PFAS Contamination in Drinking Water Sources
Great Lakes Now, Detroit Public TV
“PFAS” is short for per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances – a family of chemicals used to make common household products and waterproof clothing. They’re being found in an increasing number of drinking water sources, and research is only beginning to determine the health effects and what treatments there might be. Great Lakes Now reports on how some communities are coping and paying for the contaminations and cleanups.
Great Lakes Now explores what it means for families when “PFAS” chemicals contaminate drinking water.
VISIT http://GreatLakesNow.org, a Detroit Public Television initiative.
Video Transcript:
0:00when it came up that there was drinking
0:02water contamination in Belmont that news
0:06landed like a bomb it got the governor’s
0:09attention it’s a serious as a heart
0:11attack it truly is it killed my husband
0:14it took away my property values I have
0:16absolutely nothing left it’s taken
0:18everything from me they just like look
0:21you in the face and they say well it’s a
0:24risk like Oh can’t you can’t for sure
0:26say that these things give you health
0:28problems I just I can’t believe that I
0:30think that the reason that this is
0:33happening to us now is because of us
0:38[Music]
0:48[Music]
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1:01Public Television the pulk Family Fund
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1:27Foundation and viewers like you thank
1:31you the Teflon that makes your pans
1:34nonstick the gore-tex that makes your
1:37jacket waterproof but breathable and the
1:40Scotchgard that keeps your upholstery
1:42stain free all have one thing in common
1:45they were all created using pee Foss a
1:48family of chemicals that’s been widely
1:50used for decades
1:53Garret Ellison a reporter for M live
1:56Media Group has been reporting on P phos
1:59contamination in Rockford Michigan
2:01stemming from Scotchguard use by
2:03shoemaker Wolverine worldwide so we’re
2:07headed to the Wolverine tannery right
2:09now the tannery is where the P Phi issue
2:14in you know the Rockford Belmont area
2:17really started in 1958 Wolverine began
2:21buying 3m Scotchgard and applying it to
2:25its shoe leather for the hush puppies
2:28brand shoe introduce your family to the
2:31new song hush puppies were a huge
2:38success by 1963 one in 10 American
2:42adults owned a pair sales eventually
2:45expanded to over a hundred countries
2:46hush puppies wolverine became a global
2:50company and its heart was a tannery in
2:52downtown Rockford Michigan on the banks
2:55of the Rogue River today a walking trail
2:58runs between the tannery site and the
3:00river so you can see the Rogue River is
3:04you know right alongside the trail and
3:06it’s a pretty nice walk through this
3:08trail actually gets gets a lot of use
3:10wolverine operated here from 1908 till
3:13about 2009 when they closed the tannery
3:16and laid off the workforce they
3:18demolished it a couple years later
3:21there’s still a great deal of debris
3:25from when the tannery was operational if
3:27you just step off the trail in in many
3:30places along here there’s just piles of
3:33leather scrap and rubber scrap in the
3:37summer of 2017 MLive published Ellison’s
3:40photos of the discarded leather and
3:42rubber on the riverbank the scrap
3:44material has presumably been there for
3:46decades and the concern folks have
3:49expressed is that if it was treated
3:50leather treated with Scotchgard then
3:54sort of the constant runoff stormwater
3:57runoff could be kind of continuing to
3:59help spread some of those chemicals into
4:02the river here Great Lakes now requested
4:05interviews with
4:06Vereen worldwide officials but the
4:08company declined in addition to leather
4:12scrap the tannery produced truckloads of
4:15sludge waste after Wolverine started
4:17using Scotchgard in 1958 that sludge
4:20contained P foss and much of it was
4:22dumped at nearby sites like the House
4:25Street dump in Belmont right now we’re
4:31at the House Street dump site this is
4:33the 76 acre property where Wolverine and
4:36the 60s dumped all of its tannery sludge
4:38and which has subsequently caused a
4:42major pollution problem in Belmont area
4:45the test results that we’ve seen from
4:48wells in this area show that this is
4:51some of the highest concentration of
4:53contamination coming from the dump and
4:55right across the street our homes in
4:58fact that’s sandy wind stels home right
5:02there she’s sort of ground zero in terms
5:05of contamination and drinking water hers
5:08in the neighborhood is the worst sandy
5:16winds dealt and her husband Joel bought
5:17their secluded home on house Street in
5:201992 they’d been married about a year we
