PARCHMENT (WKZO AM/FM) — We now know that environmental officials suspect that the Crown Vantage Paper plant which closed decades ago is the suspected source of the PFAS that has shut down the water system in Parchment. If true, that means local water users have been exposed for decades.
Their plant and a huge dump site are directly upstream from the City’s three municipal water wells. Samples were collected from monitoring wells near the closed site Tuesday and the results should be back next week.
What residents wanted to know at Tuesday night’s town forum is what those decades of absorbing the chemical have done to them and their children.
Health Officials had few answers. The State Health Department’s Chris Bush gave a lengthy explanation at how they arrived at the 70-parts per trillion safety standard, but explained it was mostly related to animal experiments and the chemical’s impact on developing fetuses.
Kalamazoo County’s Chief Medical official, Dr. William Nettleton says tests for PFAS in your blood won’t tell them anything…he recommends tests on the bodily functions the chemical compounds tend to impact.
He says a cholesterol test, a thyroid test, perhaps a liver test and a Uric Acid test based on your previous medical history and your primary care physician’s advice.
But right now there are no definitive tests or proven direct links, between PFOS and people. There are just animal tests that show there may be threats.
What are the options to restore clean water to the people of Parchment?
Kalamazoo City Utilities director James Baker told a capacity crowd of about 1,000 at the Haven Reformed Church Tuesday night that there are two options, and they both involve Kalamazoo City Water.
Health Officials revealed that the source of Parchment’s water, the city’s three wells are directly downstream from the long closed Crown Vantage Paper Plant and an 80 acre landfill containing old paper sludge.
They are running test samples collected Tuesday from monitoring wells at the site and hope to know by next week if that is the source of the PFAS contamination.
James Rutherford says whatever the source is, he says tests from Parchment’s water wells suggest they should be decommissioned and permanently capped.
Baker says the choice for Parchment is to buy city water wholesale and continue to operate the small municipal system, or go retail and just turn their system over to the Kalamazoo Utility, which already operates the biggest system in the county. They are in the process of running water mains to Parchment and preparing to instruct homeowners on how to flush their homes of Parchment’s water.
The current plan is to have everything flushed, hooked up and operational by the end of August, if not sooner. Mayor Robert Britigan says residents won’t be billed any more than they are now, in fact their bills could go down. In the meantime they will continue to supply bottled water for free.
The situation for homes on private wells in Cooper Township and in Parchment will be a lot more complicated, time consuming and expensive. Officials were reluctant to talk about it at the forum.
If history is any guide, it first depends on whether your home is sitting on top of contaminated groundwater. That starts with individual tests, which are a few hundred bucks.
Constructing water mains to contaminated areas won’t be cheap but may be covered by the state or the PRP, the Principal Responsible Party…the original source of the contamination. That would take time.
The hook-ups running from the main to each home are also an expense that can cost from a few hundred to a few thousand, depending on how they are financed and how far you live from the water main.
Right now no one knows who will pay for any of it, but most likely bonds would be sold and homeowners would be able to pay off whatever their share might be over time.
Temporarily many homeowners with private wells may have to rely on filtering systems to remove PFAS from the water. Those will likely be paid for by the state.
