New PFAS investigation launched in Grand Traverse County neighborhood

By Roxanne Werly | UpNorthLive | October 21, 2020

Read the full article by Roxanne Werly (UpNorthLive)

“GRAND TRAVERSE COUNTY, Mich. (WPBN/WGTU) — A Grand Traverse County neighborhood is being notified that drinking wells may be contaminated.

The safety notifications are a part of an ongoing PFAS investigation near Cherry Capital Airport and U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City.

The Grand Traverse County Health Department has alerted residents who live in the Pine Grove neighborhood in East Bay Township that drinking water wells may be contaminated due to the discovery of PFAS in groundwater.

The Pine Grove neighborhood is located north of Parsons Road, south of Munson Avenue, west of Three Mile Road and east of Airport Access Road.

Most homes in the neighborhood are connected to East Bay Township municipal water system and are not at risk of PFAS exposure from their drinking water.

Traverse City’s municipal drinking water system has been tested multiple times by EGLE over the past two years and consistently shown no PFAS detections.

There are, however, approximately 20 homes and one business that have drinking water wells. There are approximately seven additional homes that have irrigation wells.

In recent years, the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team (MPART) began investigating sources and locations of potential PFAS contamination to protect drinking water supplies.

In this case, the investigation was carried out because PFAS-containing firefighting foam, or aqueous film forming foam (AFFF), was used at Cherry Capital Airport and the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station for training purposes…”