NC S657

Requires coal combustion residuals surface impoundment owners to establish permanent replacement water supplies by October 15, 2018, for households with drinking water wells within one-half mile of the impoundment compliance boundary or in areas where contamination is expected to migrate.

Impoundment owners must submit proposed permanent water supply plans to the Department of Environmental Quality by December 15, 2016, with the Department rendering final approval decisions by January 15, 2017.

Preference for permanent water supplies is connection to public water supplies, but households may elect to receive filtration systems instead, and impoundment owners remain responsible for periodic maintenance of installed filtration systems.

Directs the Department of Environmental Quality to conduct a study of hexavalent chromium distribution and levels in groundwater beneath a divided neighborhood (a subdivision on a peninsula surrounded by a surface impoundment in a county bordering another state) to determine if all households in the partially impacted neighborhood should receive permanent replacement water supplies.

Until permanent water supplies are established, impoundment owners must supply affected households with alternate sources of potable drinking water and water safe for other household uses.