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Suez tests water as state mandates

ALPENA — As the state of Michigan and the military begin the process of determining the extent of contaminated groundwater at the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center, the City of Alpena has and will be testing for the contaminants in question, but it could be as long as two years before testing begins.

According to Suez Operations and Maintenance Supervisor Michael Collins, perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid are not substances the state mandates testing to determine their existence.

He said the last time testing was done for them was in 2013. Water samples from Thunder Bay were collected and tested every three months that year and, according to Collins, none were detected at the plant’s water entry system.

Suez contracts with the City of Alpena to manage water and sewer operations and handles testing at the water plant. Collins said the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality sends a list of non-regulated contaminates to Suez every few years for testing. He said recently he received the testing list for 2019 and believes both PFOA and PFOS are on it.

“There are no limits on it at this point,” Collins said. “We will test for it when they require it, but it is not something that we test for regularly because we’re not required to.”

Collins said it is possible with the development at the base, the DEQ would choose to do tests sooner and may conduct them itself.

“They may come around and take some samples like they did in Oscoda,” he said.

Collins said there are few labs in the country that can analyze PFOA and PFOS and produce reports about them. He said if all of the water plants in the state were required to test for them, a large backlog could form and municipalities and the state likely would have to wait an extended period of time for results to be returned.

He said currently there is just a health advisory on PFOA and PFOS, but if a health warning were to be issued more testing could be mandated. Collins said right now there are many unknowns about them and there are really no testing benchmarks in place that regulate how much can be in drinking water and not be a health threat.

“Right now here are no regulations or standards in place,” he said.

There has been some confusion in Alpena after the news about the groundwater contamination was announced. Some on social media insinuated that PFOA and PFOS could be in the city’s municipal water system. Others tried to tie link to the Flint water crisis, which was a full contamination of the city’s water pipeline infrastructure.

Suez Utility Manager Mike Glowinski said there are no similarities between the two circumstances.

“Two different contaminants and a completely different situation,” Glowinski said. “That was lead and in the municipal system. This could possibly impact some wells, but the two contaminants are totally different and the issue should be much less impactful than what happened in Flint.”

Glowinski said only people who have wells that are within the range of the contamination plume could be impacted, but it is unlikely the city system is at risk.

“We take our water from Lake Huron. It is treated, disinfected and distributed through pipes,” he said. “They are collecting samples from groundwater monitoring wells.”

Glowinski said because of the distance from the contamination, the small amount detected so far and the size of the bodies in the area, the threat of significant contamination to rivers and Lake Huron is minimal.

Glowinski said city water is delivered to the base and Alpena County Regional Airport via Alpena Township’s water system and there are only a few residents who use municipal water that far out of town. He said the rest have wells.

The CRTC is the third military base in Michigan having a contamination issue. Groudwater contamination at Camp Grayling in July and the former base in Oscoda also were impacted with a similar situation.

The spread of PFOA and PFOS is linked to firefighting foam that was used for about 50 years. Only in the last few years have concerns been raised about the impact it could have on a human or animals health.

There is a public meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the CRTC where state officials will update and explain the situation. The DEQ is leading the investigation, testing and any corrective action that is needed. Questions also will be taken at the meeting.

Steve Schulwitz can be reached via email at sschulwitz@thealpenanews.com or by phone at 358-5689. Follow Steve on Twitter ss_alpenanews.

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