After the recent discovery of water contaminated with poly-fluorinated chemicals in surrounding communities, the city of Muskegon’s water supply has been tested--and the results are in.
Per-and-Poly fluorinated chemicals, or PFAS, as it’s commonly referred to, has made its way into a number of West Michigan communities, including Rockford, Belmont and Plainfield Township. Meanwhile, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has responded through a statewide initiative to test drinking water supplies across the state. Results were released Tuesday for the lakeshore, and good news for Muskegon County residents: the drinking water supply is well below safety standards set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Michael Eslick is Muskegon County’s operation manager and environmental health director for the Department of Public Health.
“We are extremely pleased that the results were at 2-parts-per trillion, so that is extremely low, and that is expected for Michigan waters,” Esclick said.
To put two parts per-trillion in perspective, the EPA has placed 70 parts per-trillion as its safety threshold for PFAS in drinking water, making two parts per trillion close to undetectable.
According to the DEQ, PFAS consumption in large quantities over a period of time can lead to a list of health problems including kidney and liver cancers.
While the news is welcome in Muskegon County, some West Michigan neighbors haven’t been so fortunate; some homes near a legal dump site operated by Wolverine Worldwide in Belmont have tested at 38,000 parts-per-trillion, some 500 times over the safe limit set forth by the EPA.
Dozens of lawsuits have already been filed.
