The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) is actively investigating a new PFAS site in West Michigan. PFAS, which are man-made forever chemicals linked to health issues such as cancer, are the focus of this investigation.
EGLE is currently focusing its efforts on Courtland Township, but at this time, state officials have not pinpointed the source of the contamination.
EGLE, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, and Kent County Health officials held a meeting on Wednesday, to introduce more than 60 people to what investigators have learned about a new PFAS plume in Kent County.
"I don't want it in my body," Phyllis Norman McIntyre, one of the meeting attendees, said.
EGLE has identified several homes near 11 Mile and Courtland with high levels of PFAS in their wells. The state has found several wells with PFAS levels ranging from 50 to 110 parts per trillion, significantly higher than the regulation levels of 8 to 16 ppt.
"This is a new investigation that is starting from scratch," Karen Vorce, EGLE Remediation Redevelopment Division District Supervisor, explained,
McIntyre, among others, is seeking answers to PFAS contamination. She mentioned that investigators are looking at her neighbor's house but not hers, adding, "I just want it to go away, and it's not going to. So it's kind of scary."
As of now, the exact source of the contamination remains unknown.
"We reached out to Wolverine Worldwide in July, and sent them a letter asking them to do some investigation work, specifically at one of their warehouse properties on Portland. So they are going to start drilling on that property in mid to late October to initiate that investigation," Vorce said.
Wolverine Worldwide used PFAS to waterproof shoes. In 2017, a group alerted the state to an old Wolverine dump site. That year, EGLE discovered private wells around Plainfield and Algoma townships with high levels of forever chemicals.
In 2018, state officials examined an area near 11-mile road, but found no drums or evidence of waste disposal. In August of this year, they reported that more than 45 drinking wells in the area had been sampled, with several exceeding drinking water standards.
"We were, you know, obviously pretty shocked when we got these results that we were going to have to start a new investigation area. So, this is outside of what we consider the consent decree," Vorce explained.
According to the CDC, PFAS are incredibly harmful, with documented risks including an increased risk of kidney or testicular cancer, higher cholesterol levels, and increased blood pressure.
"So now we're in the investigation phase of trying to figure out the source of the PFAS, how far it has migrated, and making sure we get all of the drinking water wells sampled so that people are no longer drinking PFAS-contaminated water," Vorce added.
The state plans to test more wells on Thursday to determine the extent of the plume.
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