GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Kent County Department of Public Works say that monitoring wells near the North Kent Landfill have tested above allowable state levels for PFAS contamination.
The three monitoring wells were tested in December and findings varied from less than 1 ppt of PFAS to 237.4 ppt. The State of Michigan drinking water allowable level is 70 ppt.
The KCDPW, along with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, tested the site after drinking wells in the Rockford, Belmont and Plainfield Township areas showed high levels of PFAS. The chemicals were in waste dumped by Wolverine Worldwide tannery that operated in Rockford for decades. The KCDPW and MDEQ say that tannery waste was disposed at the North Kent landfill in the 1980s. The KCDPW says that dumping was in compliance with state and federal laws at that time.
The KCDPW says they will now start testing wells of nearby residents and will provide bottled water to 47 homes and businesses to the south and west of the landfill. The monitoring wells were all on county property.
