Exactly 300 sites in Michigan are contaminated by toxic “forever chemicals.” That’s the state’s official number for known sites, and that 300 mark was reached just this month.
WCMU’s David Nicholas spoke with environmental reporter Teresa Homsi about state testing and what people need to know if their community becomes a "place of interest."
David Nicholas: What does the milestone mean for contamination overall?
Teresa Homsi: The first thing that it indicates is that Michigan has done a lot of PFAS testing, so we can't say that Michigan is more contaminated than other states because we just don't have that data to compare.
The state has a helpful map that shows where the sites are and areas where sampling has taken place.
When you break down the sites, landfills are the most common, and that's followed by industrial facilities, metal plating manufacturers, airports and military bases. But there are also about 35 areas of interest where the state is actively looking for suspected contamination.
But that milestone number, that official 300 number has grown steadily. In my first-ever feature on PFAS in the summer of 2022, I had reported that there were just over 200 known sites, so we're talking about a 50% increase in just under three years.
DN: And you did note that we're not saying that the state is the most contaminated, but given that so many communities are faced with contamination at this point, what should people know?
TH: Yeah, that's the really complicated question because I can't answer whether or not we'll ever be able to fully clean up this growing docket of sites.
But I can tell you about what happens when drinking water is known to have PFAS in it, so first we got to split it up into two parts.
There's the public water supply side. Municipal water supplies are all testing for PFAS. They're required to by the state, and they have these drinking water standards that they have to meet.
Per Michigan law, public water suppliers are required to notify the public if they're not compliant with those state standards. By 2029, all public water suppliers will also be expected to install systems if necessary to meet stricter federal standards that were recently implemented.
When it comes to private wells, the onus is mostly on the homeowner, and that's the tradeoff when you have a well — you don't have to pay a water bill, but you have to test your own water for contaminants.
That being said, the state is poking around to find contaminated sites, and as part of their investigations, they are testing people's private well water.
One ongoing example of this is in Cadillac, where so far no source has been identified, but there are some wells that are pinging high levels of PFAS.
The city of Cadillac's municipal water has not detected any PFAS since they first started annual testing in 2018, and so they're in compliance with state standards. Once the federal drinking water standards fully go into effect, they'll likely meet those, too.
But the state is testing people's private wells near the industrial park. I won't go into the specific numbers because this is an active investigation, so the data is constantly changing. The state is expected to release a heat map that has all the latest testing data.
Now, all households in the Cadillac PFAS investigation area that have been tested and have any detections can get point-of-use filters from the state health department. That's one filter that usually goes on the kitchen sink, and homeowners can get them installed for free from the local health department.
The city is also offering free water for people who live in the study area and the utilities director told me that they plan to start delivering water directly to people's homes.
When the state is investigating contamination, sometimes they'll identify an actual polluter, but in this case, where there's not really an obvious source yet, the strategy is to find people who have contaminated drinking water and get them filters.
And if necessary, the homes with private wells could be connected to a municipal line for water. More than half of the wells in Cadillac's city limits have some infrast
But when you talk about 300 sites and maybe tens of thousands of more that are yet to be discovered, it can be overwhelming and very scary for people who find that their water is contaminated.
DN: Is there anything else that people can do to assist in this process?
TH: So if you're on a private well, and I'm talking just anyone across the state, you can get your water tested. The state of Michigan will test for PFAS, that costs $290.
I'm not sure what the rates are for people who go through other labs, but they can be pretty expensive. PFAS contamination is a really complicated issue, and we're just talking about one aspect of it.
For more information, you can check out my previous reporting on a wide variety of topics related to PFAS:
- What federal PFAS drinking water standards mean for Michigan
- Polluter responsibility for PFAS expands under federal Superfund law
- Navigating PFAS in products, alternatives and potential bans
- PFAS cleanup is not easy, but it's a growing industry
- An overview of PFAS health issues and challenges
- There are no federal food safety standards on PFAS but research aims to understand the threats for farmers and consumers
- How PFAS could be contaminating millions of acres of farmland, and how few Midwest states are testing
- Why Michigan warns people to avoid PFAS foam in waterways
- An inside look into Michigan's fish contaminant monitoring program
- Coverage from military base contamination in Grayling and Oscoda
- Scroll through all PFAS coverage from WCMU
If you have PFAS questions, feel free to reach out to news@wcmu.org and we'll do our best to get you an answer.
