Nine new wells to monitor groundwater contamination will be added to Oakland County International Airport in Waterford Township over the next 90 days. It’s part of a five-year consent agreement the airport signed with the state in February.
Township Supervisor Anthony Bartolotta said Thursday he was aware of some PFAS discussion “four or five years ago,” but did not know about the new wells, the consent agreement or a dedicated county airport-PFAS webpage. There is no requirement for the airport or Michigan’s Environmental, Great Lakes and Energy office to notify the township of PFAS monitoring at the airport.
Eight wells were installed on airport grounds in 2021, after the airport and hundreds of others across the state were linked to groundwater contaminated with forever chemicals per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances generally known as PFAS. These chemicals have been used in firefighting foam, flame retardant in carpet and upholstery and cosmetics. PFAS has been linked to some cancers. Twelve more wells were installed on airport grounds since 2021, as state tests continued to find unacceptable PFAS levels.
EGLE online records show that in July 2023, a state contractor collected water samples at 26 of the 39 homes known to be affected. Tests found PFAS traces in two residential wells at two homes at levels below allowable limits. On Oct 31, 2023, testing on 22 homes found 15 wells exceeded groundwater clean-up criteria for PFAS. The highest result was 11,000 parts per trillion for a subtype called PFOS; the state’s limit is 16 parts per trillion.
On Friday, airport’s manager Cheryl Bush told The Oakland Press the new wells were planned as a result of the agreement with EGLE.
EGLE officials have been testing wells in some nearby homes and the water and fish in White Horse Lake, an eight-acre body of water downstream from the airport, north of Elizabeth Lake Road and south of Pontiac Lake Road. It’s part of the Clinton River watershed and has bluegill and panfish.
Abigail Hendershott is executive director of EGLE’s PFAS action response team. She spoke to The Oakland Press Friday along with Stephanie Kammer, EGLE’s emerging-pollutants section manager, and PFAS response team expert Mike Jury. They encourage homeowners with wells to regularly test for contaminants.
Township’s DPW director, Justin Westlake, was also unaware of the airport’s consent agreement – in part because the township has no jurisdiction over the airport property or homes that rely on wells for drinking water. The township has its own water system, which uses deep wells to draw water from the aquifer.
The airport is still in the investigation phase, Bush said. She said she is “happy to sit down and update the township on its progress at their convenience.”
The township’s website includes water testing results for its own wells and information on PFAS chemicals classified by the federal Environmental Protection Agency as an emerging contaminant.
Health and lab studies show elevated levels of PFAS may cause increased cholesterol, changes in the body’s hormones and immune system, decreased fertility and increased risk of certain cancers.
The EPA has set a lifetime health advisory level for drinking water for two PFAS compounds but no enforceable limits for the chemicals in drinking water.
AIRPORT PFAS HISTORY
EGLE’s website recaps the airport’s history. The first truck with the fire-fighting foam arrived in 1965 with 400 gallons aboard. Records on how and why the foam was used between then and 1996 to 1996 are lost.
Between 1996 and 2019, the foam was used in seven incidents. In March 2020 an accidental release of the foam happened during a nozzle certification on the airport property. In 2020, the airport received a grant to pay for a PFAS investigation.
As of Thursday, the state’s website had not been updated with any tests in 2024 or 2025. The airport’s PFAS webpage was updated this month, online at https://www.oakgov.com/community/airports/oakland-county-international-airport/pfas-response
Kammer oversees the consent agreements like the one with Oakland County’s airport. The voluntary agreement gives each facility four years to create a process testing surface-water runoff for PFAS and minimizing the contamination, with the final year dedicated to ensuring ongoing compliance. The airport submitted its plan in June.
“If they still have exceedances they have to evaluate and update their plans to bring the site into compliance,” she said. “It can be an iterative process. Oakland County airport has been very cooperative.”
The agreement is limited to the airport itself, though state officials know there are nearby homes and waterways that may be affected.
EGLE officials have made four or five efforts to alert households near the airport that rely on wells, Hendershott said. Awareness campaigns include knocking on residents’ doors, leaving door hangers with information and sending informational letters multiple times to ask permission to test the water.
“We’ve sampled between 40 and 45 home wells but we have many people who declined the sampling,” Hendershott said. Eight of the residential wells tested were found to have unacceptable levels of PFAS.
Crowds watch planes at the 2024 Festival of Flight at the Oakland International Airport in Waterford Township. (Courtesy, Oakland County)
WHY TESTING HOUSEHOLD WELLS MATTERS
She and Jury encourage homeowners to have their wells tested through the state or independently.
