Wolverine Worldwide has been working diligently with regulators to collect data and develop long-term water solutions for our community, and we promised to keep you informed about our ongoing efforts. Consistent with this commitment, we want to tell you about additional groundwater and soil sampling that will be taking place over the next few months at our former state-licensed House Street disposal area. This was a location where byproducts from Wolverine’s leather tanning operations were disposed of during the 1960s and until 1970.
Wolverine has already conducted extensive testing at the House Street disposal area, including many waste and soil samples, drilling 12 on-site monitoring wells, drilling 18 off-site monitoring wells, and taking more than 25 groundwater samples from the monitoring wells. Wolverine posted preliminary results from this earlier testing on its blog.
The upcoming work is being performed by Wolverine and its consultants pursuant to work plans that were submitted by Wolverine and approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). It will kick off this week with site preparation activities, and take place primarily over the next two months with a second round of testing this fall. The work will be overseen by the EPA and the MDEQ, and we anticipate that as many as 250 soil samples, 50 groundwater samples, and also soil gas samples will be taken and assessed for organic compounds, metals, PFAS, and other compounds.
Residents near the House Street site have been notified about this work, and over this time you may see trucks, work crews, warning signs and equipment at the House Street site. We will attempt to complete this work with as little impact on and disruption to the surrounding neighbors as possible.
The upcoming testing is another example of the Company’s commitment to work diligently with regulators and the community to address groundwater issues. We anticipate implementing a work plan at Wolverine’s former tannery site this summer as well, and will share additional details about that work on this blog as they are available. Residents with questions or concerns are encouraged to visit our blog at www.WeAreWolverine.com, or to contact the Company directly at 616.866.5627 or HouseStreet@wwwinc.com.