Dioxane Plume in Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor from the 1970s to the 1980s suffered from a large amount of toxic chemicals filtering from a corporation into the water supply.

The groundwater contamination began in 1976, when dioxane was used as a solvent by Pall Life Sciences’ predecessor, Gelman Sciences, Inc., as part of its process of manufacturing medical filters. The waste stream from this process included wastewater contaminated with dioxane. This wastewater was stored in open lagoons and began to enter the soil below and around the lagoons.

The 1980s and 1990s saw a flurry of lawsuits regarding who would have to deal with the problem, with very little or no cleanup at the time. Now, the city has a very real problem with its water supply and very few comforting answers for residents about where the toxic “plume” is headed and what can be done to protect their water supply:

PLS [Pall Life Sciences, a medical filter manufacturer and source of pollution] projections show the plume continuing on an eastward pathway toward the Huron River, which is approximately 8,000 feet from the current leading edge of the plume. If projections are correct, the point of entry into the Huron River would be downstream of the city’s water supply intake at Barton Dam. PLS has projected that the 85 ppb contour of the leading edge will reach the Huron River in 12 years, and domestic wells in 24 years. (PLS Limited Feasibility Study 1/04)

The problem seems to be that, if projections are only slightly incorrect, the point of entry could be upstream of the intake supplying 80% of the city’s water supply, and cover many of the city’s wells. What is the cost of containment/cleanup versus the cost of treating cancer, or cleanup ten years from now?

Where is Godzilla (or the Lone Ranger) when you need him to battle the evil plume? But seriously, this is a crisis worth reviewing as clean water becomes an increasingly scarce resource and there are no easy answers. One thing stands out, however: corporations get an easy break when the government follows a neo-con policy to privatize all the profits while socializing the risks.

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