Jury said there are many sources of PFAS besides the airport’s stormwater runoff.
They said PFAS continues to be used in manufactured products, including cosmetics, hand creams, eye drops and rug shampoo.
Jury said it’s an ingredient that isn’t yet required to be listed in many cases, but the state has an online resource where people can look up various items to check.
Something as simple as shampooing stain-resistant carpets or upholstery and dumping the wastewater into a septic field can increase PFAS saturation, he said.
EGLE doesn’t offer specific guidelines on PFAS and well depths. Jury said many people don’t know how deep their household wells are. There’s no standard depth for residential wells because the depth depends on the water table, who made the well and when it was installed. Some are barely 14 feet deep and others could be close to 150 feet deep.
That’s why testing matters, he said. Predicting stormwater runoff filtration depends on the various types of earth filtering the water and a well’s depth.
The state offers tests worth nearly $300 for homes in the affected areas near the airport. If unacceptable levels of PFAS are found, they provide an under-sink water filter and other resources.
People outside the affected area can buy their own tests and under-sink filters, Jury said.
State and township officials emphasized that homeowners with wells are effectively their own water departments and should regularly test their wells for contaminants on a regular basis and maintain the electric pump.
Hendershott’s team works with a wide range of facilities; there are dozens in Oakland County. The state has an interactive map where people can check their own neighborhoods for details, online at https://egle.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=bdec7880220d4ccf943aea13eba102db
She said Michigan’s PFAS response is so comprehensive, it is used by the EPA and other states. EGLE works with the EPA to develop interim strategies to manage exceedances, she said.
Because PFAS and PFOS can accumulate in fish, EGLE instituted a monitoring program in White Horse Lake, downstream from the airport.
WATERFORD’S OUTLOOK
Waterford’s DPW director Westlake said the lion’s share of the township’s 32,000-plus households are connected to the township’s water supply. Township wells, an estimated 100 feet or more deep. He estimated 2,000 to 3,000 households have their own wells.
The most recent township tests for PFAS, copper, lead and other known contaminants based on EGLE’s schedules and found they were below dangerous levels, he said. The township has about a dozen wells in various spots with two close to the airport.
He said DPW officials have so far not found excessive contaminants.
“But who knows what it’ll be in 10 years,” he said. “I think that’s the worry, that the groundwater is supposed to filter it out because the deeper it goes the more it gets filtered.”
The chemicals are already in the ground, he said, adding that “the best you can do is monitor it and God forbid it becomes an issue in our public wells.”
If the township were to find excessive levels in its wells, he said, mitigation options could include digging new, deeper wells or overhauling the water treatment plant.
“But you’re not going to spend millions to overhaul a treatment plant for something that’s not there,” he said.
People using wells who are concerned and want to connect to the township’s system can contact DPW for guidance, he said. Some may be eligible for help based on financial hardship, but they would still likely have to pay a contractor to install a water line between the township’s system and the home.
“As of right now, Waterford is ‘so far, so good’ and hopefully it stays that way,” he said. “If not, we’ll adapt and adjust.”
AIRPORT ACTION
Airport officials belong to the Michigan Association of Airport Executives and other organizations that share information about limiting PFAS contamination at their airports, Bush said.
In August, the airport added a new fire-fighting vehicle, which uses the new fluorine-free foam and has an older vehicle that uses a concentrate called 3% aqueous film forming foam as a back-up plan for an extreme emergency, Bush said, adding that all the vehicles and foam storage comply with FAA rules.
Each year, the airport conducts FAA-mandated firefighting training and a demonstration by the airport’s emergency response team during the annual August airshow.
Bush said no foam is dispensed during the drills and no foam has ever been used at the airport during training exercises.
If an emergency leads to foam use, rules require cleaning it up as quickly as possible to limit what gets into the ground. Absorbent booms capture pollutants and filter water out, drains are plugged immediately and a contractor specializing in environmental clean-up disposes the captured foam.
The airport relies on EGLE grants for monitoring, tracking and analyzing PFAS to understand its full impact on the airport and nearby neighborhoods and has applied for additional state grants, Bush said. More state funds may be available for disposing of old equipment and any foam it holds, she said.
The next airport committee meeting is 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 3, in the conference room near the county commission auditorium at 1200 N. Telegraph Road in Pontiac. Airport committee members: County Commissioners Karen Joliat, Penny Luebs, Linnie Taylor, Christine Long and Dave Woodward, with executive designee J. David VanderVeen. Typically Bush and another airport employee are present for these meetings.
ELGE has a dedicated website with resources at https://www.michigan.gov/pfasresponse/resources/action.