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Resident raises water‑quality, education and drug‑treatment concerns during public comment
Summary
A Bond Level resident told commissioners his tap water contains high levels of contaminants and urged more professional, non‑law‑enforcement approaches to drug treatment; commissioners and the county manager responded with information about county water reporting and other business.
During the Aug. 4 public comment period at the Harnett County Board of Commissioners meeting, Bond Level resident Alan Longman addressed several issues including local water quality, education and addiction treatment.
“...my water is absolutely horrible,” Longman said, telling commissioners he had water testing showing “20 major failures” and levels of cadmium he described as significantly elevated and harmful to brain development. He urged the county to prioritize ensuring safe drinking water and not rely on businesses’ in‑house treatment systems. Longman also said school curricula should adapt to future economic changes and urged professional, non‑law‑enforcement leadership for addiction‑treatment programs, expressing concern about drugs entering jail systems.
County Manager Brent Trout responded later in the meeting when he addressed water quality broadly and directed residents to the county website: “If you are interested in our water quality, you can go to our website. There is a tab under HRW where we post our water quality report. It shows all of the data related to the quality of our water and the standards that are set by EPA that we must follow. And at this point, we're not in violation of any of those issues, and we have good clean water and have had for many, many years,” Trout said.
The transcript shows Longman’s remarks were part of the one‑hour public‑comment period (the board later revised the public comment rules; see separate item). There is no record in the transcript of staff verifying Longman’s specific testing results during the meeting.
