The U.S. Air Force (USAF) is weighing four strategies to prevent PFAS-contaminated water from further leaching off the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base into Van Etten Lake in Oscoda.
Air Force officials said they're leaning to implement a system that would pump approximately 288,000 gallons of groundwater to a treatment facility on the base.
Under the "preferred" system, the USAF would install five new extraction wells along Perimeter Road near Swise Road. The facility would house three granulated activated carbon (GAC) units and treated water would be discharged in an infiltration gallery north of the extraction wells. The gallery is a series of underground pipes that are above the water table.
In a document outlining the plan, the USAF said this system is the USAF's preferred action because it satisfies legal environmental requirements without requiring extra coordination with local and state officials.
Cathy Wusterbarth, with the Oscoda citizen group Need Our Water (NOW), said the plans fail to address the larger plume and nearby hotspots of contamination.
"With the choices they've looked at, they are not capturing the full plume," Wusterbarth said. "They are only attempting to prevent the 'highest concentrations' of PFAS from migrating [into Van Etten Lake]."
The other two systems being proposed are similar to the USAF's preferred system, but they differ in where treated water would be discharged (into Van Etten Lake or the township's storm sewer, as opposed to the infiltration gallery).
All three treatment options are estimated to cost $23-24 million. The fourth option reviewed by the USAF is "no action."
The Air Force is accepting public comment through Oct. 20. To submit a comment, contact BRAC Environmental Coordinator Steven Willis at steven.willis.15@us.af.mil.
For a full description of the treatment options, read the USAF's administrative record below:
Editor's note: The original version of the story, stated the system is one of two cleanup actions implemented under a recent Department of Defense policy directive. The story has been updated to reflect that is not the case.
