The Michigan PFAS Action Response Team has identified O E Bieri Industrial Drive as an area of interest for PFAS contamination. The team, which is a part of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, was created in 2017 to address PFAS contamination sites statewide.
Short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS are a collection of chemicals that have been widely used since the 1940s but have recently been linked to a number of adverse health effects, including an increased risk of some cancers and decreased fertility.
The Vergennes Township area of interest was identified after a business owner sent water from a new well to the Kent County Health Department for testing. Water from the well, located on a property along O E Bieri Industrial Drive, showed levels of PFNA – a PFAS compound – at 34 parts per trillion. Anything above 6 ppt is considered an elevated level.
Water from other commercial properties along O E Bieri Industrial Drive were sampled and one of those samples returned an elevated level of PFNA at 13 ppt.
Other area residents and businesses are expected to receive letters from EGLE offering to sample their wells for possible contamination.
EGLE Managing Site, Letters Being Sent
Previously, the State of Michigan used a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lifetime health advisory level of 70 ppt to determine if water was contaminated by PFAS. In August 2020, the state adopted maximum contaminant levels for seven PFAS compounds, with the lowest level set at 6 ppt for PFNA.
Those new levels may mean more incidents of PFAS contamination will be reported. Last year, the site of a former City of Lowell landfill on Ware Road tested positive for the PFAS compounds PFOS and PFOA at 18 ppt and 26 ppt, respectively. That site was already in the process of being monitored for elevated levels of tetrachloroethylene, dichloroethane and carbon tetrachloride when the PFAS were discovered.
While the city is responsible for managing work on the Ware Road site, the O E Bieri Industrial Drive area of interest is being wholly overseen by EGLE right now.
Josh Walker is the EGLE site lead for the project and says that those in the area with city water service shouldn’t have to be worried about contamination. “We’re just concerned with the private drinking wells,” he says.
So far, there have been “non-detect” results at three commercial properties in the area. Two were near the industrial drive and the third was on Lincoln Lake Avenue. No residential wells have been tested yet, but Walker says additional testing is expected to be complete within a month.
“We just have a small data set at the present moment,” according to Walker.
Once more results are obtained, EGLE should be able to better advise residents on what, if any, risk they face and how to mitigate it. Currently, the department is not making any recommendations or requirements regarding the use of bottled water. There is also no word yet on the possible source of the contamination.
Homeowners and businesses in the area of interest will be contacted directly by EGLE, and Walker says those letters are in the process of going out now.
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