Kalamazoo County’s Department of Health and Community Services has lifted the drinking water advisory for residents of Parchment and Cooper Township connected to the municipal water system.
Health officials say Parchment’s water supply now meets the Environmental Protection Agency’s Lifetime Health Advisory level for PFAS’s. The chemicals were discovered in Parchment’s water system in July. They have been linked to cancer and other health problems. Parchment has since been connected to the city of Kalamazoo’s water system.
Governor Rick Snyder says the state has been proactive in finding PFAS contamination.
“This was found because we’re undertaking a complete review of public water systems across the state of Michigan over 1300 systems. We’re looking at over 400 some schools that are on wells.”
Kalamazoo County Health Officer Jim Rutherford says there will be other communities facing problems like the contamination in Parchment.
“We’re just starting to find out. We were the first community to be hit with this. Our solution was pretty simple in the fact that we had municipalities that worked well together”
Rutherford says water in Parchment will still be monitored in the future.
Meanwhile filters are being connected this week for residents east of the Kalamazoo River with residential water wells. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality has tested wells for PFAS’s. Once filters are connected, owners of homes with those wells can resume drinking household water.
