ALGOMA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — As hundreds of homeowners await test results to find out if their wells have been contaminated with a likely carcinogen, they are using bottled water.
The neighborhood has switched to bottled water while testing is underway for PFAS, a chemical previously found in the Scotchgard that waterproofed Wolverine Worldwide shoes.
“We’ve got a proven whole-house and drinking water solution,” Gordon Vice President Tom Duisterhof said.
The waste was meant to be a fertilizer, but it was slow to rot, retired farmer Donald Hardy previously told Target 8.
In some spots, the bottled water is just a precaution because test results have put the chemical level below than the Environmental Protection Agency’s advisory limit of 70 parts per trillion.
“Quite frankly, this contaminant is not that much different than arsenic or nitrate or lead issue where you can’t stop living in a space because there’s something,” Duisterhof said.
“We can address it as it comes into the home and that’s where we can give people piece of mind.” Wolverine waste has been blamed as the source of contamination in wells near the company’s former landfill along House Street NE in Belmont.
The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality is investigating reports of 75 sites where Wolverine waste may have been dumped; it has not confirmed all of those.
Websites with additional information on the contamination: Play Video Play Loaded: 0% Progress: 0% Remaining Time -0:00 This is a modal window.
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