In 1999, Hurricane Floyd hit North Carolina, flooding hog waste lagoons, releasing 25 million gallons of manure into the New River and contaminating the water supply. Ronnie Kennedy, county director for environmental health, said that of 310 private wells he had tested for contamination since the storm, 9 percent, or three times the average across eastern North Carolina, had fecal coliform bacteria. Normally, tests showing any hint of feces in drinking water, an indication that it can be carrying disease-causing pathogens, are cause for immediate action.