Recently, Michigan PFAS Action Response Team identified the Sturgis Municipal Wells Superfund Site as a location of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, based on testing conducted in late 2024.
Quality of the city’s drinking water is not affected by the results of those tests, city officials said.
Sturgis Municipal Wells became a Superfund site in 1984 due to groundwater being contaminated by volatile organic compounds.
The two local properties identified as likely sources were Kirsch Company plant 1 and properly formerly occupied by Wade Electric.
Cleanup started in the 1990s and has included addressing VOCs by extracting vapor from the soil at the former Kirsch plant, installing pump-and-treat systems to treat groundwater and limiting the use of, and access to, portions of the area.
As part of ongoing groundwater monitoring Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy and private parties responsible for the Superfund site sampled for PFAS at both the Kirsch and Wade locations in late 2024.
PFAS are a group of industrial chemicals that have been used worldwide in common consumer products, manufacturing processes and materials. Two of the chemicals are perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS). Under current Michigan PFAS groundwater cleanup criteria, PFOA has a cleanup criteria of 8 parts per trillion and PFOS has a cleanup criteria of 16 ppt.
At and near the former Kirsch plant, seven existing monitoring wells were sampled, along with the outflow of a treatment system at the site. One well showed a PFOA test of 42.2 ppt, exceeding the cleanup criteria. Other samples for PFOA and PFOS were below Michigan’s requirement, including the samples at the groundwater treatment system outflow.
In the Wade Electric area, six locations were sampled, with one exceeding PFOA criteria at 9 ppt and PFOS criteria at 87 ppt.
All other sample locations tested below the threshold.
These sites are outside the city’s drinking water wellhead capture zone. Following all state of Michigan guidelines, the city monitors quality of the municipal drinking water system on a regular basis.
