After a decades-long push, the Gelman dioxane plume moving slowly in the groundwater under Ann Arbor has been added to the Superfund National Priorities List.
The 1,4-dioxane contamination has been around for decades. It originated from an industrial solvent that Gelman Sciences Inc dumped with its wastewater at a location in Scio Township, west of Ann Arbor. The plume was originally discovered in 1984 by University of Michigan graduate student, Dan Bicknell, who says Gelman and the state originally denied that his results were valid.
“This ensures that federal resources will be utilized to compel Gelman to perform a proper clean-up of the Gelman dioxane groundwater contamination which has plagued our community for over 40 years,” Bicknell said.
Congresswoman Debbie Dingell (D-MI 6) said adding the site to the Superfund list is a good start.
“While this designation is an important step forward, our work is far from finished,” Dingell said in a statement Thursday morning. “I will continue working with the EPA, state and local partners, and the community to ensure the cleanup is transparent, drinking water is safe, and public health is protected,” she added.
The designation means there will be federal funding and long-term planning for the cleanup effort, along with coordinated technical assistance with state and local agencies.
Ann Arbor Water, the city department that manages the municipal drinking water, has been monitoring the plume and officials have expressed concern that the plume could migrate in a way that impacts the city water system. More than 120 residential drinking water wells contaminated by the plum have been paved over and residents were hooked up to municipal water.
Not enough known about how the chemical impacts human health.The EPA has a public health statement that calls it “likely to be carcinogenic” to humans. Studies on animals show it can cause liver and kidney damage.
In its statement announcing the Gelman site’s addition to the National Priorities List, the EPA said it only includes sites there “after confirming a threat to human health and the environment, evaluation various avenues for site cleanup, and determining that NPL is the most appropriate and effective option to achieve a protective cleanup.”
Despite a court order in 1992 ordering the cleanup, the roughly 3-square-mile plume remains. The state asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to designate the plume a Superfund site in 2021.
“Strong advocacy and partnership have brought us to this point, and we look forward to continuing our work with the community and the EPA to ensure residents are protected,” Environment, Great Lakes and Energy Director Director Phil Roos said in a statement.
