ROME — For all of his 75 years, Alvin Jackson has called this city in the Appalachian foothills of northwest Georgia his home.
Like many in the town of about 40,000 residents, Jackson has quenched his thirst with water that comes straight out of his tap. For decades, Jackson thought little about what was in that water, which is pulled from rivers that wind through the city and past the region’s famed flooring factories.
That changed a few years ago. Flipping through his local newspaper, Jackson said he came across a story warning Rome’s water may contain high levels of a class of “forever chemicals,” human-made compounds called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or “PFAS.”
“That sort of turned the light on in my head,” said Jackson, a retired welder.
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
On a recent Sunday, Jackson’s desire for answers led him into a room at the middle school he once attended — now a converted community center — to have vials of his blood drawn. The samples were collected as part of an Emory University study investigating how much PFAS have made it into the bodies of residents of Rome and nearby Calhoun.
Emory’s team has collected blood samples from 180 participants, split evenly between the cities. The project is funded by a $30,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health, the federal government’s medical research arm.
PFAS have been used for decades in products like firefighting foams and food wrappers, and the chemicals are now found in water systems across the country. If there is a ground zero for PFAS contamination in the Peach State, it’s likely northwest Georgia, the epicenter of the state’s flooring industry.
Dalton — the “carpet capital of the world” — sits an hour north of Rome. Surrounding towns like Calhoun and Chatsworth are also dotted with flooring factories. The industry’s use of the chemicals has spawned lawsuits targeting flooring makers, PFAS manufacturers and local water systems, whose conventional treatment methods were not able to remove the compounds from drinking water.
Credit: (Andy Miller/KHN)
Credit: (Andy Miller/KHN)
The Emory researchers said that history and the community’s eagerness to participate led them to focus on Rome and Calhoun.
The results of some initial blood testing conducted last year by Atlanta News First with local residents also played a key role. The survey, which used take-home test kits, found participants had levels of PFAS in their blood that were higher than the national median.
“When we saw these levels, we thought there was an opportunity to see if people were overly exposed, to see if we can help them understand what their levels mean, and then see if it’s something that warrants further study,” said Emory environmental health professor Dana Barr.
For now, the Emory team is not investigating whether any health problems were caused by the chemicals; only whether participants' PFAS levels are higher than the U.S. average.
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
But a growing body of evidence has tied exposure to minuscule concentrations of several PFAS to serious health conditions, including fertility problems and increased risk of certain cancers in adults, to developmental delays and depressed vaccine response in children.
Sara D. Malone, a 71-year-old Rome resident and breast cancer survivor, also had her blood drawn. Malone wonders whether the chemicals had anything to do with her illness, but mostly, she said she wants to help Rome move forward.
“We do have children and grandchildren,” Malone said. “And I mean, I just love my community.”
Costly upgrades, legal fights
PFAS’ molecular structure makes them useful in products resistant to water, oil and heat, but they don’t break down on their own in nature, earning them the nickname “forever chemicals.”
Emory’s study comes as Georgia cities grapple with PFAS in their drinking water, along with new federal regulations that will soon require them to remove nearly all of them.
The regulations will take effect in 2029 and could force many other water systems into costly upgrades.
Rome was one of Georgia’s first cities to take action on PFAS.
In 2016, Rome stopped pulling water from its main source and used new technologies to remove more of the chemicals.
The city later sued several chemical and flooring giants, including 3M, DuPont, Shaw Industries, Mohawk Industries and the city of Dalton’s water provider, Dalton Utilities, over the pollution.
The city’s case argued Dalton Utilities received wastewater for years from the area’s flooring plants, but that it was ill-equipped to remove the PFAS it contained. The result, the suit claimed, was dangerous PFAS runoff from a site roughly 50 miles upstream that contaminated Rome’s drinking water. In 2023, Rome agreed to settle the case and received around $279 million, based on settlement terms obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
With the money, the city is building a $200 million water treatment plant that’ll open in 2029. Rome spokesman Doug Walker did not respond to questions about residents’ ongoing PFAS concerns.
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Calhoun, meanwhile, is dealing with PFAS problems and legal battles of its own.
Testing results posted by the city show PFAS levels in Calhoun’s water have frequently exceeded the looming federal limits.
Last year, the city agreed to overhaul its water system to settle a federal lawsuit filed by a local environmental group.
The city is still facing another suit from residents who claim their land was polluted by PFAS-laden sludge from Calhoun’s wastewater treatment plants. In that case, Calhoun has struck back with claims of its own against flooring and chemical manufacturers.
An attorney for Calhoun declined to comment on the Emory study, citing ongoing litigation.
Next steps
The Emory scientists hope to parlay this initial study into future ones to determine how people are coming into contact with PFAS and links to health conditions.
Preliminary results are expected in about nine months.
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
But President Donald Trump’s efforts to cut NIH grant funding could throw a wrench into further research.
In the past fiscal year, Emory received $488 million in NIH assistance and the university said it could see funding cut by $140 million annually because of Trump’s move. A federal judge blocked the cuts this week, but it’s unclear how the courts will ultimately rule.
Carmen Marsit, an executive associate dean at Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health, warned Trump’s plans would impede the study.
“Work such as this, which is in response to community concerns, is in peril and would not be possible if the cuts that are now paused were to become permanent,” Marsit said in a statement.
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