The city has identified three locations in Cadillac that still are using water in an area known to have been polluted by the Kysor Industrial Corporation, which began operations in 1959 as an automotive parts manufacturing plant.
The Cadillac City Council on Monday approved an ordinance that will require these locations to hook into the city’s water supply rather than use their own wells.
Contaminants and known carcinogens discovered as a result of Kysor’s activities include trichloroethane, acetone, chloroform, cyanide, tetrachloroethene, trichloroethene and chromium, among others.
Cadillac Director of Utilities Jeffrey Dietlin said when the contamination was discovered several decades ago, many residents and businesses that had been using their own wells hooked into the city’s water supply.
With the new ordinance passed by council, the city will pay to hook up the remaining locations still using their own wells into the city water supply.
Use of water from any well in the affected area now is prohibited unless an exception is granted by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Dietlin said the EPA contacted him a couple years ago to ask the city to impose additional restrictions following the discovery of large amounts of lead in the Flint water system.
Once the city hooks up the three locations and properly caps off their wells, the resident will be responsible for paying their monthly water bill.
Affected groundwater, which was discovered in the 1980s, has migrated north from the Cadillac industrial park to a residential area in Haring Township.
Haring Township previously enacted restrictions in compliance with EPA standards for the site.