5:24walked on the back deck and saw the
5:25woods and fell in love with it and put
5:28an offer and I think that day we love
5:30nature
5:31we love bird-watching and hiking and all
5:34of that so this had a really peaceful
5:36air to it then in 2016
5:39Joel died of liver cancer at the age of
5:4261
5:43the following year sandy got an
5:45unexpected visit from a pair of
5:47government workers Joel dine was just a
5:52horrible time in my life and so I would
5:55make myself go out and walk every day
5:56because getting out and exercising and
5:58all that it’s good for you and I
5:59remember coming back and seeing a state
6:01car go by and these two people got out
6:03and said we would like to test your
6:06groundwater and I remember saying oh I
6:08don’t have groundwater I have a well
6:10because that’s how little I knew about
6:12water and they explained to me we need
6:16to test the water from your well because
6:19we think there may be
6:20contamination in it there’s disagreement
6:23over what amount of pee Foss in drinking
6:26water is safe pee Foss is not covered by
6:28the Clean Water Act and there’s no
6:30federal limit on pee Foss in drinking
6:33water right now all that there is is a
6:36health advisory level and that’s sort of
6:39functioned as the de facto standard
6:42around the country that’s 70 parts per
6:45trillion for PF OS and PFOA but it’s a
6:49health advisory that only applies to two
6:51of the many different PFS compounds 70
6:55parts per trillion is is protective for
6:59someone to be drinking four liters of p
7:02FS impacted water through seventy years
7:05of their life toxicologists are fairly
7:07conservative when it comes to exposure
7:10assessments and assessing risk now
7:12that’s not to say that we won’t get
7:13updated toxicology and that maybe we’ll
7:16be adjusting epa lb justing that number
7:19some say an adjustment is overdue in
7:22june of 2018 a report from the agency
7:25for toxic substances and disease
7:27registry itself a part of the federal
7:29government suggested safe exposure
7:31levels a mere 10 to 15 percent of EPA’s
7:35so the EPA says 70 parts per trillion is
7:39safe for p fos and PFOA
7:42others say the level should be far lower
7:45the PF OS and PFOA and Sandy’s well
7:48tested at over 27,000 parts per trillion
7:52a group of government workers came to
7:55her house to give her the results and I
7:58remember the Health Department lady was
8:01saying things like
8:03well there seems to be some links to
8:06some diseases thyroid and gout and
8:08cancers and liver toxicity and I
8:14remember saying oh my god my husband
8:16just died a year ago a liver cancer and
8:19people really look worried them they
8:24left and I called my sister-in-law my
8:28husband’s sister cuz we would talk every
8:30night and she’s a nurse and she starts
8:33googling it and she bursts into tears
8:35and says oh my god that’s what killed
8:38Joel not long after that in August 2017
8:42mlife published garrett Ellison’s
8:44first articles about pea Foss in the
8:46Grand Rapids area when it came out that
8:49there was drinking water contamination
8:51in belmont near Wolverine’s how street
8:55dumped that news landed like a bomb it
9:02got the governor’s attention then
9:05Governor Rick Snyder reacted by creating
9:07the Michigan P Foss action response team
9:10or M part a temporary panel that led the
9:13effort to test every public water supply
9:16in the state there’s dozens of municipal
9:21systems that have it in the state about
9:241.4 million people are exposed to it in
9:27their drinking water through municipal
9:28supply in Michigan at some level but
9:33none of the municipal systems have P
9:36Foss levels like sandy Wynn stouts
9:38private wealth she and many of her
9:40neighbors eventually hired the Grand
9:42Rapids law firm Varnum law to sue
9:45Wolverine P Foss is what classified is
9:49an emerging contaminant there is in a
9:51mountain of research that has been done
9:53and there is a lot more that is being
9:56done every day there are new studies
9:57coming out all of the time and none of
10:00it is showing that P Foss is great is
10:02safe you should drink it and what you
10:04have in Sandy situation is you have very
10:06high concentrations of P v Center water
10:08for a very long time and they used their
10:11water for drinking
10:15sandi keeps wondering if the
10:17contaminated water from her well
10:19contributed to her husband’s death I
10:21think that’s the worst is that you said
10:25and wonder and you play back every time
10:27you said stop drinking so much pop you
10:30should drink water it’s better for you
10:32you wonder how much this affected is
10:36liver what we keep hearing from
10:38scientists there’s no clear definitive
10:41connection between p5 and disease
10:44process but it just makes you wonder the
