By Mike Kruzman & Jon King / news@whmi.com

A special informational meeting was held to update Brighton Township residents on PFAS mitigation efforts going on around the old township dump.

Per and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are found in hundreds of common household items and industrial uses. Known as “forever chemicals” because they tend not to break down over time, they have been known to cause health issues. Thursday evening, the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team, or MPART, held an online meeting to share updates on efforts going on at the old Brighton Township dump, where elevated levels of PFAS were found last year. While testing for contaminants had gone on for 2 decades at the site on Corlett Drive until recently PFAS was not one of the items tested for.

Rebecca Taylor of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy is the Site Lead and said the numbers following its discovery were stable, but they are continuing to monitor. Tests from October came back consistent with numbers from May, and while they are checking the 5 monitoring wells for spikes, they haven’t seen any.

Now EGLE is targeting 16 to 18 residential wells around the site for testing, with the majority in the northwest section of the township. Requests were hand-delivered to homes on May 20th, with 5 residents already responding.

Testing crews will draw samples from outside spigots of houses that approve the testing in June. The state health department will notify residents of their results, and if needed, additional residential wells will be sampled. EGLE will also sample surface water for PFAS at the wetlands south of the dump this summer, with monitoring wells sampled in fall. If elevated levels are found, EGLE will provide homes with an approved filter and cartridges throughout the process. Residents that aren’t being tested or proactively want an approved filter should seek one that is ANSI-53 PFOS/PFOA certified. MPART representatives said they normally cost between $250-$300, and are 96% effective.

Those whose wells aren’t being tested but would like them to be, can email MPART their information and will be among the first notified if MPART needs to test in their area.

For more information on Michigan's PFAS response, visit www.michigan.gov/pfasresponse.

Meanwhile, a statement issued by Brighton Township Thursday evening reiterated its position that "it is not liable or responsible under applicable law for conditions on or near" the dumpsite, noting that the Township never operated the landfill and never expected hazardous materials to be disposed of there. The statement added that a 2009 settlement with the state to provide groundwater monitoring for metals and volatile organic compounds and methane testing, "in no way involved alleged PFAS releases, which were only investigated for the first time in 2020, based on emerging scientific scrutiny of these compounds which had widespread societal use." The full statement is below.