Skip to main content
Michigan Disposal Superfund Site (Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County)

Michigan Disposal Superfund Site (Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County)

Disclaimer: Web content may not be routinely updated on this page.

Please contact the Site Lead for the most up-to-date status of this site.

The Michigan Disposal Superfund site (2800 East Cork Street), also known as the Cork Street Landfill, operated as an unlined general refuse landfill from 1925 to 1968. It was owned and operated by the city of Kalamazoo from 1961 to 1968, during which time a waste incinerator was operated on-site. The site was sold to the Dispos-O-Waste Company (later becoming Michigan Disposal), which operated a landfill on top of the old municipal landfill until mid-1992. In 1990, the site was placed on the federal National Priorities List (Superfund) due to groundwater contamination of various chemicals such as benzene, lead, zinc, and arsenic. The landfill was capped in 2002 and regular inspections along with other remedial activity began.

In April 2018, as part of EGLE’s Industrial Pretreatment Program, the city of Kalamazoo Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) tested leachate coming from the Landfill for PFAS. The results exceeded cleanup criteria, causing EGLE to request the EPA to conduct groundwater sampling for PFAS. The highest groundwater result was 210 ppt PFOS (compared to 16 ppt). Shallow groundwater and leachate flows from west to east and discharges into Davis Creek. 

  • Michigan Disposal Superfund Site Map Preview satellite image with monitoring well PFAS data boxes

    Map

    See a site satellite image with monitoring well PFAS data boxes.

    Expand the map

Drinking water information

The City of Kalamazoo is on municipal drinking water. There has not been a residential well evaluation performed. There is a Kalamazoo Municipal wellfield (WSP-18) approximately 1,200 feet southeast of the site boundary. The city has communicated that this wellfield is currently not in use and has no current plans for use. The team has discussed all drinking water wells in proximity to the site and concluded that no additional sampling is required. Residential wells are located approximately ¾ mile northeast of the site boundary at a depth of 90 and 96 feet below ground level. According to historical well logs, there is a thick clay till layer between the shallow aquifer onsite and the aquifer that the residential wells draw from. EGLE and MDHHS agree that no local residential wells require sampling at this time.

Anticipated activities

Resampling of existing site groundwater monitoring wells discharging to the surface water in Davis Creek.

EGLE site lead

Joel Conzelmann, ConzelmannJ1@Michigan.gov, 517-275-0115