10:51effects of PAS on human health are just
10:53beginning to be understood those who
10:56have been exposed are frustrated by the
10:58uncertainty and what we do know isn’t
11:01encouraging there are things that are
11:04certain it is certain that you should
11:07not drink P files it is certain that it
11:09is not good for you it is certain that
11:11it bioaccumulates it is certain that you
11:13will carry it around in your system
11:14forever once you have it in there those
11:16are not in dispute it is also certain on
11:21the the property value side that a house
11:23that has P Faust contamination is is
11:26worth less than one that doesn’t and so
11:28there may be arguments about matters of
11:30degree on these things but there really
11:33are no legitimate arguments that what
11:35has happened to the residents of
11:36Rockford is wrong and should have never
11:38happened the testing eventually showed
11:42the P Foss had spread far beyond house
11:44Street the contamination zone covers 25
11:47square miles in these West Michigan
11:50communities Seth and Tobin McNaughton
11:55live about half a mile from the dump
11:57site right here they’d lived in their
12:00house about three years when Tobin
12:02learned she was pregnant with their son
12:03Jack we’re really excited I went into
12:07that to go really well so I drank eight
12:10glasses of water a day
12:11I like kept track I ate really healthy
12:13in April of 2016 Jack was born he had an
12:17immense appetite for water he was
12:19thirsty all the time
12:20you know how to drink out of a sippy cup
12:22now how did that happen
12:24he was breastfed too he wasn’t getting
12:27everything he needed but it turns out he
12:29was getting lots of pee fuss at the same
12:31time when Jack was 16 months old an
12:34intern from Varnum law knocked on the
12:37McNaughton’s door and he had a letter
12:39saying you know there’s a landfill near
12:41by and there’s possible chemicals and
12:43would you like to attend this meeting
12:45and that’s how we found out is through
12:47lawyers not not the township not the EPA
12:50not the Kent County Health Department
12:53not reporters through lawyers test
12:59showed almost 2,000 parts per trillion
13:02of pee Foss in the McNaughton’s water
13:04nearly 30 times more than the EPA’s
13:07health advisory level of 70 parts per
13:09trillion as soon as they could Tobin and
13:11Seth had Jack’s blood tested the results
13:15four hundred eighty four thousand parts
13:18per trillion more than 100 times the
13:21national average he’s the highest level
13:24of pee faucets that we know right now a
13:25Betty child in the United States
13:27he’s gets sick Martin and his accent
13:30vaccinations haven’t worked what we know
13:32and this is true across the board
13:33whether it’s you know mercury or lead or
13:35some other contaminant is that children
13:37are the most susceptible because of
13:38their developing systems and so that’s
13:40also true in p5 one of the worst fears I
13:42have is that he’s going to have a
13:45shorter life due to some kind of cancer
13:47illness that that could be produced from
13:50the P Faust
13:51Seth himself has a stubbornly high
13:54cholesterol level which could be in
13:56effect of the P fossil but Tobin’s tests
13:59have come back okay she and Seth are
14:01trying to have another child but it
14:04hasn’t been easy I was pregnant in June
14:07and then I lost the baby at 10 weeks and
14:09that was very devastating we didn’t know
14:12why it happened you know there’s a lot
14:16of people that go through that and
14:18there’s could be various reasons but of
14:21course one of the things I go to is like
14:23is it the P fess and then we have
14:26another child on the way and I’m just
14:28hopeful that everything goes really well
14:29we don’t know what’s gonna happen she
14:32did have a miscarriage in between
14:34jaqen now so it’s yeah I don’t want to
14:38weather that again – so we don’t know
14:41but so far so so good
14:44Don Petrovic is the plant superintendent
14:47for the Plainfield Township water
14:49department which serves the communities
14:51around the house Street dump site we are
14:55now entering the filtration area for our
14:58West plan there’s four filters here they
15:01each can process two million gallons of
15:03water a day so that’s eight million
15:04gallons of water a day out of this room
15:06alone in 2013 years before the Wolverine
15:11contamination was reported EPA testing
15:14detected small amounts of pthose in
15:16plainfield townships municipal water at
15:20that time I didn’t even know what pee
15:21fuss was and most people didn’t we did
15:23not know we had in our water but it
15:25showed up the concentrations detected
15:28were still below the EPA’s health
15:30advisory level and the pee Foss was
15:33coming from just one of plane fields
