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Saginaw Malleable Iron (Saginaw, Saginaw County)
Please contact the Site Lead for the most up-to-date status of this site.
EGLE site lead
Andrew Karg, KargA@Michigan.gov or 989-891-6948.
Background
The Saginaw Malleable Iron (SMI), facility is located at 77 West Center Street and was a former automotive foundry that operated for close to 100 years. The property is over 300 acres in size and contains numerous former operational areas, including the foundation of the former plant, a railroad area, and landfill areas. Manufacturing activities included metal casting and heat treating. Due to prior use of the property, EGLE requested the responsible party (RACER Trust) to sample several on-site monitoring wells for PFAS analysis.
The former SMI facility is located directly adjacent to the Saginaw River. The property contains a storm water pond, secondary pond, and numerous wetlands. The groundwater flow direction in the former plant area is east toward the Saginaw River. The primary groundwater flow direction in the vicinity of the landfill is east toward the river, but also flows south and west toward several surrounding wetland areas.
Content posted May 2022.
Site map
See an aerial view of the location of the site.
Drinking water
There are no drinking water wells located on-site. A deed restriction has been filed for the site that prohibits construction of future drinking water wells. A few residential wells were identified within a 1-mile radius of the site, however, PFAS is not expected in the vicinity of the homes based on the monitoring wells sampled nearest the homes. Additional monitoring wells have been sampled to confirm this. EGLE previously confirmed municipal water service is available to all the homes in the area.
Anticipated activities
EGLE staff will continue to review PFAS results as they are received to determine what future actions may be needed. A few residential wells were identified within a 1-mile radius of the site, however, PFAS is not expected in the vicinity of the homes based on the monitoring wells sampled nearest the homes. Additional monitoring wells have been sampled to confirm this. EGLE previously confirmed municipal water service is available to all the homes in the area.
Historical timeline
-
2018
- On December 18, 2018, upon request by EGLE, RACER Trust had their consultant (Arcadis) sample 12 on-site monitoring wells for PFAS.
-
2019
- On January 15, 2019, EGLE received the results from the sampling event in December. Three wells had concentrations exceeding the current Part 201 criteria for PFOA and PFOS. Monitoring well X-2A had the highest PFOA and PFOS concentrations (50.6 ppt PFOA and 16.5 ppt PFOS).
-
2020
- Between August 11 & 18, 2020, upon request by EGLE, RACER Trust had their consultant (Arcadis) sample 14 monitoring wells for PFAS.
- On September 8, 2020, EGLE received 10 sample results from the 14 wells sampled in August. The remaining four samples had lab errors requiring the wells to be re-sampled.
- On September 8, 2020, RACER Trust's consultant re-sampled the four well locations with lab errors.
- MPART hosted a series of regional webinars to educate the public on the launch of investigations into sites with PFAS contamination exceeding the state's new PFAS clean-up standards. A webinar for this site was held on September 16, 2020.
- On October 13, 2020, EGLE received the complete summary of PFAS results from the August and September 2020 sampling events completed at the site. Four groundwater monitoring wells had concentrations exceeding Part 201 criteria. Monitoring well X-2A had the highest PFOA concentration at 29.9 ppt and monitoring well MW-108WT had the highest PFOS concentration at 17.1 ppt.
- In a December 2020 the Annual Progress Report was submitted by ARCADIS on behalf or RACER Trust to EGLE. Sampling and analysis of PFAS at 14 monitoring locations was proposed for 2021.
- Historical Sample Table
- Sampling: PFOS and PFOA Only
-
Type of Sample
Date Sampled
(or range)Number of Sample Results Received
Number of Samples above PFOS Criteria
Number of Samples above PFOA Criteria
Groundwater
December 18, 2018 – December 20, 2020
26
3
5
Cumulative
26
3
5
* Groundwater results are compared to EGLE Part 201 Criteria of PFOS 16 ppt and PFOA 8 ppt.
-
2021
- In December 2021, the Annual Progress Report was submitted by ARCADIS on behalf or RACER Trust to EGLE. The report contained the complete summary of PFAS results from the August 2021 sampling event completed at the site. Two groundwater monitoring wells had concentrations exceeding Part 201 criteria for PFOA. Monitoring well X-2A had the highest PFOA concentration at 29.6 ppt. Sampling and analysis of PFAS at 16 monitoring locations was proposed for 2022.
Sampling Results Summary
This table reflects data received after August 3, 2020. Data prior to August 3, 2020 is reflected in the timeline below.
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
December 21, 2020 - August 19, 2021 14 2 Sampling Notes
- None at this time.