Important Community Updates!

Election Notice from the Ross Township Clerk

Want to know more about what EGLE (Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy) and Kalamazoo Health and Community Services Department are doing to respond to the threat of PFAS? You can sign up for updates on a variety of environmental topics HERE

North 34th Street, Richland Township, Kalamazoo County – A History on the “PPP Site”.

Know up to date PFAS Sites and Areas of Interest by going here.

Use the interactive map by ELGE/MPART (Michigan PFAS Action Response Team) for PFAS locations here.

How does PFAS Cycle into our every day lives?

January, 2023: PFAS in fish — MDHHS releases “Eat Safe Fish” guides annually in the Spring and emergency advisories as needed. Michigan’s Areas of Concern has identified 43 places in our Great Lakes Region that had severe, long-term environmental problems. Get to know more here.

Have questions about the recent advisory and the ongoing investigation by EGLE? Please contact Erica Bays, EGLE Site Lead, Environmental Quality Analyst — [email protected]

Water Testing Update: January, 2023

April 4, 2023 Update–MDHHS (Michigan Department of Health & Human Services) and EGLE were going door to door contacting residents regarding free well testing for PFAS/PFOA. On Tuesday, 4/4/23, I was contacted by Lisa Fischer, MDHHS Toxicologist, who shared that 40 homes permitted testing. Only one home exceeded the MDHHS Comparison Value (CV) for PFOA. This single home uses an approved filter and regularly uses replacement cartridges. All other homes were either non-detect or the PFAS detections were below the CVs.

In keeping with our commitment to Ross Township residents, I will be working on a date when EGLE, DHHS PFOA/PFAS specialists will come to our township hall to answer any resident questions in a one hour town hall Q&A. More to come on that in the near future!

Ross Township neighbors in the Delmar/Littlefield/Merrimac/Sherbrook area will soon be receiving letters from the State of Michigan (MDHHS) to request access to sample their residential wells. The letters were mailed out January 13, 2023. This is not due to any new threat; it is the next step required from the last update on PFAS groundwater monitoring in November 2022 by EGLE, regarding the North 34th Street Production Plated Plastics site. The Ross Township Board is following this matter closely and I am routinely meeting with our EGLE and DHHS contacts assigned to this PPP site sampling project.

Any residents living in this area please be sure to take advantage of free filters offered. Residents should be changing their filter cartridges every 6 months. If you would like to get a new filter, contact:

Health & Community Services Department

311 East Alcott Street | Kalamazoo, MI 49001

Phone: 269-373-5336 | Fax: 269-373-5333

Website: www.kalcounty.com/eh

It is important that when residents receive their letter asking for access to test their private well, please quickly take advantage of this free testing service. It is our goal to hold informational meetings after EGLE’s quarterly results are in PLUS after the test results are known from private well testing. Once we hear back on all test results, we will host a meeting with EGLE and DHHS at the Ross Township offices for the water project experts to answer questions and concerns of residents.

*****Once we hear from EGLE on all personal and groundwater monitoring test results, Ross Township residents will be notified of informational meeting dates to be held at the township office. ***********

WATER TESTING IN ROSS TOWNSHIP (11/11/2022)

The Ross Township Board has been aware of PFAS monitoring in Richland Township for years.
We remain in close contact with EGLE and the Health Department about their own groundwater monitoring wells in the Delmar/Littlefield area. I’ve had very thorough telephone conversations with EGLE and the Health Department occurring over several days since I was first contacted by EGLE on October 24th. It is imperative to have the facts directly from the source. While the whole township board is concerned, we have been reassured by the water and environmental specialists that there is no residential well data confirming risk, only that there is the potential for risk based on the shallow data EGLE has from their groundwater monitoring wells in that area. EGLE’s plan now is to collect samples from all residential wells in the area. Again, I have been assured by EGLE, “This does not equal municipal water at this point.” EGLE is in the data collection phase and will share results with well owners and local/state agencies as EGLE receives them. I requested copies of the letters EGLE will be mailing to affected residents and I do not have any letters yet. Once I have copies of the letters, a meeting at the township will be organized to put water and environmental experts before residents to answer questions directly.

This information, while concerning to residents and to the Ross Township Board, is in the very early stages of action. The Ross Township Board remains committed to the demands of residents that municipal water is not desired. As residents are contacted and asked to have their wells tested, it is inevitable that misinformation will spread. Please know that I have had several telephone calls with both agencies directly leading this process, I have involved the township attorney, and the entire Board of Directors is also aware of this activity and the new approach to testing 59 residential wells. Please bring questions to Ross Township for direct answers. Please stay tuned for open meeting dates with EGLE and the Health Department as well as the Township Board and legal counsel. We all plan to be accessible, supportive, and aggressively pursuing accurate information directly from the experts on behalf of affected residents.

The Ross Township Board is concerned that some public officials have jumped to conclusions ahead of sampling. Leaping to conclusions that residential wells are contaminated with PFAS without proof of tests is damaging and frightening. Please know that there is NO pursuit of public water in Ross Township by your Board of Directors. Please remember, that the ONLY way public water can be permitted in Ross Township is through your Board of Directors. We will obtain fact based results, we will openly support residents, and we will communicate full details when we have them, and only then will we determine the direction forward. Christina Hutchings, Ross Township Supervisor

New! Sherman Lake Sewer Connection Project Update October 18, 2022

Sherman Lake Sewer SAD payment timeline

SUMMER 2022 Newsletter