Local and state authorities are warning residents in two Kalamazoo County communities to stop drinking or cooking with water following findings of high amounts of industrial chemicals.
Rick Snyder instructing the state departments of Environmental Quality, Health and Human Services, and State Police as well as the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team to assist the communities.
The State Emergency Operations Center has also been activated.
Kalamazoo County said bottled water will be distributed to residents in Parchment and Cooper Township from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday at Parchment High School.
“We fully recognize the seriousness of this situation, and we recognize people are going to have concerns,” Sheriff Richard Fuller told reporters during a rare late-night news conference Thursday.
Snyder said in a news release Thursday that “our first priority is the health of residents in the Parchment and Cooper Township area and to ensure they have access to safe drinking water …" “Our next step is to work as a team to address the source of this contamination and restore the municipal water system,” he said.
They can be found in food packaged in the materials, commercial household products or manufacturing facilities.
It has also been used in fire fighting.
The ban will last until test results show PFAS levels are below the health advisory levels, he added.
"You will get water."