Representatives from both MPART and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services were at the public meeting at Lowell City Hall to discuss their findings. Around 50 residents attended.
The Lowell City Landfill was in operation from 1958 to 1983. Monitoring wells near the site were sampled for PFAS in July of 2023 and elevated PFAS compounds were discovered in the groundwater. Drinking water samples were then taken in November by the city, overseen by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, or EGLE.
Project Manager Dan Ten Brink with EGLE, shares their findings.
“We sampled 9 homes so far that we’ve gotten results back for and of those nine we have 8 that are non-detect for PFAS and then one of the homes had very low detections of PFAS that were also very, very far below the drinking water criteria.”
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance, commonly referred to as PFAS, is a large group of human-made substances used in manufacturing, firefighting foam and consumer products. Often called the “forever chemical,” it’s been determined that it can pose health risks, including cancer.
Ten Brink says that while they are still awaiting test results on an additional 40 homes in the area, the findings so far are a very good sign.
“We’re still kind of waiting to get the data to determine if we need to expand our sampling. We’re hopeful that this trend of the non-detectables continues as we get more samples back.”
Results for the remaining homes are expected in the next few weeks.
