As we announced last week, we launched WeAreWolverine.com to serve as our direct communication channel to the community – we plan to provide regular updates on what’s happening and what we’re doing to address the situation.
Below, you’ll find to important updates for this week…
Well Testing Results
To date, we’ve sampled approximately 650 wells in the House Street Study Area, Buffer Zone, and Southeast Expansion Area, and have received results for 413 of them, or approximately 63%. So far, 385 wells have tested below the EPA lifetime drinking water advisory level – 70 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFOA/PFOS – and 28 wells have tested above it. This advisory level was set for the most sensitive populations including children and pregnant mothers, and was based on consuming two liters a day at over 70 ppt every day for 70 years.
Whole House Filter Installation Update
To date, 53 whole house filters have been installed in homes in the House Street Study Area and Buffer Zone, and approximately 50 more are scheduled for this week. Installations are being prioritized based on the levels of PFOA/PFOS detected in wells. Our goal is to have all homes that have any level of detection complete by Thanksgiving – this is an aggressive schedule given the complexity of custom installation, but we’re doing everything possible to make this happen. We appreciate the homeowners’ patience as we ramp-up to our goal of 55 filters per week.
Southeast Expansion Area Testing – Whole House Filters
For any home in the Southeast Expansion Area testing above the EPA lifetime drinking water advisory level of 70 ppt for PFOA/PFOS, Wolverine will be supplying a custom, whole house filter system. Those homeowners will be contacted by WWW and Culligan to arrange installation. In the interim, while results are being received, every home in this area is being provided with bottled water through Culligan.
Field Work Update – MDOT and Imperial Pine Waste Removal
The solid waste removed from the MDOT parcel was determined to be non-hazardous, and has already been disposed of. Similar non-hazardous waste is being removed and disposed of from a parcel on Imperial Pine this week.
MDEQ Update – Testing Areas
We continue to work closely with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) to assess additional areas of possible waste disposal that they’ve determined need to be reviewed. If more sites are identified that need to be addressed, we’ll quickly mobilize efforts to sample wells, and will provide alternate water solutions while residents wait for their test results.
November 29th Town Hall
Wolverine will be participating in the November 29th Public Town Hall hosted by the Kent County Health Department. The meeting will take place at 6.00pm on Wednesday, November 29th at Rockford High School Freshman Center (4500 Kroes Street NE). Representatives from Wolverine and the participating agencies will be available beginning at 4.30pm for one-on-one consultations with residents, followed by the Town Hall beginning at 6.00pm.
We developed this blog as one way for you to hear directly from us and you’ll be hearing more from us in the coming days and weeks. West Michigan is our home and we’ve always acted responsibly and taken our obligations as part of this community personally – for over a hundred years, Wolverine has been not only a leader and contributor to this community, but we’ve also been your neighbor – that’s why we’ve taken the proactive steps we have so far and why we’re committed to seeing this through to the end. We hope you’ll follow this blog, learn about what we’re doing to make this right, and hear the other side of the story.
We Are Wolverine.