PARCHMENT, MI — The date, time and location of bottled water distribution is changing for residents in Parchment and Cooper Township starting Saturday, Aug. 18.
The distribution center will reopen from 2-7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 18 at Haven Reformed Church, 5350 N. Sprinkle Rd.
Starting Aug. 18, residents will be able to pick up water from 2-7 p.m. on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday at the church.
Water distribution is relocating to allow preparations for the start of the upcoming school year at Parchment High School, according to a Thursday news release from the Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services Department.
The Kalamazoo City Commission and Parchment City Commission approved an agreement to provide one year’s worth of potable water to the city of Parchment.
Parchment will pay the cost of connecting its system to Kalamazoo’s and will pay a bulk rate to Kalamazoo for the water supplied.
Requests for results from the private well tests were declined as of Thursday morning.
MDEQ spokesperson Scott Dean said wells with the highest PFAS levels were generally found close to the former Crown Vantage paper mill.
A water hotline is available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at (269) 373-5346.
City founded around paper mill has PFAS-contaminated water supply

FLINT, MI — Nestle Waters North America says its donation to the city this week will amount to 1.6 million more individual bottles of water.
City officials, including Mayor Karen Weaver, announced the agreement in a news release Wednesday, Aug. 15, saying the donation will supply water to Flint help centers for the remainder of 2018.
Jason Manshum, community relations manager for Nestle, issued a statement late Wednesday, confirming the commitment and said the company will work closely with Weaver and others in the city "to understand how we can best help meet their needs."
Since May, Nestle has provided weekly water donations to three help centers operated in the city by the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan.
Nestle donations started after the state of Michigan stopped paying for bottled water distribution in the city.
The decision came after Lead and Copper Rule testing in the city showed Flint water was below the federal action level for lead for two years following the city’s water crisis.
"Through Labor Day, we will have delivered about 50 truckloads of water, which equates to 100,000 bottles a week or about 1.6 million bottles in total," Manshum’s statement says.
"In addition, our Ice Mountain hydration station has been visiting many local events in Flint and the surrounding areas this summer.
Ice Mountain is one of Nestle’s bottled water brands.
The company said in a news release that it first started providing water donations to Flint in October 2015 and it was part of a coalition that has provided the equivalent of 6.5 million bottles of water to Flint Community Schools.

See all 2 images A volunteer for the homeless has been nominated for the Watford Observer Community Heroes Award.
Stephen Russell of Homeless Warriors in Watford was recommended for the award by fellow supporter and member of the online group Laura Santry for his “caring and selfless” work helping people on the street.
He was also diagnosed with epilepsy.
Soon after that, Stephen was evicted from his home.
He said: “It was extremely stressful, and we ended up in Watford Travelodge.
“Luckily, we were moved into temporary accommodation quite quickly – it was in the Travelodge that I saw one of the rough sleepers walk past and I thought we had it bad.” Stephen had been volunteering at Hertfordshire Mind Network gaining practical experience in mental health.
These events, the death of his father in 2017 and a book called Way of the Peaceful Warrior inspired him to start his organisation.
In recent weeks during record-breaking high temperatures, Stephen said he handed out around 1,000 bottles of water with his son, Max.
On his website, Stephen says: “Warriors are gaining momentum but controlling our growth.
“Not only are we looking to help our rough sleeping friends but also those in vulnerable housing.” He goes on to say the organisation hopes to get enough funding for an electric coffee cart.

But the Facebook message made no mention of the run-of-the-mill breaks or chloroform warnings; rather, the city’s July 26 post said, "We have just been informed this afternoon by the [Michigan Department of Environmental Quality] that the PFAS level in a City well is 1400 ppt.
Now, all Cooper could see were toxins all over her house, poisoning her nearly 3-year-old daughter, Jillian, who has lived in Parchment most of her life.
She can’t help but wonder whether the more than two years her family has lived in Parchment have been the root of their health issues.
"Is it the water?"
Cooper reached out to Jillian’s pediatrician immediately after she read the Facebook announcement.
Although a specific source of the PFAS contamination has not been identified, the state Department of Environmental Quality has tested an area where PFAS might have been used.
At the event this week in Fayetteville, the agency addressed residents who have found elevated levels of the chemical GenX, a second-generation PFAS, in private drinking water wells.
Aside from contaminated drinking water, PFAS can be found around the house, Bruton said.
Dean and her husband have also installed a reverse-osmosis water filter in their home.
But there is no question in Rome’s mind that the water has impacted all parts of the city.

But the Facebook message made no mention of the run-of-the-mill breaks or chloroform warnings; rather, the city’s July 26 post said, "We have just been informed this afternoon by the [Michigan Department of Environmental Quality] that the PFAS level in a City well is 1400 ppt.
Now, all Cooper could see were toxins all over her house, poisoning her nearly 3-year-old daughter, Jillian, who has lived in Parchment most of her life.
She can’t help but wonder whether the more than two years her family has lived in Parchment have been the root of their health issues.
"Is it the water?"
Cooper reached out to Jillian’s pediatrician immediately after she read the Facebook announcement.
Although a specific source of the PFAS contamination has not been identified, the state Department of Environmental Quality has tested an area where PFAS might have been used.
At the event this week in Fayetteville, the agency addressed residents who have found elevated levels of the chemical GenX, a second-generation PFAS, in private drinking water wells.
Aside from contaminated drinking water, PFAS can be found around the house, Bruton said.
Dean and her husband have also installed a reverse-osmosis water filter in their home.
But there is no question in Rome’s mind that the water has impacted all parts of the city.

