Courtesy photo 1 / 1 Dawn-Marie Stevens and her family are stocked up on water in bottles and jugs, which they and their pets are drinking while they wait to see if nearby homes in Robinson Township are contaminated with PFAS.
Officials were helpful, Barlow said, but they did not have all the answers.
“They’re looking for answers.” Barlow, a president of the Parent-Teacher Association at Robinson Elementary School for seven years, said she and her family switched to bottled water when the initial results were released Oct. 29.
While the school was immediately supplied with bottled water for drinking and cooking, many township residents have also switched to bottled water at home to avoid drinking their well water.
“There’s always something new you can test for.
He said it took less than a week to receive the results, which found no traces of PFAS, and cost him $275.
“I am responsible for my family’s well-being.” Wagenmaker, who is married with five children, has lived on the Robinson Township property for almost 20 years.
“I can see if you had water that was contaminated and an entity that was found to be responsible, they should be held responsible to the extent that they had knowledge,” he said.
Michigan is in the midst of a statewide study of PFAS, which led to the discovery at the Robinson Township school.
“Nobody’s given anybody clear-cut answers of what the next course of action is going to be if this is found in the few homes that they did test,” Stevens said.

Bottled water sales are skyrocketing, but backlash against the beverage is also brewing.
Mercé says that Nestlé plans to double down on dealing with plastic packaging and water sourcing responsibly.
But, that doesn’t mean the bottled-water industry is free from criticism.
Companies have been criticized for paying minimal fees to communities where they source water.
"The challenges, I think they are real," Fernando Mercé, the president and CEO of Nestlé Waters North America, said of the backlash against bottled water during Beverage Digest’s Future Smarts conference on Friday.
A game plan towards responsibility Jim Young/Reuters Mercé said that Nestlé is taking aggressive action on packaging, as backlash against the use of plastic is a growing concern across the beverage industry.
One part of Nestlé’s solution is to increasingly transition to using recycled plastic to make bottles.
Nestlé rolled out its first 100% rPET (recycled polyethylene terephthalate) bottle earlier in 2018.
The Swiss company was also criticized that year for increasing the amount of water it was pumping from a source in Michigan, 120 miles from Flint, a city known for its water crisis.
Muhtar Kent, Coca-Cola’s former CEO and current chairman — who is stepping down from the role in April 2019 — called on conference attendees to take action such as creating biodegradable bottles and collection systems.

Caption Two tests in November showed levels at 32 parts per billion and 18 parts per billion, district officials said.
In 2001, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency set a standard for arsenic levels in public drinking water systems at 10 parts per billion.
The district brought in bottled water stations and won’t prepare food with the well water until the issue is corrected.
The water still is safe for hand-washing, according to the district.
“We’re working diligently with our water filtration vendor and the laboratory to retest the water before it is determined that the water is safe for consumption again,” Superintendent Mike Moan said in a statement Employees from Greenwood’s water filtration vendor worked on the well system Wednesday, and a new sample was taken Thursday.
Results are expected next week, officials said.
Arsenic occurs naturally in mineral deposits in some areas of Illinois.
Groundwater that flows through those deposits can dissolve the arsenic and increase the amount of the toxin in a well, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
Greenwood Elementary, 4618 Greenwood Road, serves students in preschool through fifth grade.
Greenwood is the only school in the district on a well.

The Supreme Court was informed on Monday that the bottled water companies in the country were extracting seven billion litres of groundwater per month to sell it as mineral water for public consumption.
The apex court was hearing a suo motu case regarding the sale of bottled water and extraction of groundwater by bottled water companies.
Improve quality of products or face shutdown, CJP tells owners of companies The court asked owners of the companies to pay the price for groundwater they extracted for their products.
It was also told that sewage water was being used for cultivation of vegetables in different parts of the country.
According to the report, majority of beverage companies in the country discharge their waste water with total dissolved solids (TDS) less than 1,200 PPM.
Therefore, it said, this water should be used for agricultural purposes rather than its direct discharge into sewerage lines.
The report said that during inspections, the committee found that many bottled water and beverage plants had not installed flow meters on their extraction units.
The report recommended that all plants should obtain approval in context to their environmental management plan from relevant environmental protection agencies.
The report said all water bottling and beverages plants should install WWTP and septic tanks under intimation to the Supreme Court through undertakings.
The report also suggested that the companies should install salt recovery plants and WWTP as soon as possible, adding that all companies should submit a compliance report of the observations made during the inspection visits of their respective bottling facilities with action plan and time frame within 30 days.

