It's the 'Carpet Capital of the World.' That Came at a Price

The city of Dalton in Georgia is known as the "Carpet Capital of the World," but a new investigation suggests the very industry that built the town's prosperity has left a toxic legacy. The joint investigation by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the AP, AL.com, FRONTLINE (PBS), and the Post and Courier traces how Dalton's carpet mills spent decades using PFAS "forever chemicals" in Scotchgard- and Stainmaster-style treatments—and sending tainted wastewater into the Conasauga River system that supplies drinking water for hundreds of thousands in Georgia and Alabama. What helped carpets shrug off stains also made the compounds nearly impossible to break down in water, soil, or people.

Reporters detail how weak regulation, a cozy relationship between local officials and industry, and chemical makers' secrecy allowed the contamination to spread even after internal studies flagged PFAS in human blood and the environment. Researchers now call the region a PFAS hotspot, and some residents tested by the AJC and its partners had levels of PFAS in their blood far above national safety benchmarks. Doctors, meanwhile, are seeing clusters of thyroid and endocrine issues, and cities downstream are suing for the hundreds of millions it will take to clean up.

Carpet companies Shaw Industries and Mohawk Industries largely blame the chemical manufacturers, and vice versa. For the full picture—including internal emails, whistleblower accounts, and how the chemicals keep circulating even after "phase-outs"—read the AJC story.