Belmont - House Street, Belmont, Kent County

Updated: June 30, 2020

Background The Belmont – House Street area consists of a former licensed disposal facility owned and operated by Wolverine World Wide (Wolverine) at 1855 House Street in Plainfield Township, a suspected disposal area in the Wolven/Jewell area north of 10 Mile Road in Algoma Township, and Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) investigations into several citizen-reported unregulated dump sites across three townships in northern Kent County. On February 19, 2020, the Consent Decree between the State of Michigan (Plaintiff), Plainfield and Algoma Townships (Intervening Plaintiffs) and Wolverine (Defendant) became effective and serves as the framework for all future response activities performed by Wolverine at the House Street property and surrounding area identified as the “North Kent Study Area”.  Wolverine will conduct these activities under EGLE oversight, and the Consent Decree includes tools that ensure that the required work is completed.
	Testing Results	Interactive Map

Recent Accomplishments

• On June 18, 2020, Wolverine submitted the following Draft Response Activity Plans for groundwater investigations in the North Kent Study Area:
  • Area 5 Response Activity Plan
  • Area 6 Response Activity Plan
  • Areas 11 and 12 Response Activity Plan
  • Area 19 (R-1) Response Activity Plan
• These documents will go through a public comment process as set forth in Part 201 Section 2012d and Section 7.16 of the Consent Decree. More details regarding the public comment period and virtual public meeting will be shared in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the plans can be viewed at the links posted above.
• On June 18, 2020, the Wolverine CAG held an online zoom meeting. EGLE and MDHHS provided project updates during this virtual meeting.
• On May 4, 2020, Wolverine submitted a Draft Residential Well Resampling Response Activity Plan for EGLE review as set forth in Section 7.6 and Appendix M of the Consent Decree. This document is subject to the public comment process set forth in Part 201 Section 20120d and Section 7.16 of the Consent Decree. Refer to the banner at the top of the page for additional information on the public comment period lasting from June 11 until July 18, 2020 and the virtual public meeting that was held on June 23, 2020.   
  • View the recording of the June 23, 2020 Public Meeting.
  • View the presentation from the June 23, 2020 Public Meeting.
• Read the entire Draft Residential Well Resampling Response Activity Plan (27 pages)
• On April 30, 2020, Wolverine submitted their 2020 First Quarter Progress Report as required under the Consent Decree.
• On April 20, 2020, Wolverine submitted a Draft Groundwater-Surface Water Response Activity Plan for EGLE review as set forth in Section 7.10 and Appendix S of the Consent Decree. This document was subject to a public comment process as set forth in Part 201 Section 20120d, and Section 7.16 of the Consent Decree. The public comment period lasted from May 14 until June 13, 2020 . EGLE is in the process of compiling the comments and preparing a responsiveness summary document which will be shared once completed.  
  • ​Read the entire Draft Groundwater-Surface Water Response Activity Plan (596 pages)
• On April 6, 2020, Wolverine submitted Draft Filter Operation & Maintenance (O&M) Plans for EGLE review  as set forth in Section 7.5 and Appendix L of the Consent Decree.  The two draft documents submitted to the agency were made available for official public review and comment following the process set forth in Part 201 Section 20120d, and Section 7.16 of the Consent Decree. The public comment period lasted from May 14 until June 13, 2020. EGLE is in the process of compiling the comments and preparing a responsiveness summary document which will be shared once completed. In the meantime, the Draft Filter O&M documents can be found here:
  • Memo from R&W-GZA Powers to EGLE Vorce re Aquasana 5300+ Point-of-Use Filtration Maintenance
  • Alternate Water Supply Management Plan: Point-of-Entry Treatment Systems

​Next Steps

• Wolverine will implement the work outlined in the February 19, 2020 Consent Decree.  Appendix K of the Consent Decree summarizes the schedule for submittal of Response Activity Plans.
• Section 6.1 of the Consent Decree discusses the framework for the extension of municipal water to parcels depicted and listed in Appendix I – List of Parcels and Map of Municipal Water Areas. Learn more about updates on the Plainfield Township municipal water expansion project.
• Wolverine will continue the operation and maintenance of  whole-house filters and  point-of-use filters in the North Kent Study Area in accordance with the Consent Decree, described specifically in Section 7.5 and Appendix L.  

Residential Well Testing/Alternate Water Information

• 133 drinking water wells have been tested by EGLE; 1,545 drinking water wells have been tested by Wolverine; 42 drinking water wells have been tested by Kent County Department of Public Works.
• Wolverine has provided 538 whole house filters and 236 point-of-use filters. Kent County Department of Public Works has provided 10 whole house filters.
• All households in the sampling areas (as shown on the figure above) have been offered bottled water and/or filters by Wolverine and/or Kent County Department of Public Works.
• For additional information on residential well testing and results, visit the Frequently Asked Questions.
• EGLE has sampled all municipal water supplies for PFAS, including the City of Rockford and Plainfield Charter Township. View the City of Rockford and Plainfield Charter Township results.

Upcoming Community Engagement

• USEPA Wolverine Community Advisory Group (CAG) Meetings:
  • The next meeting is scheduled for July 16, 2020.  The meeting will be taking place over the conference app Zoom. To view the event details, visit WolverineCAG.org.  
• EGLE actively participates in the Wolverine CAG meetings which are listed on the MPART calendar and on the CAG’s website, WolverineCAG.org.

*Groundwater results are compared to EGLE Part 201 Criteria of 70 ppt PFOS+PFOA.
*Residential well results are compared to the USEPA Lifetime Health Advisory Level of 70 ppt PFOS+PFOA.

Sampling notes

• Other PFAS analytes were detected in samples. There are currently no federal or state standards for these analytes.
• A final summary report of all the data collected by Wolverine this past summer, fall, and winter 2018 is due to the USEPA and EGLE May 2019.