Water Damage Restoration in Wyandotte, MI

Michigan environmental regulators have identified four major issues posing immediate health risks to Wyandotte residents in a recent survey of the city’s water system, prompting concerns among local residents.

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE) found 40% of Wyandotte’s water system experiencing “significant deterioration.” Regulators discovered tennis balls, beverage containers, and insects in one of the city’s drinking water reservoirs during their inspection.

“I clean with it, I wash dishes with it, I cook with it. I don’t drink it. I drink bottled water,” says Judy Headman, a 35-year resident of Wyandotte, reflecting growing concerns among community members.

System Deficiencies Raise Alarms

The state’s investigation revealed multiple infrastructure and maintenance issues requiring immediate attention. These findings come amid existing concerns from environmental groups about potential contaminants entering the city’s water intake system, which is positioned downstream from the BASF facility.

While some residents remain confident in the water quality, others express skepticism. Tom Milewski, a 74-year resident, points to annual water quality reports: “They give us a report yearly on everything that’s in our water, and everything is well below the standards for parts per million.”

City Response and Regulatory Oversight

Wyandotte Municipal Services defended its water quality through a statement on the city’s website, asserting that “The water provided to Wyandotte residents by Wyandotte Municipal Services has always met and or exceeded all standards set by EPA and EGLE.”

However, EGLE officials paint a more complex picture. A spokesperson for the agency stated, “Although the City of Wyandotte continues to supply customers with water that meets the quality standards of the Safe Drinking Water Act, there are some ongoing problems that indicate insufficient technical, managerial, and financial capacity at the water department.”

Infrastructure Challenges

The discovery of foreign objects in the drinking water reservoir highlights issues in the system’s infrastructure. The “significant deterioration” cited by EGLE in 40% of the water system indicates substantial maintenance issues that need to be addressed.

“I love everything about this city except for maybe the water right now,” Headman adds, echoing concerns shared by other residents about water safety.

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A new restaurant is coming soon to downtown Wyandotte after extensive renovation of the space.

Latitudes Restaurant & Bar will be located at 3455 Biddle Avenue. The large space can accommodate about 500 people and will be available for hosting events. The restaurant will feature waterfront dining, a seafood-focused menu and a Carribbean vibe, the Detroit Free Press reports.

According to the news outlet, the restaurant comes from Josh Cade, Ron Thomas and Leo Stevenson. The team, who bought the restaurant last September and started construction in October, brings a wealth of experience to the venture. Cade and Thomas are partners in JP’s Waterfront, a bar and grill in Gibraltar. Cade owns several other concepts in Michigan, including Whiskeys on the Water, Frank’s Pizza, The Iron Gate and the event venue District 142. Stevenson is a local investor and business owner.

The menu is expected to feature lots of signature seafood dishes, like yellow tail snapper from Key West, and American cuisine, including burgers and salads. Expect brunch service on weekends. Alan Sosa will be the executive chef.

Latitudes Restaurant & Bar is opening at the space formerly occupied by Portofino on the River, which closed at the end of 2023 after more than 40 years in business.

Latitudes Restaurant & Bar is expected to open soon. Keep up with the restaurant on Facebook for updates.

Detroit Free Press

Toxin-laden groundwater is venting into the Detroit River — at a rate of up to 60 gallons per minute — from a longstanding chemical plant site in Wyandotte, according to state environmental regulators. And the plant's owner is in violation of a nearly 40-year-old federal court consent decree with the state of Michigan that's supposed to stop that from happening, the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy alleges.

The plant, at 1609 Biddle Ave. in Wyandotte, is an American subsidiary of German chemical giant BASF. In a May 8 response letter to EGLE, company officials stated they "respectfully disagree" with the regulator, and question EGLE's interpretation of what's required of them. "BASF has been and remains in compliance with the Consent Decree," BASF site director Michele Barney stated.

BASF is working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on a long-term fix that would include a 1.7-mile barrier between the property's edge and the river, and 300,000 gallons in on-site storage tank capacity to better stop polluted groundwater from leaving the site. But construction on that project isn't expected before 2027.

That frustrates some residents and environmental groups.

"For whatever reason, BASF ... just decided that the city of Wyandotte isn't of enough concern to stop discharging illegally while they do the long-term, elegant engineering solution," said Carrie La Seur, legal director for For Love of Water (FLOW), a Traverse City-based environmental nonprofit.

In an emailed statement to the Free Press, BASF spokeswoman Marika Diamond reiterated that the company believes it has been and remains in compliance with its consent decree agreements with the state of Michigan, and that it continues to work on a comprehensive perimeter barrier project with EPA to address groundwater venting into the river."BASF regards protection of health, safety and the environment as our most important responsibility," she said. "We care about our employees and local communities and operate our facilities in a safe and environmentally responsible manner.

"To that end, BASF has already taken additional steps beyond those required by the Consent Decree to enhance existing measures at the property. These additional steps included installation of additional groundwater extraction wells and a pilot treatment system which began operating in July 2023."

