Twelve projects across the Great Lakes are receiving funding to support community-led PFAS organizing.
PFAS are known as "forever chemicals" because they can persist in the environment for thousands of years. And with few long-term solutions, the road for communities grappling with contamination is often uncertain.
The Great Lakes PFAS Action Network (GLPAN) is now awarding mini-grants to support PFAS testing and education. This round of grants totals approximately $36,000.
Erica Bloom, with the Ecology Center, said the grant program is meant to fill in the gaps left by the state, like soil testing or education targeted at specific groups like farmers.
"One of our main goals is to empower people to collect and understand their own data, be more educated on their own and then talk through it with the state," Bloom said. "So even if the state isn't going to test it or declines to, people can still have options."
Nine of the projects funded this year address contaminated communities in Michigan, including: Detroit, Brighton, Pellston, Whitehall, Kent County, Oceana/Newaygo counties and the Flint River Watershed.
Andrea Pierce is leading the project in Pellston, where her family's drinking water was contaminated by the use of AFFF firefighting foam at the Pellston Regional Airport.
Pierce said she plans to document the community health impacts and see if differences in PFAS levels are associated with well depths.
"With a such a small sample, it shouldn't be that hard to find out this information. That's where I'm going with it," Pierce said. "And then that will help me with my family. Although I don't know what we can do once you're contaminated with PFAS, it's not like they can get rid of it."
Pierce said the project is still in its early stages, but her goal is to raise awareness about PFAS contamination in Pellston.
"I take my own water from home [Ypsilanti] when I go up north, which is really sad because we have these beautiful spring water aquifers," Pierce said. "You know how wonderful the water is, but I don't trust it now. I'm scared to drink it."
