Michigan businesses are discharging large amounts of chemical contaminants into the state’s waterways every day, according to a newspaper investigation.
MLive.com obtained documents through the Freedom of Information Act that show that 16 of the plants received written orders over the past year to reduce industrial sources of perfluorinated chemicals, or PFAS, found in their discharges.
Exposure to PFAS has been linked in epidemiological studies to some cancers, thyroid disorders, low birth weights, elevated cholesterol and other chronic diseases.
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#ReadLocal At least 130 businesses have been considered as potential sources of PFAS.
"We haven’t used it in almost six years," Lacks Enterprises CEO Nick Hrynyk said of the chemicals.
"But it’s still there because it just clings."
The highest recorded discharge level was 240,000-ppt of PFAS from Bronson Plating to the Bronson wastewater plant, which is about 25 miles south of Battle Creek.
Teresa Seidel, director of the Water Resources Division of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, said the state is working to stop contamination from both manufacturers and the treatment plants.
"We’re seeing that from everyone we’ve asked to step forward and work on this."