Mercury venting in groundwater from portions of the BASF Wyandotte site registered as high as 3,800 nanograms per liter in regulator testing in September 2006; up to 1,200 nanograms per liter in August 2012; and up to 1,800 nanograms per liter in June 2021. EPA and EGLE limit mercury in venting groundwater to 1.3 nanograms per liter — meaning the pollution is exceeding the standard to protect public health and the environment by many hundreds of times over.

According to the EPA, exposures to some forms of mercury can lead to tremors, headaches, changes in nerve responses and disturbances in sensations, and poor performance on tests of mental function. Higher exposures can cause kidney damage, respiratory failure and death.

Wyandotte drinking water deemed safe

Other contaminants of concern are per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, the nonstick "forever chemicals," and volatile organic chemicals.

The groundwater pollution is happening with the city of Wyandotte's drinking water intake pipe downstream and "about 800 to 1,000 feet east of the southern boundary of the (BASF) facility," a November 2021 briefing paper prepared by EGLE supervisor Dale R. Bridgford noted. But Wyandotte Mayor Robert DeSana, at a jointly held EPA and EGLE online meeting April 30, said the city's water system "remains safe, well-monitored and well-managed."

"Wyandotte's water intake is not located at the surface, nor is it anywhere near the shoreline," he said. "It sits 1,200 feet offshore — the length of four football fields — and is positioned 30 feet below the surface. The distance and depth play a critical role in protecting our water supply from potential contamination and significantly reduce susceptibility compared to shoreline intakes."

DeSana noted that water sampling results "have been consistently non-detect (for harmful pollutants) since testing began, not just recently." The city's raw water it takes in, and its finished water post-treatment, "have continuously met or exceeded all water quality standards," he said.

FLOW last year helped Wyandotte-area residents secure a joint federal and state public health assessment in the vicinity of the BASF property. Work on that study, looking to see if any potential health concerns are concentrated in that vicinity along the Detroit River, is ongoing, La Seur said.

"There have been a lot of questions about whether people who are in contact with that local water in one way or another need to be concerned about health impacts," she said. "It felt validating that state and federal public health agencies, in cooperation, would say, 'Yes, we are concerned enough to put some public resources into looking at the data available and trying to tell you if you ought to be concerned.'"

BASF disputes what it must do

Industrial activities have occurred on the Wyandotte site on the Detroit River site since the late 1800s. The riverbank and associated wetlands were filled for further industrial expansion over years, using soil, building materials and waste from the production of soda ash and propylene oxide, known as distiller blow off. BASF acquired the plant and its grounds on Biddle Avenue in 1969 from Wyandotte Chemicals Corp.

"Through historic releases to the ground, and the impacts from the made land, groundwater contamination is pervasive across the site," Bridgford stated in the November 2021 EGLE briefing paper on BASF Wyandotte North Works.

BASF is subject to two consent decrees, agreements reached with the state in U.S. District Court, from 1980 and 1986, as well as an administrative order on consent with EPA for corrective action. In a March 10 letter to BASF, EGLE officials contended the company is violating the 1986 consent order, intended to require groundwater pumping at three locations on the company property to change the gradient flow of groundwater away from the Detroit River.

The system requires pumping at a rate of 10 to 90 gallons per minute to be effective, EGLE officials stated. Records from an EGLE site visit and the local wastewater authority, however, showed pumping of less than 10 gallons per minute "from 2019 through the 2nd quarter of 2023, with flows ranging from 0.01 to 1.4" gallons per minute, EGLE officials stated. EGLE called for BASF to modify its operation of the remedial system, meet the system's design flows, and halt the venting of groundwater into the river from the respective locations.

In its May 8 response, BASF contended it does not have to pump 10 to 90 gallons per minute to meet the requirements of the consent decree, only to show groundwater is moving away from the river in the specified three locations in the decree.

EGLE spokesperson Josef Greenberg said the agency's enforcement and technical staff are reviewing BASF's response.

The comprehensive fix BASF has in the works with EPA is currently on schedule, with mobilization and construction to start in 2027, EPA spokesman David Shark said.

"This is a highly technical design plan that requires EPA review and approval at each design step prior to the commencement of construction," he said.

La Seur, however, questioned why BASF isn't required to do more immediately as the longer-term solution is in the works. "An expert we have worked with told us there are technologies to bring in for extraction and treatment; you can bring these facilities on-site, do the pumping and sometimes take it off-site by tanker," she said. "If they were willing to spend the money, within 30 days they could immediately reverse the gradient (flow of groundwater to the river) and then at least there wouldn't be this discharge happening."

Shark, however, said there are several challenges to a more aggressive pumping and mobile treatment system as an interim measure.

"Due to the complexity of the soil layers, existing utility infrastructure beneath the property and the extent of contamination across the property, the most effective remedy is one that mitigates groundwater discharge from the entire border of the BASF property along the Detroit River," he said.

"EPA believes that the best path forward is to develop the comprehensive groundwater measure and implement a remedy that will effectively mitigate sitewide groundwater discharge from entering the Detroit River."

Meaning that until such a system is in place, the polluted groundwater discharges into the river will continue.

Contact Keith Matheny: kmatheny@freepress.com.

Editor's note: This story was modified from its original form to add new information.

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