S257 - 2026 Appropriations Act. (SL 2026-41)

• Groundwater studies of areas at or adjacent to fire stations with elevated levels of PFAS, including the purchase and deployment of analytical instrumentation or mobile platforms using analytical equipment, to analyze and assess PFAS levels in the environment.
• Providing temporary water supplies to fire stations currently or formerly on water wells with elevated levels of PFAS, including mobile tankers of food‑grade water.
• Providing longer‑term filtration systems for water wells at fire stations with elevated levels of PFAS, including reverse osmosis, granular activated carbon, anion exchange resins, or other novel sorbent media developed by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
• Short‑ or long‑term voluntary human exposure studies to assess levels of PFAS in the bodies of firefighters and their families.
• Sampling and assessment of drinking water wells at homes of firefighters, locations formerly used as fire stations, and other wells that may be contaminated with PFAS to better understand the local and regional impacts of PFAS in groundwater.
• Supplemental support of the Bernard Allen Emergency Drinking Water Fund in areas surrounding fire stations with elevated levels of PFAS in their water wells.
• Funding of a partnership with the Office of the State Fire Marshal and North Carolina State University to develop and implement a pilot program for deep cleaning of firefighter protective gear to mitigate PFAS exposure.
• Any other projects of opportunity deemed relevant by the Collaboratory related to PFAS or firefighters and the communities they serve.

This section also requires the Collaboratory to summarize the activities funded by this section as part of its required annual report to the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources, the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Health and Human Services, and the Joint Legislative Education Oversight Committee.

This section became effective July 1, 2026.