Watson Township has until June 22 to come up with an action plan to deal with perfluorooctanoic acid, a perfluorinated carboxylic acid, or PFAs, that was discovered last fall in two of five wells and the old Watson-Martin landfill near the corner of 115th Avenue and 12th Street.
Ray Spaulding of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes & Energy (EGLE) told Supervisor Kevin Travis that he originally wanted such a plan in January but granted a five-month extension.
Allegan County Commissioner Gale Dugan told the Watson he wants to sit in with Travis and EGLE representatives when they meet to talk things over, hoping he can be of assistance because he is a member of the advisory board for the Michigan PFAs Response Team.
Dugan told the board, “You have come forward and are trying to the best for your people… You are trying to do a lot of things with only a little bit of money.”
Since the PFAs problem was identified last fall testing of wells at nearby residences have indicated no further contamination.
The 20-acre dump site, which was opened in 1971 and shuttered sometime in the mid-1980s, had never been tested for water contaminants until this year.
Wikipedia indicates the substance is “produced and used worldwide as an industrial surfactant in chemical processes and as a material feedstock, and is a health concern and subject to regulatory action and voluntary industrial phase-outs.”
Problems with PFAS have been reported in at least 70 locations in Michigan, Dugan said. Closer to home, they’ve been reported in Otsego, Parchment and Decatur.
In other business at Thursday night’s meeting, the Watson board:
• Was told by Trustee Chuck Andrysiak that the Wayland Area Emergency Services Board is trying to catch up replacing aging vehicles. He said though the WAEMS has a $2 million budget, it pays its full- and part-time staff members only between minimum wage and $20 per hour. The vehicles will cost between $150,000 and $160,000 apiece.
• Decided to have a budget workshop either Monday, March 23, or Tuesday March 24, before the 2020-21 fiscal year begins April 1.
• Learned from Dugan that the state equalized valuation (SEV) for the Gun Lake Casino showed its taxable value at $84.7 million.
• Agreed to wait until receiving the next state revenue payment check for use of payment on a shortfall for recycling and dumpster services from Republic.
• Approving paying $491.89, plus shipping, for a 59-by-41 bulletin board outside township hall.