Category: Weekly Update

The goal of WeAreWolverine.com is to provide regular updates to the community on what’s happening and what we are doing to address the situation.

Below, you’ll find important updates for this week…

Well Testing Results
To date, we’ve sampled approximately 642 wells in the House Street Study Area, Buffer Zone, and Southeast Expansion Area, and have received results for 641 of them.  So far, 611 of these wells have tested below EPA lifetime drinking water advisory level of 70 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFOA/PFOS – and 30 wells have tested above it.

The EPA lifetime drinking water advisory level of 70 ppt has a significant “safety buffer” built in, including assuming exposure for an entire lifetime, and that a pregnant or nursing woman could drink over 4 liters of water per day at 70 ppt PFOA/PFOS with no effect on developing babies and infants.  For more information, please see our blog post on this topic.

In addition to the House Street Study Area sampling mentioned above, we’ve also sampled approximately 412 wells in the Jewell and Wolven Study Areas, and have received results for 310 of them.  So far, 256 of these wells have tested below 70 ppt, and 54 wells have tested above it.

Finally, over 200 homes in the Rogue Area have been sampled over the past two weeks.  There are more to sample, and we are working through those as permission is granted.  We expect to receive the majority of those results in the next two to three weeks

Whole House Filter Installation Update
To date, 448 whole house filters have been installed in homes in the House Street, Wolven, and Jewell Study Areas.  Installations are being prioritized based on the levels of PFOA/PFOS detected in wells. 

Field Work Update
The field work to remove non-hazardous waste from two parcels in the House Street area is complete, and all waste has been disposed of by our contractor at a state-licensed facility.  Additional removal actions will occur as weather permits and Wolverine obtains permission from landowners.   We will be drilling approximately 10-12 additional monitoring wells over the coming months, in both the House Street and Wolven Study Areas.  We appreciate the patience of the residents in these areas while this work is being completed.

We developed this blog as one way for you to hear directly from us. 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 keep following this blog, learn about what we’re doing to make this right, and hear our side of the story.

We Are Wolverine.

The goal of WeAreWolverine.com is to provide regular updates to the community on what’s happening and what we are doing to address the situation.

Below, you’ll find important updates for this week…

Well Testing Results
To date, we’ve sampled approximately 640 wells in the House Street Study Area, Buffer Zone, and Southeast Expansion Area, and have received results for 620 of them, or approximately 97%.  So far, 590 of these wells have tested below the very conservative EPA lifetime drinking water advisory level of 70 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFOA/PFOS – and 30 wells have tested above it.

To date, we’ve sampled approximately 390 wells in the Jewell Study Area and all Wolven Study Areas, and have received results for 170 of them, or approximately 44%.  So far, 140 of these wells have tested below 70 ppt, and 30 wells have tested above it.

The EPA lifetime drinking water advisory level of 70 ppt has a significant “safety buffer” built in, including assuming exposure for an entire lifetime, and that a pregnant or nursing woman could drink over 4 liters of water per day at 70 ppt PFOA/PFOS with no effect on developing babies and infants.  For more information, please see our blog post on this topic.

Whole House Filter Installation Update
To date, 335 whole house filters have been installed in homes in the House Street, Wolven, and Jewell Study Areas.  Installations are being prioritized based on the levels of PFOA/PFOS detected in wells.  We plan to install 55 filters each week until we’re done.

As we recently announced, we have expanded our whole-house filtration program to include all homes in the Jewell Study Area and all Wolven Study Areas that have confirmed test results with any detection of PFOA or PFOS.  In the interim, while results are being received, every home in these areas is being provided with bottled water through Culligan.  Eligible homeowners will be contacted by Culligan to arrange for whole house filter installation.

Field Work Update
The field work to remove non-hazardous waste from two parcels in the House Street area has been completed, and all waste has been disposed of by our contractor at a state-licensed facility.  We’ll be conducting additional removal work over the next few months, as access to individual parcels is allowed.  In addition, we have completed drilling 11 monitoring wells over the past two months, and will be drilling approximately 10-12 more over the next two months.  We appreciate the patience of the residents in these areas while this work is being completed.

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.

The goal of WeAreWolverine.com is to provide regular updates to the community on what’s happening and what we are doing to address the situation.

Below, you’ll find important updates for this week…

Well Testing Results
To date, we’ve sampled approximately 640 wells in the House Street Study Area, Buffer Zone, and Southeast Expansion Area, and have received results for 594 of them, or approximately 93%.

So far, 564 wells have tested below the very conservative EPA lifetime drinking water advisory level of 70 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFOA/PFOS – and 30 wells have tested above it.  This level has a significant “safety buffer” built in, including assuming exposure for an entire lifetime, and that a pregnant or nursing woman could drink over 4 liters of water per day at 70 ppt PFOA/PFOS with no effect on developing babies and infants.

Whole House Filter Installation Update
To date, 126 whole house filters have been installed in homes in the House Street Study Area and Buffer Zone, and approximately 16 more are scheduled for this week.  Installations are being prioritized based on the levels of PFOA/PFOS detected in wells.

Our goal set at the end of October was to have 87 whole house filters installed by Thanksgiving – one for each house at that time with any detection of PFOA or PFOS.  This was a very aggressive schedule given the complexity of these custom installations, and some homeowners have voluntarily deferred or not yet scheduled their installations, but we are pleased to report that we have exceeded that goal and will have 137 whole house filters installed by Thanksgiving, but we’re not slowing down.  We plan to install 55 filters each week until we’re done.

As we announced (click here) last week, we will be expanding our whole-house filtration program to include all homes in the House Street Southeast Expansion Area that have confirmed test results with any detection of PFOA or PFOS.  In the interim, while results are being received, every home in this area is being provided with bottled water through Culligan.  Eligible homeowners will be contacted by Culligan to arrange for whole house filter installation.

Field Work Update – Imperial Pine Waste Removal
The field work to remove non-hazardous waste from a parcel on Imperial Pine is expected to be complete next week, and all waste has been disposed of by our contractor at a state-licensed facility.  We’ll be working to further assess the site and determine what steps, if any, need to be taken to address any potential landscape or erosion issues.  We appreciate the patience of the residents in the area while this work is being completed.

November 29^th Town Hall
Wolverine will be participating in the November 29^th Public Town Hall hosted by the Kent County Health Department.  The meeting will take place at on Wednesday, November 29^th at Rockford High School Freshman Center (4500 Kroes Street NE).  Representatives from Wolverine and the participating agencies will be available beginning at 4.00pm for one-on-one consultations with residents, followed by the Town Hall running from 6.00-9.00 pm.

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.