Elgin residents who need to replace the lead pipes bringing water to their homes will have three options under an ordinance to be approved Dec. 19 by the City Council.
Council members Wednesday hashed out final details of the policy, which would go into place in January in advance of spring construction season.
The first option would allow homeowners and apartment building owners to hire their own plumber to do the work, replacing the line that runs from their home to the box that connects to the city’s water supply.
The repayment plan would be $80 a month for five years, plus a one-time $50 service fee.
Under the third option, if pipes were disturbed by city construction work, residential property owners could opt out of replacing their lead lines as long as they agree to use water filters and filtered pitchers provided by the city or buy their own bottled water for two years.
After hearing from family physician Dr. Dorothea Poulos, who chairs the city’s health board, council members decided to add a proviso that those opting out of replacing their lead lines would have to pay for an initial test for lead levels in their water and for four more tests over the course of two years.
The $1,000 total cost of testing would be added to water bills.
The pipeline ordinance would apply to homes in neighborhoods in which the city is doing infrastructure projects in which lead pipes are being replaced.
It’s estimated there are more than 11,000 homes throughout the city that have lead service lines on their property and another 7,600 homes that could have them given the time they were built or the type of work homeowners may have done, according to Weiss.
The city halted the three projects this spring in light of the state health department’s position that replacement of public lead service lines could disturb any lead in the residential pipes to which they connect.

Work to link city water lines with several houses with contaminated wells in Allegan Township is complete.
Since a massive fire that destroyed Allegan Metal Finishing in March 2015 along M-89, three residential wells turned up levels of chromium that exceeded the 100 micrograms-per-liter drinking water limit set by the EPA.
The township spent $70,000 to cover the cost of the engineering for the project.
“We think that was well worth it,” Schulz said.
Schulz also said the township would also need to know the city’s connection fee.
There’s a lot of testing out there (AMFCO) by the EPA that has to be done.
Have to wait for all that detective work.” He also noted that neighboring Allegan Tubular, owned by some of the same family that had owned AMFCO, was served by bottled water and has expressed interest in connecting to city water.
Fence Township members also approved the low bid for white PVC fencing approximately 1,700 feet on three sides of the township-run Hudson Corners Cemetery.
A survey will need to be done first before the fence goes in.
Board member Jim Connell said, “Yeah, if we advertised it as free, we can’t charge for it.” Waanders said that, since costs to pay the private companies for the pickups depleted the township’s recycling funds, some will end up being covered by the township’s general fund.

At a public meeting called Monday, airport leaders and their environmental consultant said strategic testing is now under way in private wells south of the Edgartown-West Tisbury Road, downgradient of the airport.
By Thursday this week, unsafe levels of contaminants had been found in six private wells, according to Ron Myrick, an environmental consultant and director of remediation for Tetra Tech working for the airport.
Airport director Ann Richart said she first became aware of the PFAS problems from firefighting foam used at airports late last year.
As a result, she said in January 2018 the airport signed a $30,000 contract with Tetra Tech to begin testing the water in monitoring wells around the airport.
In April, Tetra Tech test results showed high levels of PFAS in the monitoring wells — more than 1,000 parts per trillion, Ms. Richart said.
In September, after further analysis, Ms. Richart said Tetra Tech recommended that testing be expanded to private wells south of the airport.
When the first test results from private wells came back early last week, the airport took steps to begin public notification and also continue testing, Ms. Richart said.
She also said the airport has taken steps to adopt new protocols for how the firefighting foam is used in yearly training drills (the drills were done twice a year but were changed to once a year in 2017 with FAA approval).
One asked how the firefighting foam is contained after it is used for drills.
“We’re testing wells ourselves.

