In December of 2022, Ann Arbor residents were advised to use bottled water as a precaution to a plume of dioxane pollution that has been in the local groundwater for decades.
It was found that contamination was above the state drinking water standard and described as a slow-motion environmental disaster by local officials.
The pollution is linked to Gelman Sciences not having sufficient boundary monitoring wells to detect dioxane groundwater contamination.
Updated Consent Judgement requires Gelman to implement additional response activities to ensure compliance with the lower cleanup criteria for drinking water, surface water, and soils.
The lower criteria was changed from 85 ppb (parts per billion) to the current 7.2 ppb as the new standard.
Attorney General Dana Nessel says, “ Lower criteria and additional response activities are important steps toward addressing this contamination and important for the people of Washtenaw County.”
Reporting for WGRT – Choze Powell
