KALAMAZOO, MI — Tests of 15 water pumping stations serving the Kalamazoo municipal drinking water system found results under a federal health advisory for contaminants PFOA and PFOS.
According to a Monday, July 30 letter from the Department of Environmental Quality, PFOS and PFOA was found between 2 parts per trillion and 19 ppt in three stations and did not detect any level at 12 pumping stations.
PFOS and PFOA compounds are part of a collection of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, an emerging public health threat contaminating water supplies across the Michigan.
Other PFAS compounds were found in two additional Kalamazoo pumping stations.
The EPA does not have regulations for total levels of PFAS compounds.
Kalamazoo will supply clean water as an "interim" solution to the Parchment groundwater wells being highly contaminated with PFAS.
It will connect the two water systems, allowing Parchment’s system to be fed by Kalamazoo’s drinking water supply.
"It’s all dependent on the results of the tests," Chamberlain said.
The new tests of both Kalamazoo’s and Parchment’s water systems were conducted as part of a state-wide study of PFAS in public water systems initiated by the state’s Michigan PFAS Action Response Team (MPART).
Chamberlain said the city will now work to identify sources of PFAS contamination.