RICHLAND TOWNSHIP, MI — Months after groundwater tests found a shuttered electro-plating factory was a possible source of PFAS compounds, Amy Schwartz’s family didn’t suspect anything was wrong with water from their private well.
"When you’re not forthcoming with information you know, you are lying to us," Schwartz said during a packed July 18 public meeting held by state and local officials.
PFAS was not found in private drinking water wells until July.
But Schwartz said she would never have let her children drink their water if she had known tests were being done months earlier.
But PFAS?
A second DEQ sample from June 1 found 9,640 ppt of PFOS at the site.
The state managed remediation of the site since 1992.
Last week, the DEQ expanded its study area southeast to cover 25 homes near East D Avenue.
Representatives of the DEQ, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Kalamazoo County Health and Human Services and the city of Kalamazoo, hosted the Wednesday informational meeting.
Johnson said health officials will bring bottled water to a home "within hours" if tests show PFAS greater than the 70 ppt health advisory.