Read the full article by Paula Gardner

“FLINT, MI — Results from new sampling for PFAS in Flint show four additional locations at the former Buick City factory are contaminated, and one residence near a second closed General Motors facility has the chemicals in its well.

The four locations were tested after the perfluorinated chemicals were found in three groundwater monitoring wells earlier this year.

‘We have some … preliminary results and they’re pretty high,’ said Grant Trigger, Michigan cleanup manager for RACER Trust, about Buick City.

There’s no indication the contamination is reaching drinking water supplies in the city, Trigger said…

The next step for RACER is to see if the contamination is spreading toward the Flint River. The public water intake is upstream of the sewer outfall, he added.

The Buick City property had been a factory site for a century before it moved into RACER’s control for cleanup and redevelopment after the GM bankruptcy. Cleanup is ongoing, and parcels have been sold to new industrial users.

Previous PFAS readings on the property peaked at more than 600 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFOS, one type of the ‘forever chemical’ believed to have been used on site in plating operations and by firefighters using it in foam. Michigan calls for cleanup if surface water contamination reaches 12 ppt.

The new locations at Buick City with PFOS are:

  • The old GM wastewater treatment plant on Stewart Avenue, at 4,800 ppt.
  • The former pickling and enameling site just south of Leith Street, at 4,600 ppt.
  • A former assembly/paint area near Hamilton with 4,800 ppt.
  • The building 44 paint shop on Hamilton, north of the new Lear facility: 15,000 ppt…

The news coincides with recent testing results that showed PFAS contamination in a residential well near the Coldwater Industrial Land in Genesee Township.

Homes on Stanley Road near the long-closed landfill on the property were tested for PFAS, with one reaching a combined 69 ppt for both PFOS and PFOA. That compared to the 70 ppt lifetime health advisory issued by the U.S. Enviromental Protection Agency.

‘We’re not sure yet that (our property) is responsible for the contamination, but it’s in the vicinity of our investigation,’ Trigger said.

RACER installed a water treatment system in late October while the county health department considers more testing.

The trust continues to search for a long-term solution to the PFAS contamination on the former GM sites, even as it deals with other identified pollution and mitigation steps.”