Residents are pushing officials for answers in the ever-widening water contamination testing issue in the Grayling area.
Hundreds of people packed into the cafeteria at the Grayling High School on Monday, Nov. 27, to listen to a panel of local, state, and federal officials give an update on studies linked to tainted residential water wells near Grayling.
Water samples taken at the Grayling Army Airfield, where the foam was used for training purposes, tested positive for the chemicals in the fall of 2016.
Of 500 residential wells tested, 10 have had detects above 70 parts per trillion in Grayling Charter Township.
One residential water well within the City of Grayling has tested above the 70 parts per trillion health advisory.
Residential water wells around Lake Margrethe will be tested for the compounds.
Lemming, however, said she believes that the foam coming up to the surface of the lake is tied to contaminated residential water wells.
“We could remove that foam, but it’s still going to keep coming back as long as that source is there,” she said.
It’s a tough question.
If any resident has additional questions regarding this issue, the State of Michigan Environmental Assistance Center can be contacted at 800-662-9278, or emailed at deq-assist@michigan.gov.

The Suffolk County Water Authority on Thursday sued the Dow Chemical Co., the 3M Co. and nine other manufacturers and distributors of firefighting foams, industrial degreasers, laundry detergents and other household products, claiming they contained harmful chemicals that polluted the county’s public water wells.
All three chemicals have the potential to cause cancer, according to the he U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The water authority, which serves 1.2 million residents in Suffolk County and maintains about 600 wells, is suing the companies to recover “substantial” costs to treat and clean up the contaminants now and in the future, arguing that the companies knew or should have known that these chemicals would end up in the county’s groundwater and threaten public health.
Spokespeople for seven companies declined to comment or did not return calls seeking comments.
Currently, the water authority is using a granular-activated carbon treatment system to remove PFOA and/or PFOS from drinking water at about 15 wells throughout the county, according to its spokesman.
“During routine training exercises, .
1,4-dioxane, the lawsuit said, does not stick to soil and does not break down easily.
There is no drinking water standard for the chemical, which has been found in trace amounts in more than half of the authority’s wells.
“In sum, once it is applied, discharged, disposed of, or otherwise released onto land, 1,4-dioxane migrates through the subsurface and into groundwater, resists natural degradation, and is difficult and costly to remove from water,” according to the lawsuit.
The Suffolk County Water Authority has reached settlements in the past with makers and sellers of dry cleaning compounds and equipment for contaminating the county’s drinking water, authority officials said.

How hopeful should we be that this will ever get fixed?” — Resident Karen Lithgow Residents pressed officials for answers in the ever-widening water contamination testing issue in the Grayling area.
Water samples taken at the Grayling Army Airfield, where the foam was used for training purposes, tested positive for the chemicals in the fall of 2016.
Of 500 residential wells tested, 10 have had detects above 70 parts per trillion in Grayling Charter Township.
One residential water well within the City of Grayling has tested above the 70 parts per trillion health advisory.
Residential water wells around Lake Margrethe will be tested for the compounds.
Resident Karen Lithgow questioned the amount of time that studies will take.
Lemming, however, said she believes that the foam coming up to the surface of the lake is tied to contaminated residential water wells.
Potential solutions to address the contaminated groundwater include drilling wells deeper into the surface for residents, or connecting to a municipal water system.
Stone, the assistant adjutant general for installations for Michigan Army National Guard, said no funding solutions will be determined until the full environmental investigation is completed.
If any resident has additional questions regarding this issue, the State of Michigan Environmental Assistance Center can be contacted at 800-662-9278, or emailed at deq-assist@michigan.gov.

How hopeful should we be that this will ever get fixed?” — Resident Karen Lithgow Residents pressed officials for answers in the ever-widening water contamination testing issue in the Grayling area.
Water samples taken at the Grayling Army Airfield, where the foam was used for training purposes, tested positive for the chemicals in the fall of 2016.
Of 500 residential wells tested, 10 have had detects above 70 parts per trillion in Grayling Charter Township.
One residential water well within the City of Grayling has tested above the 70 parts per trillion health advisory.
Residential water wells around Lake Margrethe will be tested for the compounds.
Resident Karen Lithgow questioned the amount of time that studies will take.
Lemming, however, said she believes that the foam coming up to the surface of the lake is tied to contaminated residential water wells.
Potential solutions to address the contaminated groundwater include drilling wells deeper into the surface for residents, or connecting to a municipal water system.
Stone, the assistant adjutant general for installations for Michigan Army National Guard, said no funding solutions will be determined until the full environmental investigation is completed.
If any resident has additional questions regarding this issue, the State of Michigan Environmental Assistance Center can be contacted at 800-662-9278, or emailed at deq-assist@michigan.gov.

