The Michigan National Guard (ARNG) is planning to test private drinking water wells in Grayling next spring.
The ARNG is in the midst of sending out "right of entry" forms to more than 400 residences around Lake Margrethe and the Grayling Army Airfield.
If signed, the form gives the ARNG permission to access private property for PFAS testing purposes, but some residents have said the form looks like it's "asking you to sign your life away."
Paul Buckholtz, with the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, said the Guard is trying to make the form more "user-friendly."
"They're clunky, they're a federal document written by lawyers, and they look pretty one-sided when people get them," Buckholtz said. "That's a problem, and that's what we're working on, to the extent that they can be modified."
In an email to WCMU, an ARNG spokesperson said the form can be adjusted individually to put a time limit on the Guard's access to residents' property.
Susan Thiel, a community co-chair on the Grayling Restoration Advisory Board (RAB), said the testing data is necessary for the ARNG to develop a long-term cleanup plan for contamination.
"We really have to get people on board because a lot of people aren't willing to sign the military's right of entry," Thiel said. "And if they don't, the military can't get their testing, and these people will not qualify to be part of the solution."
Testing was meant to begin this past fall, but a federal policy change and an intial underestimate of the number of wells in the area delayed plans.
Lake Margrethe cleanup action & Cantonement investigation
On the southern shore of Lake Margrethe, contaminated water is slowing dripping from a storm sewer into the lake. PFOS levels from the culvert are pinging above the state's surface water standards.
"There's a small wetland area up here and the pipe goes under the road and drains over there, and we have another pipe up there," Buckholtz said, pointing toward the camp cantonement. "So this is one of the interim areas that we're looking at to address."
The ARNG put out proposals to design a system that would limit PFAS from further leaching into the lake through the pipe. Construction of the system is slated to begin in the summer.
So far, the ARNG's investigation on the cantonment area has identified the fire barn and former incinerator as suspected sources of contamination, among others.
Buckholtz said the cantonment investigation is in its early stages, but it needs to be completed before a final cleanup solution can be implemented.
"We want to find: the nature and extent of where are the sources, what concentrations, how deep is it, is it in the soils and the groundwater, the flow...?" Buckholtz said. "You answer all those questions, and then you can say, 'Okay, here's the problem, what do we have to do to address it?'"
In the meantime, the storm sewer system is meant to serve as an interim action that limits the spread of PFAS.
"This pipe might be one [avenue], but [PFAS] could just be seeping all the way along the lake," Thiel said. "That's why it's important to find the source— or sources, it might be more than one."
The Lake Margrethe Property Owner's Association (LMPOA) put out a statement in the fall in support of remedial actions addressing the lake's contamination. But at the previous RAB meeting, a LMPOA representative said they have not seen a plan that indicates the system will be built in the summer, as promised.
RAB community member, Mike Bushre said the LMPOA requests a schedule with the dates of when a contract will be awarded and when construction will begin and be completed.
"Public confidence in the commitment of the military to correct the PFAS problem could gain in credibility by eliminating these continuing discharges that make the lake more polluted by the minute, by the hour and by the day," Bushre said.
Grayling Army Airfield system addressing wastewater lines
During the Dec. 4 RAB meeting, Bonnie Packer, a contractor with the National Guard Bureau, presented a proposed system at the Grayling Army Airfield.
She said the ARNG and state found that contaminated water from the Airfield may be entering the city's wastewater lines, which lead to the wastewater treatment plant (WWTP).
Most WWTPs are not currently effective in treating PFAS, and end up releasing the chemicals back into surface waters. A state program requires WWTPs to test for PFAS and reduce sources.
Packer said the ARNG will be conducting an engineering and cost analysis to develop a system that can prevent PFAS from entering the lines off the Airfield's southeast corner.
For more information and documentation about Camp Grayling remediation, visit the Kirtland Community College page on the Grayling RAB.
