Stories

I know it’s not anyone’s responsibility to do this leg work but my own, but I felt guilty that I put us in this situation. My husband and I both work remotely, so we could live anywhere. We were just looking at where the housing market could take us, and we kept ending up either in Plainwell or Otsego. The school districts are really good here. The crime rate is really low. It’s rural, but also a little bit urban. It just worked for us.  

When looking on EGLE’s website to see results of PFAS testing, I found out that people’s wells right outside our subdivision were testing positive for PFAS. I learned that the area where we live used to be farmland and that waste from the paper companies was used on these farms as fertilizer. These wastes increased farmers' crops, but they also contained hazardous chemicals like PFAS which are now in the water. It’s not the farmers’ fault.

These companies prey upon the trust farmers have in them and are getting away with dumping their hazardous wastes because they can brand their waste as a tool. I think when companies were originally doing this, they honestly thought they’d bury the waste, and Mother Earth would do her job. She’d get rid of the waste, and we would be happy-go-lucky, put a big balloon around it, and call it a day. But we have since learned that Mother Earth does not do that for PFAS, and we are going to reap the consequences of those actions. The lack of accountability is what upsets me the most.

This information detailing responsibility and fault is buried. It took a ton of research through archives, looking through deeds, and finding reports for me to find what I know now. It’s frustrating that I’ve had to do so much individual research, only to come to the same conclusions others have already reached. When I talk about it to others, it’s a lot of, “Same here,” or “I wish I would have known.” This information should be accessible and available to anyone, but it’s not.

My heart truly goes out to any child that might be impacted by this. I'm particularly concerned with the risk of cancer or DNA changes that they may experience or any neurotoxins that they might be exposed to due to the contaminants that could be in our water, air, or soil. I have not yet experienced any health issues in Otsego, but I am worried about my son. Even though one reason we moved here is for the quality of the public schools, because the public school system does not filter their water, I decided to homeschool my son to ensure the water he is drinking during the day is safe.  

When I moved here, a neighbor told me, “Never drink the water without a filter.” I sort of brushed him off at the time, but he was dead right.  

I reached out to people in other communities affected by PFAS, like Rockford, and they got me involved in the Community Action Group. I am also part of the Great Lakes PFAS Action Network. We got an email a couple of weeks ago that EGLE will be doing additional testing rounds for PFAS, and I am going to submit Otsego for that. Hopefully with this testing, and that testing, and all the testing, we can keep moving the needle, even if the EPA pulls back.