PARCHMENT (WKZO AM/FM) — New numbers are in and the contamination in Parchment is worse than first thought.
There was some faint hope that the first test result last Thursday might be a false positive and that the water in Parchment wasn’t really contaminated.
The tests ordered to verify that first test show unsafe levels in all three of Parchment’s municipal wells, some that are even higher than the first test.
County Health Director Jim Rutherford says their current plan is to retire those wells.
City Utility Director Jim Baker says he doubts the city could find a spot for new wells.
That’s why officials are hooking up to the city of Kalamazoo’s Water Utility.
That may solve the water problem for homeowners and businesses that are already hooked to the city’s system. It will be a more complicated and expensive project to restore clean water to homes on private wells.
The DEQ’s Mark Ducharme says so far they have taken samples from 71 of the homes they have carefully chosen for the free tests…and are waiting to hear from the rest.
They have left door hangers behind with their number on them. He says the location of those homes will help them identify the size and location of the plume of contamination.
He says homeowners will be able to identify the trained samplers by the blue identification they carry, which have a hologram of the State Seal embedded on the front.
If they don’t have the right ID, they probably are not legitimate.