Tap water in more than 30 communities across the country has dangerously high levels of PFAS.
Flickr / HereStanding A class of industrially produced chemicals called PFAS are found in many products, including cosmetics, fire-retardant foams, and food packaging.
Almost everyone in the industrialized world has some of these so-called "forever chemicals" in their blood.
But scientific evidence suggests they may also be linked with cancer and other serious health issues.
More than 30 communities across the US have water sources that are contaminated with dangerously high levels of PFAS chemicals.
Other states put the safe drinking threshold much lower when they test for the five most ubiquitous PFAS chemicals.
Lauren Woehr hands her 16-month-old daughter Caroline a cup filled with bottled water at their home in Horsham, Pennsylvania, where levels of PFAS in the taps have been too high.
But if you’re worried, check out the EPA’s annual drinking water report.
"You all made me out to be a liar," Hagey reportedly told Environmental Protection Agency officials.
US Environmental Protection Agency officials at a meeting in Horsham, Pennsylvania last month.

KOUGA Municipality has started distributing bottled water to Hankey as many households in the town have not had access to tap water at all, even during the advertised hours.
Mayor Horatio Hendricks said that despite the introduction of water rationing, Hankey was still using more than its allocation.
Water can also be collected from the rainwater tanks that were installed earlier this year.
According to the latest figures, Hankey used a total of 8 471kl last week, from August 6 to 12, which is still more than the weekly allocation of 6057kl.
“There are households at Hankey where very little or no tap water has been available, even during the advertised hours, because the water is extracted from the pipes faster than they can fill up when the supply is turned on.
“The usage in this town has also been above the quota, which contributes to the shortages as the Gamtoos Irrigation Board turns off the supply once the quota has been reached.
“The first big donation, from Dischem’s offices in Cape Town, arrived on Tuesday.
We would like to thank them for showing such amazing compassion for the communities of Hankey and Patensie.” Those who would like to donate bottled water can contact Gert Kruger at the municipality’s Infrastructure and Engineering Department on 081 528 3721 to arrange delivery.
The level of the Kouga Dam level stood at 6,88% on Tuesday, August 14.
This is a slight improvement from the 6,73% on Friday thanks to the weekend’s rain.

STRATFORD — Two wells in Stratford have failed, leaving the people of that community without drinkable water for an indefinite amount of time.
Officials noticed sand in the community’s primary well on Friday and soon realized there was a mechanical problem, said Patty Silva, office manager at Stratford Public Utilities District.
Water officials decided to turn the first well off and went to the standby well.
Neither well is dry, both just happened to have mechanical failures, officials said.
Silva said well crews are currently trying to figure out how to get both wells back in operation as soon as possible.
Water was being trucked in from fire trucks and local dairies, but Silva said the state recently approved the use of a third well that was previously abandoned.
Anyone in need of drinking water can go to the district’s office at 19681 Railroad St. for cases of bottled water.
The situation comes at an inopportune time, as students at Stratford Elementary began school today.
Addington said the school staff and teachers will try to make the first day and week of school as normal as they can for students.
Luckily, he said the first three days of school are minimum days, so students will be out early.

Construction will soon begin on a project that will finally deliver clean drinking water to Nile Garden Elementary School on an ongoing basis.
The Manteca Unified Board of Education voted 6-1 – with trustee Nancy Teicheira dissenting – on Tuesday night to accept the water service agreement between the district, the City of Manteca, and the State of California that will allow for construction of a water hookup to the rural elementary campus that for years has had to provide students with bottled water because of high arsenic levels detected in the well that serves the facility.
Of the $6.4 million needed to complete the long-planned project, $5 million will come from the State of California while the City of Manteca will pick up the remainder of the tab.
The project will further extend the city’s 12-inch waterline half a mile further south to connect to a 4-inch waterline that would be laid beneath the street for the final 1.3 miles to the site.
The project also calls for a 10,000-gallon high-density polyurethane tank, a 270,000-gallon steel tank, two pump stations and additional waterlines.
The project would also drill an additional well on city-owned property that would be equipped with a pump, well head water treatment and electrical service and controls.
Because Nile Garden would initially be the only customer served by the waterline extension, the meter for the school will be located offsite, and gradually moved towards the school if and when development in the area occurs.
According to Manteca Unified Director of Facilities Operations Aaron Bowers, such a process would involve a drastic overhaul of the entire infrastructure that is to be completed in the coming construction project, and any development would not jeopardize the school’s ability to receive clean, fresh drinking water.
Teicheira, who at the end of her current term will have been on the board for two decades, pressed Bowers about whether the city would require annexation of Nile Garden into the city limits in order to connect to the city’s water supply – citing the example of the district’s administrative complex and school farm on Louise Avenue that was forced to annex in order to connect to Manteca’s sewer and water services.
To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.

(WBFF) – Anne Arundel County has found lead in the water sources of at least nine different schools.
At High Point Elementary School in Pasadena, 10 water sources including sinks or fountains showed elevated levels of lead in recent tests.
The county has shut off those water sources but says only a quarter of its schools have been tested for lead, and it could be nearly a year until all testing is complete.
Thirty-three of the county schools have been tested.
The results for 23 schools have been returned.
But the county says bottled water will not be necessary because there are still other adequate water outlets at the affected schools.
Mosier says that schools served by public water are tested by the public works department when it leaves the water plant.
The county will have to determine where the water is picking up lead from the time it leaves the plant to when it arrives at the schools water outlets.
The testing at the other schools is expected to be done by next July.
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