KALAMAZOO (WKZO AM/FM) — The City of Portage has now undergone testing for PFAS that the state has required of smaller water systems. These are the same tests that revealed PFAS in the City of Parchment.
The Portage samples produced some traces of the chemical, but none of the tests showed levels that are considered unsafe for public consumption.
Eight samples were taken on July 14th. Two scored above the non-detect level, at 13 parts-per-trillion and 2 ppt. That’s well below the non-regulatory Lifetime Health Advisory standard established by the Environmental Protection Agency at 70 ppt.
For years the largest water provider in the County, The Kalamazoo Water Reclamation plant has been required to test for PFAS and a lot of other chemicals that smaller systems don’t test for, because of their size.
Utilities Director Jim Baker says they have never seen any samples that rose beyond the non-detect level.
Portage City Manager, Laurence Shaffer said, “The City of Portage takes the DEQ PFAS test results very seriously. We intend to address the PFAS condition aggressively and to notify the citizens of the results of our efforts on an ongoing basis.”
Private wells are another issue. They have by and large not been tested for PFAS or PFOS, because until recently it wasn’t considered to be a threat.
There could be other isolated pockets like the PFAS contamination site near a long ago abandoned plastics plating plant in Richland. It was only discovered because the City of Kalamazoo took the initiative to sample and test sewage from the area.
There are also alot of questions about Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl, the formal name for the contaminant and just how toxic it really is in such small amounts. Until just a few years ago, the Federal Government allowed much higher levels to appear in drinking water. It was not until it was lowered to the current 70 parts per triilion standard that it even became an issue.