Albany A state panel charged with determining the maximum legal amount of PFOA and other contaminants in drinking water heard from experts Wednesday on issues like laboratory methods and water treatment costs, intended to help its 12 members make recommendations.
It focused on perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS), chemicals that have been found in water supplies in Rensselaer County and Newburgh.
While the federal government and other states have established advisory levels for PFOA and PFOS in water supplies, there is no law in place establishing enforceable limits for these chemicals, according to state Health Department Deputy Commissioner Brad Hutton.
A man-made chemical, PFOA has been used since the 1940s to make industrial and household products such as non-stick coatings and heat-resistant wiring.
Residents of these communities, as well as the mayor of Hoosick Falls, urged the council to set the maximum contamination levels below the current federal guidance of 70 parts per trillion.
A presentation to the committee by Health Department Research Scientist Kenneth Bogdan showed that three other states had set lower guidance levels, all based on different assumptions – Minnesota at 35 parts per trillion, Vermont at 20 parts per trillion and New Jersey at 14 parts per trillion.
“Anything higher than 20 parts per trillion will be a misstep,” said Hoosick Falls Mayor Robert Allen.
Residents also called for the council to consider other emerging contaminants before they become a health problem.
“I think we’re 40 years too late,” said Emily Marpe, who choked up when she told the council that the well at her home in Petersburgh, a half mile from the Taconic Plastics where PFOA contamination was found, tested as having PFOA levels of 2,100 parts per trillion.
Council members also learned about the cost of effectively treating water contaminated with PFOA and PFOS with granular activated carbon (GAC) systems, which ranged from $2,500 for equipment and installation for an individual system to nearly $15 million (about $500 per person) for a large municipal system, according to Health Department Research Scientist Dan Lang.

The Hampton Bays Fire Department may be required to pay $100,000 in maintenance costs every two years for a new carbon filtration system if they are found to be responsible for the contamination of two drinking water wells used by the hamlet’s municipal water system.
State Department of Environmental Conservation officials announced at the Hampton Bays Civic Association meeting on Monday that the fire department is under investigation by the DEC after routine testing of the Hampton Bays Water District’s wells located between 100 and 150 yards of the fire department’s main firehouse on Montauk Highway detected traces of two unregulated chemicals found in firefighting foam formerly used to put out gasoline fires.
Further testing revealed that the water contained 0.073 parts per billion, or ppb, which is “slightly” more than the Environmental Protection Agency’s limit of 0.07 ppb, according to Robert King, superintendent of the water district and also a commissioner with the Hampton Bays Fire Department.
The Hampton Bays Fire Department is currently the only site being investigated at this time, according to Brian Jankauskas, an environmental engineer with the DEC. HBWD customers are using water provided by nine other wells that presently meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards for PFOS and PFOA, according to the district.
The Hampton Bays Fire District’s attorney, Stanley Orzechowski, was not present at Monday’s meeting but said in a previous statement that the department would cooperate with the DEC but also would hire its own investigators to probe the 2-acre property.
None of fire department’s four fire commissioners returned phone calls on Tuesday.
A carbon filtration system will be installed on the two contaminated wells by next spring.
As of now, the two wells will be the only wells out of the hamlet’s 11 that are slated to get the costly filtration system, Mr. Warner said.
He explained that the system will remain in place for as long as it is needed, adding that “if it takes two years, they will be in place for two years, or if it takes 20 years, they’ll be there for 20 years.” Once the filtration system is in place the wells will be tested monthly for both PFOA and PFOS.
It is unknown at this time how long the two contaminated wells will be out of commission, but State Department of Health employee Steven Karpinski confirmed that “the exposure has been ceased.”