15:34three well fields after shutting that
15:37well field down in 2015 the PAS
15:40concentration in Plainfield water
15:42dropped to single digits but then pee
15:44Foss started making the headlines we
15:49were one of the first municipalities or
15:51water systems to experience a
15:54significant public demand for filtration
15:57of pee files down to non-detect
16:00and you have to listen to the public in
16:02October of 2018 with some funds from the
16:05state of Michigan Plainfield Township
16:07was able to take steps to filter pee
16:10fuss out of their water plane fields
16:12kind of responding to public pressure in
16:14some ways went for activated carbon
16:18filtration and the state of Michigan
16:19gave them a $750,000 grant to install
16:24these very large very deep carbon filter
16:27beds the new carbon filters are part of
16:30a pilot program aimed at learning how
16:32municipal water systems can use granular
16:35activated carbon to eliminate pee Foss
16:38these filters
16:41get’em granular activated carbon this is
16:43part of our pilot project these are
16:45finished we’ve been using these since
16:48October clarified softened water is
16:51coming from our clarifiers and after its
16:53softened clarified goes out to the large
16:55filter area where it’s pumped down
16:57through the carbon and the carbon at
17:00this point it’s absorbing everything
17:02right now we can process 19 million
17:05gallons a day and a 24 hour period and
17:09take out PFS and we have taken it down
17:11to 90 tack but while Plainfield Township
17:14may be showing other water systems a
17:17process for eliminating Pia Foss they
17:20can’t show those municipalities how to
17:23pay for it with a $750,000 grant from
17:26the state that kept us from raising
17:29rates and we’re very happy about that
17:30and I’m sure our customers to be happy
17:32about that too you know we’re a pilot
17:34project and we’re trying to figure out
17:35how to get rid of this stuff and this
17:37information be available to other water
17:39systems but they may have to bind things
17:42out to pay for this because it’s not
17:44cheap plane fields improved filters
17:49don’t help sandy win stellt
17:51or the McNaughton’s because their houses
17:53aren’t on municipal water their wells
17:56are still contaminated but wolverine has
17:59taken steps to improve their drinking
18:01water when the contamination was
18:04discovered in the fall of 2017 there was
18:08a sort of a frenzied attempt to install
18:11filtration on as many homes in the
18:13Belmont area that had contamination not
18:17long after the contamination was
18:19discovered wolverine paid to install
18:21whole house filters for sandy winced out
18:24and many of her neighbors all right so
18:27i’m taking you into our furnace room
18:29here this is what I affectionately call
18:33Megatron my whole home filter this right
18:37here but it goes through each of these
18:39tanks these are full of granulated
18:42carbon and it goes through them in order
18:44and then comes out this one and is clean
18:47so every week they come and test it at
18:51the intake and then also
18:54at the exit so that we know that the
18:56water is empty of that as far as we can
18:59tell the whole house filters seem to be
19:02working very well we are still getting
19:04for those houses that have very high
19:08concentrations they’re still doing
19:09weekly sampling for those moderate
19:11concentrations are still doing monthly
19:13sampling and so we know from those
19:15monitoring events and that constant
19:18observation that the whole house filters
19:21are working to remove the PFS
19:23I think whole house filters we’ve never
19:26viewed at DEQ as a long-term solution
19:28the only long-term solution is getting
19:31municipal water to homes with
19:33contaminated Wells something Plainfield
19:35Township has already planned for but
19:37can’t easily afford
19:39we’ve spent $500,000 in engineering and
19:42surveying to bring municipal water to
19:46these houses but we need thirty million
19:48dollars and we don’t have thirty million
19:50dollars
19:50so we asked Maureen for that and we’ve
19:53been in negotiations with Wolverine and
19:56they send in good faith yeah that sounds
19:59like a good deal but they recently
20:01backed off from that in December of 2018
20:04Wolverine said they wouldn’t pay unless
20:06scotchguard maker 3m contributed to so
20:10Plainfield Township and nearby Algoma
20:13Township filed a lawsuit which is
20:15currently unresolved in a statement
20:18Wolverine worldwide told Great Lakes now
20:21Wolverine has said from the start that
20:23we intend to be a part of developing
20:25water quality solutions for our
20:26community and our actions to ensure that
20:29all affected residents have access to
