Michigan's newest PFAS threat: Contamination from household septic systems

By Kelly House | Bridge Michigan | March 17, 2025

Read the full article by Kelly House (Bridge Michigan)

"Cadillac residents had been on edge for months about the discovery of toxic “forever chemicals” in dozens of private drinking water wells, when state officials recently delivered some unexpected news.

The most logical culprit, many had believed, was a local industrial park with a troubled history. After all, metal platers and automotive manufacturers had already polluted the park with volatile organic compounds and hexavalent chromium. Those same industries have been linked to PFAS contamination in other Michigan communities. And Cadillac’s first PFAS-positive well test had come from a home within the industrial park.

But a state analysis of water from 70 neighboring wells told another story: Some residents, schools and businesses may have unwittingly tainted their own drinking water, through years of flushing common household products down the drain and into septic systems that allowed tainted sewage to quietly infiltrate the aquifer."