“CASCADE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Cascade Township has created a new page on its website dedicated to new PFAS concerns near the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in response to a Target 8 investigation.
Target 8 tracked down former Ford airport fire chiefs who say they used thousands of gallons of the AFFF firefighting foam during the 1980s and 1990s, most during training.
It drained untreated into the ground, they said. They called for testing of nearby wells.
There are more than 400 homes downhill from the airport, along the Thornapple River, most on wells.
It’s the same foam that has contaminated air force bases around the country with the likely carcinogen.
The state Department of Environmental Quality has asked the Ford airport to investigate.
The township said the investigation will start with soil sampling and determining how groundwater flows from the airport…
In northern Kent County, PFAS contamination attributed to Wolverine Worldwide has spread to an area six miles long by five miles wide. It has contaminated more than 500 wells, many of them at levels considered unsafe by the EPA and the state.
The DEQ said it is too soon to suggest that residents in Cascade Township drink bottled water or have their wells tested, according to the township website.”
Read the full article by Ken Kolker.