site collection pits off-site. In June 2025, a second pump was installed to provide additional redundancy and help address heavy rainfall events that cause water to migrate from Pettigrew Street and other adjacent properties into the outfall.
2. Stopped all discharges to the UT-1 tributary of Third Fork Creek resulting from our operations as of July 2023.
3. Sealed all on-site stormwater drains that fed into the outfall to the creek as of 2024.
4. Conducted daily visual inspections of collection areas and discharge points.
5. Completed numerous sampling events and reported to the City since 2023 pursuant to discussions and directives from the City.
6. Transitioned the facility to a zero-discharge site as of July 2023, by continuing to collect and haul all stormwater off-site for disposal and stopping all operations that led to discharges from the relevant outfall, which was later permanently dammed with concrete in 2024.
1. Collected and treated all stormwater from on-site collection pits off-site. In June 2025, a second pump was installed to provide additional redundancy and help address heavy rainfall events that cause water to migrate from Pettigrew Street and other adjacent properties into the outfall.
2. Stopped all discharges to the UT-1 tributary of Third Fork Creek resulting from our operations as of July 2023.
3. Sealed all on-site stormwater drains that fed into the outfall to the creek as of 2024.
4. Conducted daily visual inspections of collection areas and discharge points.
5. Completed numerous sampling events and reported to the City since 2023 pursuant to discussions and directives from the City.
6. Transitioned the facility to a zero-discharge site as of July 2023, by continuing to collect and haul all stormwater off-site for disposal and stopping all operations that led to discharges from the relevant outfall, which was later permanently dammed with concrete in 2024.
Brenntag is moving forward with further evaluation efforts, including historical information review and additional groundwater and surface water sampling events to narrow down the source of impacts which will point to the remediation investments needed.
The City of Durham and Brenntag Mid-South are committed to transparency in this investigative process. This website will be updated as new information becomes available.
