BELMONT, Mich.– The Kent County Department of Public Works recently released well monitor results showing PFAS at levels as high as 237 parts per trillion near the North Kent Landfill but according to decades-old state documents obtained by FOX 17, county leaders had plenty of warning that water there was in danger of being contaminated.
The Kent County Department of Public Works and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality are now coordinating well tests and providing bottled water to 47 nearby homes and businesses south and west of the North Kent Landfill.
Beemer tells FOX 17.
"You know, it’s just bad.
“They were gonna test for everything they’re looking for now, they didn’t say specifically," Beemer says.
The township’s records say those concerns went unanswered and a state appeals board ignored multiple landfill violations.
“Before we moved in, Kent County has to give you the permit to move in, that first told us they weren’t gonna give it to us, that was right after our house was built," Sue says.
Sue says the county told her they were initially denied approval to move in because the water problem was so severe.
For nearly a year beginning in September 1977, the North Kent landfill was unlicensed because of concerns over water contamination.
Wolverine Worldwide recently announced it will spend $40 million to address this issue.