ALPENA — A special town hall meeting regarding the contaminated groundwater at Alpena Combat Readiness Center is going to take place Thursday and it is expected residents will receive an update on groundwater testing taken from wells within a one-mile radius of the base.
A plan of action moving forward is also expected to be discussed.
A large portion of the well testing results were already released last week and test results show that 62 wells out of 80 tested showed levels well below the health advisory level established by EPA.
The chemicals that were found during water tests at the base in unusually high levels are perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, which are found in firefighting foams and used at the base.
According to Michigan Department of Environmental Quality Communications Director Melanie Brown the meeting will begin at 6 p.m. in the Collin’s Center at the base, but doors will open at 4:40 p.m. to allow residents a chance to talk to environmental experts and read literature that will be distributed.
High levels of the contaminates were discovered in October and a meeting was held to explain what the pollutants are and what the military, State of Michigan, local health officials and EPA were going to do to address it.
Thursday’s meeting is expected to answer a lot of the questions that were left unanswered at the time and explain any future testing that will take place.
Steve Schulwitz can be reached via email at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5689.
Follow Steve on Twitter ss_alpenanews.
Local News Lincoln Ele.