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Electro-Plating Services (Madison Heights, Oakland County)

Electro-Plating Services (Madison Heights, Oakland County)

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

EGLE site lead

Joe DeGrazia, DeGraziaJ@Michigan.gov.

Background

Electro Plating Services, Inc. (EPS), located at 945 East Ten Mile Road, is a former plating shop which operated from 1967 until 2016. EPS operations included copper, tin, bronze, cadmium, nickel, chromium, gold, silver, zinc, and lead plating.

Historically, numerous containers of various hazardous waste were located at the site, as well as a hand-dug pit in the basement. Analytical results indicated the presence of acids, cyanide, and other corrosive and poisonous chemicals that were leaking, open and/or improperly stored.

On December 20, 2019, groundwater impacted with Chromium IV (Cr6) seeped through the retaining wall onto eastbound I-696. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) personnel responded to the incident. EPA installed an interceptor trench and two sumps to stop the groundwater from migrating off-site and onto the highway. The collected groundwater was pumped into frac tanks and then sent off for disposal.

As part of the emergency response and long-term investigation, PFAS was included in the sampling and analysis. The site investigation included sampling groundwater, and one of the wells came back over 70 ppt PFOS + PFOA. There are no residential wells within a one-mile radius. Future sampling will include more groundwater monitoring as well as sampling runoff from roofing shingles. Currently, EPA will continue investigation and mitigation activities; long-term, the activities will be transferred to EGLE.

Groundwater flow is primarily to the northeast, with a slight radial flow directly at the property.

There are no immediate large surface waterbodies in the area; however, there are storm and sanitary sewer lines that discharge to the Red Run drain.

Content posted January 2021.

Electro-Plating Services Map

Site map

See an aerial view of the location of the site.

Expand the map

Drinking water

No residential wells are within a one (1) mile radius of EPS.

Anticipated activities

EGLE will conduct a meeting with its contractor on January 11, 2021 to begin work as described in the Request for Proposal.

Historical timeline

    • On January 8, 2020, January 23, 2020, and February 5, 2020, EPA’s contractor, Tetra-Tech, collected surface water samples from the sewer system along eastbound I-696 and the adjacent surface drive.  A groundwater sample was collected from the “Pit” in the building basement at EPS.
    • On February 5, 2020, EGLE received groundwater sample result collected from the “pit” in the basement of the building.  The PFOS + PFOA result was 1,142 ppt.
    • EGLE's Water Resources Division (WRD) collected surface water samples and samples from the sewer system in January and February 2020. Water quality standards were exceeded in storm sewer samples for PFOS.  Samples collected from Bear Creek were two miles down-stream and exceeded water quality standards, however, there are likely other sources contributing to these results.
    • Surface water sampling in Bear Creek is not reflected in the table below because samples were taken two miles from the site in a large drainage area that may have other contributing sources.
    • In April 2020, EGLE’s WRD collected three surface water runoff samples from the roofing shingles.  On May 15, 2020, EGLE received the results.  The highest PFOS result was 233 ppt collected from the north drain of the building.  All three samples collected were below the PFOA 12,000 ppt criteria.  Results are indicated on the sampling chart below.
    • On July 7, 2020, EGLE presented to local officials this site as being in the process of becoming an official MPART site.
    • In July 2020, EPA’s contractor installed a Permeable Reactive Barrier (PRB) to mitigate impacted groundwater and conducted a pilot study to determine the efficacy of the design.
    • Tetra-tech completed collection of groundwater and surface water samples in December 2020.
    • Request for Proposals (RFP) were received on December 2, 2020. EGLE chose a contractor who will cover operation and Maintenance (O&M) of the PRB, site investigation(s) for building demolition and evaluations of remedial activities.

    Historical Sampling Chart: Data is reflective of criteria prior to August 3, 2020,  PFOS and PFOA Only

    This chart reflects data received prior to August 3, 2020.

    Type of Sample

    Date Sampled (or Range)

    Number of Samples

    Number of Results Received

    		 Number of Non-Detects  Number Between Non-detect and Standard*  Number Greater Than or Equal to Standard 

    Groundwater

    		January 2020 1 1 0 0 1
    Surface Water April 2020 3 3 0 1 2
    Cumulative 4 4 0 1 3
    *Groundwater results are compared to EGLE Part 201 Criteria of 70 ppt PFOS+PFOA.
    *Surface water samples are compared to Rule 57 non-drinking water values of 12 ppt for PFOS and 12,000 ppt for PFOA. 
    • On December 20, 2020, the site will transfer from an EPA-led response to an EGLE-led response.

    Sampling Notes

    • On August 3, 2020, new Part 201 Criteria went into effect.  Historical sampling data compared to Part 201 Criteria >70 is captured in the historical timeline below.