CADILLAC —A local clean water advocacy group continued their mission today of getting the word out about the PFAS contamination recently discovered in private wells in the Cadillac area.
Cadillac Advocates for Clean Water teamed up with another environmental group that focuses on PFAS contamination across the state.
The two organizations hope to bring awareness and answers to Northern Michigan by holding a PFAS Solutions and Resource Fair
Susan Giftos, co-founder of Cadillac Advocates for Clean Water says they have resources available for anyone impacted but people might not be aware of them.
“People are lacking education when it comes to PFAS and water-related issues, dealing with water contamination. So, we wanted to bring the community together and offer them a one stop place to talk to different agencies,” said Giftos.
The grassroots group have spent the past several months getting the word out, about recently discovered PFAS contamination in the Cadillac area.
She said there’s still some homeowners who don’t know about the contamination and hoped Friday’s resource fair closes that information gap.
“I hope that people will walk away with an education about the determination here and what to do about it. What we wanted to present to the community, to let them know that there are resources and there are solutions,” said Giftos.
Cadillac Advocates for Clean Water teamed up with the Great Lakes PFAS Action Network. The group’s co-founder, Sandy Wynn-Stelt said she is no stranger to water-related contamination and its impacts.
“My husband, Joel, we had been married 25 years. He passed away quite suddenly of liver cancer. And I learned the following year that my drinking water had been contaminated at some of the highest levels found in the country. Then in 2000, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer as well,” said Wynn-Stelt.
Those who attended, including Barbara Devoll of Cadillac were grateful for the information that was shared. She said she had moved to Cadillac four months ago and did not know about the contamination in private wells and she has a private well.
“I’m going to go home and check it out and see what’s going on,” said Devoll.
Others, like Katherine Mcelhinney said they hope to see similar events in other communities.
“I hope they actually end up setting something up like this for the greatest 4th in the North, next week. I think it would be nice for even Lake City residents to get in and to see what it’s all about,” said Mcelhinney.
Cadillac’s city manager, Marcus Peccia said they’re still working to help homeowners impacted by contamination.
“Hopefully we’ll be able to get some funding that will allow us to provide dollars that can extend our municipal infrastructure to the handful of homes sprinkled throughout the city that are currently on wells,” said Peccia.
“The city has applied for a few grants, totaling almost $8 million in funding. So, we’re really hoping that the legislators hear us and realize that we do have an issue here that needs assistance,” said Giftos.