KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MI — Parchment City residents are being told to immediately stop using tap water after high levels of PFAS were found in the public system.
Health officials issued the advisory about 9 p.m. Thursday, July 26.
The advisory applies to residents in the city of Parchment and Cooper Township that use the Parchment public system.
PFAS, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, were chemicals used in manufacturing and firefighting in past years.
According to a post on the Parchment City web site, testing by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality came back with a level of 1,410 parts-per-trillion.
In a release from health officials Thursday, it wasn’t clear from where the PFAS contamination originated.
— The City of Kalamazoo will begin flushing the City of Parchment’s water supply system.
— The City of Kalamazoo will continue flushing out the City of Parchment’s water supply system until test results come back that shows the PFAS levels are below the health advisory level.
"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, a plan for which is already being executed by local agencies with state assistance," Snyder said.
As soon as the tests results were reported, the state and local agencies tasked with protecting public health and our environment began coordinating a response and should be commended for how quickly and how well they worked together on this," Snyder said.