The City of Wayland has been given a clean bill of health for its water supply in the wake of the recent spate of reports in West Michigan about PFAS contamination.

Nathan Yutzy, district engineer for the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality  Drinking Water & Municipal Assistance Division, sent an e-mail to the city, reporting, “You will pleased to know that both locations tested (in the city) were found to be non-detect for PFAS compounds.

“The concentrations of PFOS and PFOA in these samples are well below the USEPA LHA of
 70 ppt and are not expected to result in adverse health effects as long as the concentrations are shown to remain below the LHA over time.”

City Manager Joshua Eggleston said, “Residents of the city do not need to take any further action at this time. It is the intention of the city to regularly monitor and test for PFAS in order to maintain a safe water supply and ultimately consumer confidence. The city also tests for several other potential contaminants in the water and reports this information to its residents and other system stakeholders via the annual Consumer Confidence Report, which can be found on the city website.

“The city has a long history of zero violations and we are confident that will continue,” he added. “In the event there is ever a violation it will be promptly reported to the public as well as any recommended action that the residents should take.

The City of Wayland recognizes the importance of safe drinking water and therefore will continue to make timely investments in our utility to ensure continued and ultimately enhanced compliance.”

Eggleston said the testing, provided free of charge by the DEQ, was sought because of reports of PFA contamination in water for the Cities of Parchment and Otsego and Cooper Township, which are just south of Wayland.