ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Federal environmental regulators on Friday, Oct. 23, announced a settlement that puts Gelman Sciences LLC under federal oversight for new work on the 1,4-dioxane plume spreading beneath Ann Arbor and Scio Townships.
The deal, a consent order with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, requires the company to dig out contaminated soil from the former burn pit area on its property, step up groundwater extraction and treatment in the eastern part of the plume, and drill more monitoring wells to find the eastern edge of the contamination.
Gelman must also carry out a remedial investigation and feasibility study to weigh long-term cleanup options, and pay for grants that let community groups hire an independent technical advisor to explain reports and proposed actions. The EPA said it will hold a public meeting later this fall.
The company made medical filters from 1963 to 1986 and discharged wastewater containing the chemical into ponds on the site. The EPA describes the plume as about three miles long and one mile wide. Ann Arbor closed its Montgomery Wellfield in 2001 because of the chemical.
A big local worry is the Huron River. Barton Pond on the river supplies 85% of the drinking water for Ann Arbor, and the plume lies just west of the river. The site joined the federal Superfund National Priorities List in March, and a 1992 state consent judgment between Gelman and Michigan stays in force.
Filed under: Ann Arbor MI Health News
