UPDATE 12/20/24 12:30 p.m.
CADILLAC — 20 homes in Cadillac’s industrial park were tested for PFAS on Nov. 20. According to the results from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), 18 of 20 homes tested had some PFAS at or below acceptable levels.
Of those 18 homes, three had PFAS above acceptable levels. EGLE said all homes with detections or exceedances are being offered filters.
RELATED: City of Cadillac will not test for PFAS near industrial park, says cleanup is complete
12/16/24 6:30 p.m.
CADILLAC — There’s growing concern in Cadillac PFAS in private wells and possible lead exposure from city water pipes.
We’ve kept you up to date on one family that found PFAS in their well water. Now, another Cadillac resident has stepped forward saying she recently discovered higher levels of PFAS in her well water. Alicia Hose said she was surprised to find out her home was one of those impacted.
City of Cadillac’s utilities director, Jeff Dietlin, said they are aware of her home and are closely monitoring that as well as the potential of lead in other homes. Dietlin said their main water system is fine but that private pipes feeding into the system could contribute to lead contamination.
“We’re kind of in a little bit of a holding pattern. I know the state went out and did 20 more tests. I think the results are in, but they haven’t published them yet,” said Dietlin.
He said the latest heat map showed two homes that were at unsafe levels according to the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team (MPART).
“There will be green dots, which means nothing was detected. Yellow dots, which means something was detected but is below the state limits. And then there’ll be red dots, which means there’s something [that] was detected. It was above the state criteria,” said Dietlin.
One of those red dots belongs to Alicia Hose. Hose has lived on Marathon Drive in Cadillac for more than 20 years. She said it was frustrating that she wasn’t told by the City.
“I was never contacted. And so unfortunately, after numerous phone calls, I did find out that that was my address. And so then I had to call around and reach out to find out what would be the next steps,” said Hose. “How long [have I] been drinking it? How long? I could have been notified a long time ago to where I could have possibly looked at filtration for my whole home, which is what I’m doing now.”
While Hose said she wasn’t told about the PFAS, the City said they have been informing residents of a potential lead contamination.
“Of the 3,500 that we have accounts [for], 300 are unknown, 100 of them or more [are] galvanized pipes. The State of Michigan considers either an unknown pipe or pipe that was galvanized to be lead,” said Dietlin.
Dietlin said those residents received letters notifying them of the potential impact last month.