“CASCADE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — The state on Wednesday sampled the Thornapple River for possible PFAS contamination after Target 8 found mounds of foam building up on a riverbank.
The foam, which a state Department of Environmental Quality called ‘unusual,’ appears similar to what has formed on the Rogue River, just below the Rockford Dam.
The Rogue River foam had extremely high levels of PFAS, a likely carcinogen, leading to a health advisory against ingesting it.
Contractors for the DEQ used cheesecloth and Ziploc bags to scoop up the foam from the Thornapple River, just below the Cascade Dam. They also took water samples…
The DEQ said it was a combination of PFAS in the Rogue River and agitation from the Rockford dam that created PFAS foam there. Tests found 300,000 parts per trillion of total PFAS in the foam — 4,000 times higher than the limit for drinking water.
The Rockford Dam is directly downstream from Wolverine Worldwide’s old tannery, where the shoemaker used PFAS-tainted Scotchgard for decades.
The Cascade Dam is downstream from the Gerald R. Ford International Airport, where firefighting foam containing PFAS, a likely carcinogen, was used for decades. The airport is testing its groundwater for PFAS but said results won’t be available until July.
Private tests have found 15 homes with wells with low levels of PFAS near the airport, but there had been no tests on the river itself.”
Read the full article by Ken Kolker