KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) — The Michigan PFAS Action Response Team has declared a new contamination site in West Michigan: the former Cork Street Landfill in Kalamazoo.
The unlined landfill, between Emerald Drive and Millcork Street, operated from 1925 until 1992. It switched ownership a handful of times, including a stretch when it was owned and operated by the city of Kalamazoo.
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The site was added to the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Priorities List in 1990 after contamination from several different chemicals was found, including benzene, lead, arsenic and zinc.
According to MPART, the landfill was capped in 2002 and monitored with regular inspections. The Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy added the site to its Industrial Pretreatment Program in April of 2018, testing the leachate coming from the landfill.
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That testing has found elevated levels of PFAS, including 210 parts per trillion of PFOS: perfluorooctane sulfonate. The state’s maximum contaminant level for PFOS is 16 ppt.