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Steele Avenue Area (Grand Rapids, Kent County)
Please contact the Site Lead for the most up-to-date status of this site.
EGLE site lead
Brent Ritchie, RitchieB1@Michigan.gov or 616-581-1782.
Background
Steele Avenue Area located in the 1500 Block of Steele Avenue SW is a vacant, undeveloped property comprising 2.2 acres in an industrial neighborhood. The purchaser conducted an environmental assessment before they purchased the property in late 2018, which included the collection of five groundwater samples. Four of the five samples exceeded the groundwater cleanup criteria. Since this property was never developed, the PFAS are believed to be from an off-site source yet to be determined.
Westerly groundwater flow is toward the Silver Creek Drain (in an underground culvert) and Plaster Creek is approximately a half-mile to the west. There are no known impacts to surface water. Municipal water is available and no known drinking water wells are nearby.
Content posted January 2021.
Site map
See an aerial view of the location of the site.
Drinking water
EGLE collaborated with the local health department and determined that there were no nearby residential or irrigation wells.
Anticipated activities
As staff time and funding permits, a state funded investigation may commence to pursue the source of PFAS in groundwater.
Historical timeline
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2019
- On August 8, 2019, EGLE received the Baseline Environmental Assessment (BEA) which contained the sampling information.
- On December 17, 2019, EGLE completed the review of the BEA. The highest groundwater sample result was 29 ppt PFOS; 11 ppt PFOA.
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2020
- From September to December 2020, EGLE staff reviewed file information for several known sites of environmental contamination in the area to begin developing a regional conceptual understanding of potential PFAS sources.
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2021
- In January 2021, EGLE performed a review of November 2018 sampling data for comparison of all seven PFAS compounds which went into effect in December 2020; the results summary below was updated.
Sampling Results Summary
This table was updated to include all seven PFAS criteria effective December 21, 2020.
Type of Sample
Date Sampled (or Range)
Numberof Sample Results Received
Number of Samples above Criteria
Groundwater Monitoring Wells
November 20, 2020 5 4 *Residential well and groundwater monitoring well results are compared to EGLE Part 201 criteria for 7 PFAS compounds: PFOS (16 ppt), PFOA (8 ppt), PFNA (6 ppt), PFHxS (51 ppt), PFHxA (400,000 ppt), PFBS (420 ppt), and HFPO-DA (370 ppt).
Sampling Notes
- Samples collected from temporary monitoring wells installed as part of environmental due diligence at the facility. No wells remain onsite.