Laboratories Offering Home Testing
PFAS MCLs and Drinking Water
Statewide Testing Initiative
PFAS Sites and Areas of Interest
There are two major classes of firefighting foam: Class A and Class B. Class B is also called Aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) and is usually created using PFAS. It is a highly effective foam used for fighting high-hazard flammable liquid fires, like gasoline, oil, and jet fuel.
Official Correspondence
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Please contact the Site Lead for the most up-to-date status of this site.
Jason Harnick, HarnickJ1@Michigan.gov or 517-599-7421.
Please note that this landfill is CLOSED and does not accept waste.
The Ionia City Landfill, located on Cleveland Street, is a closed 20-acre landfill that operated from the mid-1930s until the late 1960s. The landfill accepted municipal, commercial, and industrial wastes which continued to be dumped through the 1970s. In 1981, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources confirmed the presence of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in groundwater. The site was added to the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) National Priorities List (e.g., Superfund Site) in 1983. In 1985, exposed drums were excavated and removed from the site. The site was fenced and a clay cap was installed over the contaminated soil. The responsible parties entered into a legal agreement with USEPA in January 1986 to investigate the nature and extent of contamination at the site. The remedial investigation, completed in 1989, identified a one-quarter-acre area in the northern portion of the site containing approximately 6,000 cubic yards of drummed wastes and contaminated soils. Samples of the wastes in the drums revealed the presence of paint wastes and used solvents.
In 1989, USEPA issued a Record of Decision (ROD) which outlined the cleanup plan to address soil contamination; a second ROD was issued in 2000 to address groundwater contamination. In June 2022, 12 groundwater monitoring wells were sampled for PFAS and 1,4-dioxane. The highest groundwater result was 37.6 ppt of PFOS (compared to 16 ppt).
The Grand River runs along the site's southern and western border, and groundwater flows southwest toward the river (see figure).
Content posted May 2023.
See an aerial view of the location of the site.
EGLE, DHHS, and local health evaluated drinking water well logs and as of May 2023, no residential well sampling is planned. EGLE and DHHS will continue to monitor data.
EGLE will continue to work with EPA on additional sampling in the future.