On March 12, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency added the Gelman Sciences Inc. manufacturing facility to the Superfund National Priorities List — a list of heavily polluted sites allocated greater funding, resources and oversight — to address the contamination caused by an underground dioxane plume.
Gelman Sciences was a medical filter manufacturing company that operated from 1966 to 1986. Their manufacturing process discharged 1,4-dioxane into nearby ponds, leading to the formation of an underground plume that currently stretches four miles long and one mile wide.1,4-dioxane is a likely human carcinogen typically used as industrial solvent. Health risks include liver and kidney damage and cancer.
The plume has since spread into the groundwater and is moving slowly toward the Huron River, where approximately 85% of Ann Arbor’s drinking water comes from…