Mueller constructed the hydrants, which were delivered by Wolseley to the work site around spring 2014, according to the document delivered by the office of the city solicitor.
As the city investigated the source, residents in Aspen Ridge were required to use bottled water, water trucks, and temporary water lines.
“The City says that Mueller and/or Wolseley knew, or ought to have known, about the potential for the contamination substance to form in Mueller hydrants, and failed to warn the City of this dangerous condition,” the statement reads.
READ MORE: Source of mystery contaminant unknown as Rosewood water advisory lifted The city contends the companies should have known the hydrants would be connected to its potable water system.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
Neither of the defendants immediately responded to a request for an interview with Global News.
The city’s losses and damages are said to include the following: Costs of inspecting the water system; Cleaning up the contamination; Setting up temporary water lines; Providing water; Retaining experts to investigate the source of the contamination; and Identifying the substances.
READ MORE: Stantec Consulting recommended to remediate contaminated water lines After the hydrocarbons surfaced, Saskatchewan’s Water Security Agency required the city to inspect nearby hydrants and either remove and replace the affected infrastructure or bring in an engineering consultant.
In May, a “do not use” order was issued in Saskatoon’s Rosewood area after contaminated Mueller fire hydrants were discovered.
The advisory resulted in temporary water lines being installed at the neighbourhood Costco.

A boil notice is in effect for all customers of the Wymore Rural Water System until the tests sent to the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services confirm that no bacteria is present in the water system and the water is safe to drink.
The boil notice was prompted by a break in the water line over the weekend.
Water testing is estimated to be completed sometime next week.
“NRD staff searched more than 150 miles of pipeline during last weekend’s rain and snow and was able to isolate the water line break less than 48 hours after it was discovered.” The Wymore Rural Water Project, managed by the Lower Big Blue NRD, suffered a major line break Saturday, Dec. 1.
The Lower Big Blue NRD believes that excessive rain may have caused shifting underground which created a leak.
“Leaks like this are historically extremely hard to pinpoint,” said Clabaugh.
Bottled water is currently available at the Lower Big Blue NRD office at 805 Dorsey St.
Wet and cold conditions slowed the repair process down.
Customers are seeing water pressure return to the system, and the water tower is full.
“We would also like to thank Orschlen Farm and Home and Linpepco for their assistance with providing bottled water.” The Lower Big Blue NRD will inform customers when water is safe to drink via the media, on Facebook and at lbbnrd.net If you have any questions, please call the Lower Big Blue NRD at 402-228-3402.

Gibbons asked council to take a series of steps against the practice of water bottling and sale, citing the recent events at the Comox Valley Regional District after a resident of Merville sought permission to bottle water on their property.
His requests included the prohibition of water bottling in any of the city’s zoning, support from the city government for the Strathcona Regional District’s resolution to ask the province to “curtail” commercial extraction of groundwater for bottling or bulk sale, and for the city to take steps to be deemed a “Blue Community” by the Council of Canadians.
Those steps would include the recognition of water as a human right, the promotion of publicly owned, financed, and operated water/wastewater services, and bottled water sales being banned at events held by the City of Courtenay and public facilities.
“We would sincerely appreciate the support of the City of Courtenay in protecting the above ground uses of our groundwater by preventing anyone from bottling and selling water from the Comox Valley aquifer or any other aquifer in BC.” Council members did not reject the idea, though there were questions raised about the ban on bottled water sales in public facilities and City events.
There was also discussion about how a ban on bottled water production could work in the event of boil water notices, which have occurred in the Valley in the past.
Gibbons indicated that there were exceptions for the asks, such as the issuing of a boil water notice.
After the meeting, Mayor Bob Wells indicated that the proposition from Gibbons will likely come back to council in the future, likely through a motion by a council member or a report from city staff asked for by council.
“I think that there is a lot of public backlash right now on bottling water,” said Wells.
“When you don’t know what your water is going to be like, and you’re trying to make sure that you’re providing it for all the citizens in your community, you don’t want to have a bunch of your water that is going to be sold, and you don’t necessarily know what that outcome is going to be.
This is potentially that thin edge of the wedge, when maybe they’ve got great intentions, they’re going to sell that water locally, but once that’s approved, then other things can come down the road.”