Wolverine Worldwide will be providing whole house water filtration systems to all the homes in Plainfield Township whose wells are being tested for man-made chemicals dumped by the company.
The announcement was made Thursday morning in response to the ongoing community concerns regarding to detection of the man-made chemicals fluorinated per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contained in 3M's Scotchgard product.
Wolverine said that it will arrange and pay for the filtration equipment and customized installation in all the homes currently part of the study area established by Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, as well as homes in the expanded, precautionary buffer zone -- regardless of those home's test results.
Since late spring, Wolverine has been working with the MDEQ and the Kent County Health Department to development and implement a water testing program to understand the extent of PFAS in residential wells.
DEQ collecting old drums at Wolverine World Wide dump site near U.S. 131 in Plainfield Township on Thursday. @wzzm13 pic.twitter.com/OThybaUzQB
— John Hogan (@JohnHoganWZZM) October 12, 2017
To air on the side of caution, kitchen filters and bottled water were provided to homes initially tested. East Rockford Middle School just announced on Thursday that water fountains at the school have been disabled and they will also be provided with bottled water from Wolverine.
According to a news release, Wolverine has reached out to 3M and asked them to step-up and partner together in resolving the issue.
“People are concerned about their water -- we share in that concern and we felt this was the right thing to do, right now. While we can’t speed up the testing process, we can give people confidence in their water by providing this longer-term solution,” said Chris Hufnagel, the Company’s senior vice president of strategy.
“Wolverine Worldwide is committed to working with the MDEQ, Kent County Health Department, and Plainfield Township to get all the answers. We live and work here and we will see this through to the end.”
The Company is also launching an information portal tomorrow on its corporate website,
www.wolverineworldwide.com. At this portal, the community will be able to get the latest information on the House Street situation, along with answers to frequently asked questions.
Homeowners are being contacted to arrange for the installation of whole house filter systems. For more information on the whole house filtration program, contact Wolverine Worldwide at 616-866-5627 or at
housedtreet@wwwinc.com.
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April Stevens is a multi-platform producer at WZZM 13. Have a news tip? Email news@wzzm13.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter.