PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Wolverine Worldwide will be providing whole house water filtration systems to hundreds of homes near Rockford that have been or are being tested for a toxic chemical found near a former company dump site.
The company announced Thursday it will cover the cost of water filter systems and customized installation for 338 Belmont-area homes being tested for PFOA and PFOS near Wolverine Worldwide’s old House Street NE dump.
Every single one of the 338 homes in the study area established by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and an expanded precautionary buffer zone is eligible for a whole house water filtration system, according to Wolverine.
The company says all of the homes are eligible for the water filtration systems regardless of what tests find.
The company previously provided bottled water and kitchen water filters to 13 homes where tests for the toxic chemical came back above federal safety guidelines.
Steve Martin, another resident in the area, went out to get his own water filtration system after his well was found to be contaminated.
Also Thursday, crews worked all morning to clean up a separate, illegal dump site on House Street.
The site is on Michigan Department of Transportation land across the street from where Wolverine Worldwide was legally dumping.
Word about the home filtration systems came a day after Target 8 learned PFOS was found in groundwater nearly 1.5 miles away from the legal House Street dump site, where Wolverine Worldwide disposed of sludge from its Rockford tannery until about 1970.
“Both Kent County and Plainfield Township have developed websites with useful information for residents.