OTSEGO, Mich.– A community advocacy group in Allegan County held a public meeting Saturday morning about health problems potentially caused by contamination in their drinking water.
Members of the Justice for Otsego group believe the cancer cluster in their county may be tied to the city’s drinking wells being tainted by years of dumping from local businesses.
"It’s really just a matter of getting the government agencies activated and focused on this issue," congressional candidate George Franklin (D) tells FOX 17.
"It’s real, it’s significant and something needs to be done."
The group has called on the EPA and MDEQ to investigate what’s caused so many in their community to have unexpected cases of cancer.
The City of Otsego said previously that water is not the source of these health problems.
"I think the first thing is we gotta figure out what is going on exactly and where the source of the contamination is," former Kalamazoo County Commissioner Peter Battani tells FOX 17.
"I think that’s the first order of business and then we have to fix it."
The group’s efforts have not gone unnoticed.
Federal and state officials plan to investigate and release their test results in the coming days.

DC Water Warns Thousands of Contamination Risk About 7,000 DC Water customers were under a boil advisory into Sunday after water tested positive for contaminants.
About 7,000 DC Water customers in Northeast were the last to get the all-clear.
After an initial test came back positive for bacteria, further results did not show such bacteria, DC Water said.
Otherwise, water use can return to normal.
Water taken from pipes servicing those neighborhoods initially tested positive for coliform bacteria.
Further tests confirmed the water was safe leading up to the third day of the boil water advisory, which was initially put into place Friday.
DC Water said it dropped the boil water advisory for all of the other previously affected neighborhoods because all of the tests in those areas came back negative.
It’s not confirmed that the pressure issue at a pumping station that sparked the advisory caused the possible contamination, Sweeney said.
Some residents were told their water was safe later on Friday, while many residents of Northwest and Northeast woke up Saturday unable to drink water straight from the tap.
DC Water CEO David Gadis apologized Saturday that the DC Water website went down as residents logged on Friday in search of more information about the boil advisory.

Samples taken since December 2016 have shown that these wells contained levels of two kinds of chemical pollutants that are higher than those recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency.
It’s now being cleaned up from long-contaminated groundwater on Tucson’s south side.
The same Continental Reserve-area groundwater will also serve the future Lazy K Bar Ranch development, an upscale project of 178 homes near the boundary of Saguaro National Park West, whose rezoning was approved by the Marana Town Council last year.
As for cleanup, Marana Water released a detailed study last December recommending the use of several treatment methods for the Continental Reserve and Saguaro Bloom wells.
It’s also going through a lengthy, detailed analysis to determine whether it should set formal drinking water limits for the two PFAS compounds that have been found in Marana’s drinking water.
Marana doesn’t have that choice, because it’s not able to make use of its own CAP water supply.
Last year, Marana Water mailed notices to residents of the affected areas, informing them of the well pollution and detailing health effects.
Surface water: For PFAS compounds, it found concentrations of 14.4 to 47 parts per trillion in 11 samples taken from the Aqua Nueva sewage treatment plant at Roger Road on the south to the Marana Road bridge on the north.
None of those levels exceeds EPA’s current health advisory, but all are higher than the levels that would be suggested if the recommendations in a new federal health study from the Agency for Toxic Substances Disease Registry are followed.
The levels ranged from 4.7 to 215.5 parts per trillion, with concentrations exceeding the EPA advisory level found in seven samples.

SEABROOK — Repeated tests of town water over the weekend – after a single sample tested Friday indicated E. coli bacteria contamination – gave the town a clean bill of health Sunday, according to the town manager.
Seabrook received a positive E. coli reading on Friday from a single water sample, so town officials worked over the weekend with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services "to examine the Seabrook water system, and ascertain whether the single test represented a wider problem with water quality" in Seabrook, according to a release Sunday from Town Manager Bill Manzi.
E. coli can be an indicator of the presence of fecal material.
Seabrook Water Department Superintendent Curtis Slayton and chief operator George Eaton, in close cooperation with DES, immediately began drawing new samples for testing.
On Saturday morning, the state DES and Eaton, conducted a full sanitary inspection of the Seabrook water system, Manzi said.
Additional water sampling was also conducted and sent to a state certified lab.
"Since the initial positive result was not duplicated it appears that the initial finding was an anomaly," Manzi said in the release.
Manzi also stressed that Slayton and Eaton "provided critical updates to the Seabrook Board of Selectmen, who are the Water Commissioners of the town of Seabrook."
Richard K. Lodge is editor of The Daily News.
You can follow him on Twitter @RichardLodge_DN.

(AP) — Lincoln officials are proposing to replace lead water service lines that lead into residents’ homes for free to avoid any future problems with lead in the city’s drinking water.
The $21 million plan is included in the mayor’s proposed budget, the Lincoln Journal Star reported .
City Council will vote on the budget next month.
The proposal calls for the city to replace lead pipes for about 3,000 homes built before 1950 over a period of 14 years, said Donna Garden, the assistant director of the Public Works and Utilities Department.
"This is an excellent project that definitely prioritizes the public’s health," said Charlotte Burke, a division manager with the local Department of Health.
The city’s water has no detectable lead, but pipes that connect to some homes contain it, which could potentially result in a health hazard, Garden said.
Those pipes are owned by the individual homeowners.
The decision would follow other communities, such as Omaha, and heed the American Water Works Association’s advice, she said.
City officials estimate replacing pipes would cost about $6,000 per house, Garden said.
Concerns about water contaminated with lead rose after water issues in Flint, Michigan, Garden said.

