The State of Michigan, Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) took public water samples from eight public water locations in the City of Portage on June 14, 2018. Those locations included certain Portage municipal wells and the Garden Lane Water Treatment Facility. Of the eight samples taken by the DEQ, two samples returned results for Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) above the non-detect level but below the non-regulatory Lifetime Health Advisory (LHA) established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). That level has been established to be 70 parts per trillion (ppt). The two Portage samples that tested above the non-detect level were at 13 ppt and 2 ppt, respectively. The LHA is the level, or amount below which no harm is expected.
The City of Portage shall take every action to eliminate PFAS from the municipal water system. Those actions may include taking certain municipal wells off line, increasing the testing regime and providing directed treatment or flushing. The City of Portage shall provide regular public updates upon the various factors that have contributed to the challenge and what action shall be taken to remediate.
For information on PFAS, including possible health outcomes, you may visit the following websites.
• Michigan PFAS Action Response Team – www.michigan.gov.pfasresponse
• United States Environmental Protection Agency – www.epa.gov/pfas
• Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry – www.atsdr.cdc.gov/pfas
City Manager, Laurence Shaffer said, “The City of Portage takes the DEQ PFAS test results very seriously. We intend to address the PFAS condition aggressively and to notify the citizens of the results of our efforts on an ongoing basis.”