20:31clean water have backed up these words
20:33whether those solutions include the
20:35extension of municipal water to certain
20:38homes and whether Plainfield Township or
20:40a different entity would be the supplier
20:42however has not yet been determined
20:45sandy Winn stouts and her neighbors
20:48gather regularly to strategize and call
20:51for action one of the things we’re gonna
20:53do tonight is set up a meeting with the
20:55EPA and the DEQ to talk about our
20:58specific contamination site we really
21:00have become supports for each other I
21:02think that’s the bigger part of this is
21:04that you don’t feel quite as alone with
21:06this
21:06it’s very therapeutic to get together
21:08with these ladies nobody’s gonna
21:10understand but somebody living with it
21:12every single day it has just helped me
21:14so much because you can talk to them and
21:16you can say anything and they all feel
21:19the same these friends were thrilled
21:23when a few weeks ago
21:24Tobin McNaughton told them she was
21:26pregnant again but today the situation
21:28has changed I went to the appointment
21:31and she said I’m sorry there’s there’s
21:34no heartbeat here and I said I just I
21:38said I can’t believe that I can’t
21:40believe that I’m just really really
21:42angry right now and I’ve cried so much I
21:46think this is why this is like this I
21:48think that the reason that this is
21:50happening to us now is because of Evo’s
21:54the issue of pfosten Tama nation extends
21:58far beyond Rockford and Belmont it has
22:01the attention of the federal government
22:03I’m appalled by the number of water
22:05crises that we have faced in September
22:08of 2018 senator Gary Peters of Michigan
22:10opened hearings entitled the federal
22:13role in the toxic P Foscam achill crisis
22:16Tobin McNaughton is also here her
22:19two-year-old son Jack this beautiful
22:23young boy has what may be the highest
22:26documented pee fast levels known for
22:29children at four hundred and eighty four
22:32thousand power parts per trillion
22:35he is just two years old one of the
22:38Senators goals action by the EPA good
22:41morning everyone
22:42five months after the hearings EPA
22:45Acting Administrator Andrew wheeler
22:47announced the agency’s long-awaited
22:50comprehensive nationwide PFOS action
22:53plan the action plan commits EPA to take
22:57important steps that will improve how we
22:59research monitor detect and address P
23:03Foss EPA is moving forward with the
23:06maximum containment level or MCL process
23:09outlined in the safe drinking water for
23:11P FOA and P Foss two of the most
23:13well-known and prevalent P Fosca Michals
23:16establishing a maximum contaminant level
23:19would set an enforceable limit on PFS in
23:22drinking water but senator Peters says
23:25the agency is moving too slowly the EPA
23:28needs to act much quicker in fact
23:30they’ve been basically kicking the can
23:32down the road and that’s unacceptable
23:34once we set that standard we can start
23:36to clean up in March of 2019
23:38he and a bipartisan group of senators
23:41introduced a bill requiring the EPA to
23:43declare pthose a hazardous substance
23:46eligible for cleanup funds under the
23:48Superfund law you can begin clean up and
23:51you can begin charging those companies
23:53that actually dump this material in a in
23:56a hazardous way or an irresponsible way
23:59that they are also responsible for
24:00cleaning up these sites we do have to
24:03still set a standard and we’re working
24:04on right now on legislation to set that
24:07standard if the EPA fails to act for
24:10those affected by PFS contamination that
24:13kind of action is overdue I need both
24:17the federal and the state government to
24:19hold the people responsible who have
24:21done this while they’re posting their
24:23biggest profits ever I know
24:26am stuck with property that isn’t worth
24:28a penny I couldn’t give this property
24:31away in good conscience because it’s so
24:34polluted and so I need them to take some
24:36responsibility and provide us with clean
24:39municipal water and to make us whole and
24:44to take care of all of that for not just
24:48me but for my neighbors
24:50Great Lakes now asked Wolverine
24:53worldwide for an interview the company
24:55responded with a written statement which
24:57reads in part Wolverine worldwide z’
25:00commitment to helping our friends family
25:02and neighbors address water quality
25:05issues in the area has never wavered
25:07from the start we’ve taken proactive
25:09aggressive actions to ensure all
25:11affected residents have access to safe
25:14drinking water for more and for the full
25:17text of Wolverine worldwide statement
25:19visit Great Lakes now org slash forever
25:22chemicals
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