New PFAS discovery near Rockford prompts Thursday townhall

ROCKFORD, Mich. (WOOD) — Several years since PFAS contamination was first exposed in the Rockford area , a special meeting is happening at Rockford High School Thursday night to address more PFAS being found at dozens of homes.

State and local officials are expected to answer questions from the community around 6 p.m. at the Fine Arts Auditorium.

The meeting comes after a Michigan Environment, Great Lakes and Energy investigation detected PFAS , a man-made class of chemicals linked to certain cancers, in dozens of private wells east of Rockford, in Courtland and Cannon townships. The investigation found that 59 tested homes had some level of PFAS. Twenty-four of them exceed the state’s safety limits.

Some of the homes are on Courtland Drive in Rockford, right near Wolverine Worldwide’s headquarters. Wolverine has paid tens of millions in settlements and cleanup efforts for dumping tannery waste around northern Kent County, allowing PFAS to enter wells in Plainfield and Algoma townships. It ultimately affected 25 square miles of groundwater.

A prominent contamination investigation focused on House Street in Belmont, where Wolverine had dumped PFAS-tainted sludge for years in the 1960s. The source was the Scotchgard that the Rockford-based shoemaker used for waterproofing.

Rockford Resident Lynn McIntosh was at Rockford High in 2017 when the community demanded answers over the PFAS contamination. She remembers it like it was yesterday.

“I stood up and said to the entire group, ‘Based on what I’ve learned and what I know, if I lived anywhere in northern Kent County and I was on private drinking well water, I would have my water immediately tested,'” she recalled. “I said, ‘Skip Christmas this year, get your water tested, know what you’re dealing with.'”

“And I say the same thing today,” McIntosh added.

McIntosh ultimately helped launch a citizen-led advocacy group, Concerned Citizens for Responsible Remediation, that has sought answers about the extent of the contamination.

Of the 59 new homes with PFAS detection, some are on Courtland Drive, right near Wolverine’s headquarters in Rockford. Others are north and south of 10 Mile Road NE. There is more contamination at homes near Meadow Ridge Elementary and near Luton Park in Cannon Township.

Some homes are clear and others are affected in the very same neighborhood.

“You can have a house that’s green cause it has no detections, and right next door can be one that’s red,” McIntosh said. “Sometimes there’s no rhyme or reason.”

PFAS has been linked in numerous studies to various forms of cancer and has been associated with metabolic disorders. Public health officials are still researching the connection.

“The heartbreaking facts of how lives have been devastated healthwise is gut-wrenching,” McIntosh said. “And that is the reason we all need to be involved in this.”

Rick Rediskie, a retired professor with Grand Valley State University’s Annis Water Resources Institute, said scientists continue to learn more about the complexities of the human body and how PFAS is affecting it.

“There’s a higher chance of getting certain diseases, like kidney cancer, testicular cancer,” Rediskie said. “It affects cholesterol, metabolism, so it can have circulatory issues. It’s passed through the placenta so it goes into the fetus, and it’s also excreted in breastmilk. That’s why we’re concerned.”

If you’re unsure whether you’re affected by PFAS, McIntosh recommends collecting tap water and sending it to the state to be tested for $300. That can be done through the state’s Michigan PFAS Action Response website . McIntosh also encouraged the community to attend the meeting and get involved in seeking answers.

“We need data,” McIntosh said. “Information is needed right now so we can track the plume.”

There’s also information there explaining how to filter your drinking water and what option may be best for you.

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