Test results released Monday by the NC Department of Environmental Quality measured concentrations of GenX, PFOA and PFOS at Chemours’ wastewater discharge outfall and five drinking water treatment plants in the Lower Cape Fear.
The latest round of surface water results includes testing for an expanded list of chemical compounds.
Of those, only PFOA, PFOS and GenX have established health goals.
State officials also released the latest results of private well testing near Chemours and DEQ has directed the company to provide bottled water to 34 more well owners near the company’s Fayetteville Works facility.
Preliminary test results from the company’s expanded sampling show GenX above the state’s provisional health goal in residential drinking wells.
Of those sampled, the state has verified results for 107 wells that were tested Oct. 11-19 and 48 showed detections of GenX below the health goal.
The expanded sampling will include more than twice as many wells as the sampling conducted by Chemours and DEQ.
Both counties and the state are looking into several long-term water solutions, including digging deeper wells, installing water filters on homes or running water lines to residents whose wells tested above the state’s drinking water health goal.
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If Hemlock’s home were in New Jersey instead of Michigan, her contamination level wouldn’t just be considered unsafe, it would be four times above a proposed legal limit of 14 ppt for PFOA in drinking water there.
The testing has prompted tough questions about what level of PFAS is safe to drink, with state agencies offering sometimes confusing guidance about the toxicity of contaminants considered "possible" or "probable" carcinogens, but which are still being studied.
The EPA’s interim advisory level was 400 ppt — about five times the eventual lifetime health advisory set at 70 ppt in 2016.
In Belmont, Wolverine initially only offered whole house water filtration systems to homes testing above 70 ppt before agreeing to provide them to any home with any level of PFAS in a testing area southeast of the company’s House Street landfill.
Clapp, a retired environmental health professor at Boston University School of Public Health and adjunct professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, has studied the health effects of PFAS and co-authored research with Harvard professor Philippe Grandjean, whose estimate of 1 ppt as the safe PFAS level in drinking water is embraced by public health advocates unhappy with the EPA threshold.
Minnesota — home to 3M, which manufactured the chemicals Wolverine used at the tannery — updated its standards in May to 35 ppt for PFOA and 27 ppt for PFOS.
Is 2 ppt safe?
Is 15 ppt safe?
In Michigan, for now, DHHS says 70 ppt is the "safe" level.
"We’re going with 70 ppt because it’s a well-calculated number," said Groetsch.

1:16-cv-02351-RBJ) by the Honorable Judge R. Brooke Jackson of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado.
Mr. Napoli was selected for this role as he has extensive experience litigating complex environmental litigations and has served as Liaison Counsel on numerous toxic tort, class-action cases.
"This situation is inexcusable and the community has struggled long enough.
It’s time for action and accountability."
Paul Napoli and the Napoli Shkolnik environmental department have established themselves as legal leaders in cases related to water contamination cases involving exposure to perfluorinated chemicals (PFC’s), including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS).
"We know that the consequences of PFC-exposure can be life-threatening," said Patrick J. Lanciotti, an environmental attorney with Napoli Shkolnik.
he added.
It is Napoli Shkolnik’s hope that these lawsuits will help the residents of Security, Widefield, and Fountain recover damages related to PFC-exposure, diminution in property value, and establish a long-term health monitoring system for those who have been exposed to the contaminated water.
About the firm Napoli Shkolnik PLLC is a national litigation firm providing representation to persons in class action lawsuits and complex commercial cases, as well as victims of environmental contamination disasters, aviation accidents, defective prescriptions drugs and medical devices, asbestos-related illnesses, and other serious personal injury matters.
With their principal offices in New York City and additional offices in California, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Texas, as well as affiliates throughout the United States, Napoli Shkolnik PLLC is readily available to clients.

WASHINGTON — A federal watchdog has found most military bases have caught up on reporting about concerns of water contamination, but plenty of work remains to have more bases come into compliance and end future fears of water pollution.
The report found 77 military installations informed the Defense Department of violations, while a remaining 16 bases had yet to reveal their compliance standings.
“One of the things that stood out most is generally the installations are pretty close to being in compliance,” said Brian Lepore, GAO’s director of defense capabilities and management.
However, concerns remain that polluted water in and around military bases could continue to be an issue, according to the report released Wednesday.
The contaminants, perfluorooctane sulfonate, or PFOS, and perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, are found in firefighting foam used at Air Force and Navy installations.
The military is working now to find alternate firefighting foam without PFOS and PFOA, but haven’t found one yet, Lepore said.
The report set out five recommendations for the Defense Department to improve its reporting and follow up on those findings when it comes to compliance with health regulations.
Executing these recommendations, and better reporting requirements, should go a long way in addressing the concerns of polluted water at military bases, the report suggested.