by Bruce Walker
The Michigan PFAS Action Response Team (MPART) released the nation’s first study of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) on Friday.
The study concludes only 3 percent of Michigan’s water supplies tested positive for potentially harmful levels of PFAS contaminants, 7 percent contained amounts below 10 parts per trillion (ppt) and 90 percent showed no detection whatsoever of PFAS.
The $1.7 million study was conducted in 2018 under the authority of the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE). MPART researchers sampled 1,723 public water systems, including 1,112 community water supplies; 459 schools with their own wells; 152 daycare and Head Start facilities; and 17 tribal water systems for 14 different PFAS compounds.
Only two Michigan locations near Grand Haven registered PFAS amounts above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Lifetime Health Advisory of 70 ppt for drinking water, specifically identifying two PFAS substances, perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, in the water supplies of the city of Parchment and Robinson Township.
“This first-in-the-nation study of all public water systems in the state resulted in 3,500 people in Parchment and Robinson Township being protected from high levels of previously unknown PFAS contamination in their drinking water last year,” MPART executive director Steve Sliver said in a statement. “We believe the data we’ve collected will be useful as EGLE moves forward with the development of drinking water standards.”
“This is absolutely great news,” said Mackinac Center for Public Policy Environmental Director Jason Hayes in a phone interview with The Center Square. “This is a much better basis from which to craft public policy than the extremist approach adopted by such environmental groups as the Natural Resources Defense Council, which I’d characterize as ‘ready, fire, aim’,” he said.
“We’ve always stood behind our ‘wait for the science’ and ‘don’t legislate until you know what’s going on’ strategies to ensure the state addresses real environmental issues rather than those that are merely perceived,” Hayes added. “The PFAS study seems to indicate we can clean up the 3 percent areas without overburdening taxpayers and small businesses with exorbitantly expensive and unnecessary efforts.”
Bonnifer Ballard, executive director of the Michigan Section of the American Water Works Association, also commended the study and its findings in an email to The Center Square. “Both the setting up and the continuation of MPART, a unique cross-agency task force, to better understand PFAS in Michigan is commendable,” she said.”The report provides an overview for PFAS exposure through drinking water in Michigan and appears to show that the prevalence of PFAS is much less than some had thought.”
She continued: “Water supplies have been and will continue to monitor PFAS according to the EPA’s third Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule. Some communities have already implemented treatment changes to addressed elevated levels of detected PFAS. The Michigan Section supports what is in the best interest of public health and will carry out its mission to educate and support its members to that end,” she said.
“We encourage Michigan residents and businesses to educate themselves about their water and if they have concerns to reach out to their local water department or health department,” Ballard concluded. “For those individuals on private wells, if they have concerns about their exposure, they should have their water tested.”
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Bruce Walker is a regional editor at The Center Square. He previously worked as editor at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy’s Michigan Science magazine and The Heartland Institute’s InfoTech & Telecom News.
Photo “Lake Michigan Beach” by Rosemtoubes CC4.0
