PARCHMENT (WKZO AM/FM) — Customers of Parchment’s water system are being asked to flush their residential and commercial water pipes.
That will complete the process of purging the system of the PFAS contaminated water that has been running through them.
Mark DuCharme with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality says they will be sending a document to all homes and businesses explaining how to do that.
It’s another step in the process to switch over to the City of Kalamazoo’s water wells as the source of water in Parchment.
When time comes to test the system for public use, all the old water has to be out of the system.
In the meantime, bottled water is still available.
Health department officials say the first trucks bearing bottled water paid for by Lansing have arrived at the water distribution point at Parchment High School.
There will be three shipments weekly until the tests show that the water being pumped into the Parchment water system from Kalamazoo is safe to drink.
That could come later this month.
They say water distribution will continue from noon to 8 p.m. on weekdays. but this weekend they will be only handing out water between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Officials are looking for individuals and groups willing to volunteer for duty at the water station.
To add to the water issue list, water main construction to link the two water systems has triggered a temporary boil water alert along G Avenue from Hanson Street to Mount Olivet Road and at the northeast corner of Citadel Street and East G Avenue. It’s only precautionary.
In other PFAS tests, Schoolcraft and Augusta have passed and residents in those communities can be assured that the chemical has not leaked into their water systems.