The park was closed as a safety precaution, according to Benjamin Strong with Jeff Ellis Management, which manages Sandy Beach Water Park.
He says they tested the water and were unable to identify any contamination that would show or confirm any of the reports that they have heard.
The company has also been in touch with the health department and Michael Hokanson with the North Central Health Department confirms that there will be follow-up inspections of the water before anyone is able to return and use the water park.
Several people reported on social media that they were affected by possible contaminated water at the park.
Kayanna Banks says she is the camp director of a private summer camp and took her students to Sandy Beach Water Park on Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
When the children got out of the water, she says their eyes were bloodshot and they ended up at the hospital.
"One of them had to be transported to Atlanta," she said.
Banks has been in touch with Jeff Ellis Management throughout the day on Saturday and says that the company has been helpful, cooperative and sensitive to her concerns.
While we sincerely regret this inconvenience, the safety of our guests remains our paramount focus.
The park will reopen once we receive independent assurance that all our aquatic facilities remain compliant with acceptable water quality and sanitation standards to assure for the safety of our guests."

Residents and businesses in Georgetown are being asked to boil tap water before consuming it after a problem with a tap at a pumping station possibly contaminated drinking water, affecting nearly 34,000 Washington, D.C. residents in parts of Northwest and Northeast Washington Friday morning.
Students of Georgetown, Inc. closed More Uncommon Grounds and Uncommon Grounds “out of abundance of caution,” as a result of the water contamination risk, they announced Friday morning on posters outside the two stores.
The affected neighborhoods include anywhere bound by the east by Eastern Avenue, to the south by New York Avenue to K Street to Whitehurst Freeway and to the north by Western Avenue to Massachusetts Avenue to Nebraska Avenue to Military road to Missouri to New Hampshire Avenue, according to D.C. Water.
It is safe to bathe in the water as long as it is not ingested.
Matt Buckwald (COL ’20) is staying in a townhouse in Burleith over the summer.
The advisory is frustrating, he said, but he is trying to make light of the situation.
“The most frustrating part about all this is that if I hadn’t gotten a Hoya Alert through Georgetown then I wouldn’t have known about this,” Buckwald wrote in a text.
“Besides that, I already drank like three glasses of tap water this morning, but who knows maybe I’ll develop a superpower or something.” This story will continue to be updated with announcements from the university as they become available on services for students and administrators.
Have a reaction to this article?
Write a letter to the editor.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has a plan for Rockhill area residents affected by drinking water contamination.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has a plan for Rockhill area residents affected by drinking water contamination.
Last year, Moyer’s well was one of 12 in the area found to be contaminated by perfluorinated chemicals above a safety level put forth by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Moyer was joined by about 50 other attendees at the meeting, which was an opportunity for residents to officially comment on a plan the DEP released this spring.
The department plans to spend $96,000 to install carbon filtration systems on affected homes and maintain them for one year.
Residents also expressed concerns with potential health effects from their prior exposure to the chemicals.
He said he was confident the authority could work with the DEP to extend public water mains to the twelve affected homes for less than $2 million.
Those interested in making a comment before the deadline can do so by emailing lharper@pa.gov or by writing the DEP’s regional offices at 2 E. Main St., Norristown, 19401.
The department could modify its proposal based on the comments, and must at least respond to the concerns, officials said.
During an informal part of the meeting, DEP officials also gave a brief update on the department’s investigation of the contamination and its next steps.

Here is more about how some strains of E. coli can make people sick.
However, some others can cause diseases, ranging from bladder infections to fatal multi-organ failure, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
E.coli are plentiful in the environment.
They can come from both human and animal intestines and are often found in stool.
Pets can also be infected and spread the bacteria.
E.coli contamination has been a common source of food- and water-related illness outbreaks, according to the CDC.
Some may feel ill three to four days after eating or drinking from a contaminated source, but it’s not uncommon for a person to feel ill on day one or even day ten.
Most people who become ill from E.coli will feel better in five to seven days, without any medications.
Some strains of E.coli may have become resistant to the antibiotics.
If there are any concerns, consider using bottled water for drinking and washing foods.

Michigan is learning about its PFAS environmental contamination, discovering how far it reaches and how many residents it affects.
But as officials target limiting human exposure, they’re also looking at a set of solutions: more money, site work and regulations.
At risk: The drinking water for 9 million Michigan residents who depend on the government to identify public health risks and initiate protection for people and the environment.
PFAS chemicals also have been found above 70-ppt in 14 wells near Grayling and one well near Wurtsmith.
Carol Isaacs, director of Michigan’s PFAS Action and Response Team, said the EPA guidelines need to be a national priority.
But the role of the federal government is directly tied to the problem: In many cases, it’s the polluter.
Chemical-laden fish can be found on ‘do not eat’ advisories across the state, with PFAS listed as the primary concern for a total of 59 mentions in Michigan water ways – most in Southeast Lower Michigan.
Those are all concerns raised by people who are looking at the problem and trying to mobilize a response that doesn’t further hurt communities.
They all seem to agree that the municipalities affected by PFAS could benefit from a more coordinated effort to consider what needs to be communicated about contamination – and where existing state economic development efforts could align with MPART’s findings.
PFAS is Michigan’s next water crisis