Du-Wel Metals (Hartford, Van Buren County)

Ray Spaulding, SpauldingR1@Michigan.gov.

The former Du-Wel Metals Products (Du-Wel) site, located at 520 Heywood Street, operated a manufacturing facility on a 7.9-acre property from 1957 until 2002. Operations included electroplating, buffing and polishing of aluminum and zinc die casts, and then limited machining and warehousing before it closed in 2002. The building was then demolished and removed. From 1987 to 2002, Du-Wel conducted soil and groundwater investigations and soil corrective actions with the oversight of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). From 2002 to present, EGLE has been conducting investigation and remediation activities for contaminants other than PFAS compounds, such as chlorinated solvents, at the site.

Content posted September 2019.

EGLE has sampled all municipal water supplies for PFAS. The municipal supply results were Non-Detect for all PFAS. The Hartford Public School system uses municipal water. View the results for the city of Hartford. Residential well testing began on May 10, 2019, for the residential wells located in the study area. If you have a drinking water well located in the study area that has not been tested, please contact EGLE to have your well tested.

The upcoming investigation activities will be focused on the delineation of the contaminated groundwater, both on the former Du-Wel property as well as off-site through the installation of new monitoring wells. The new monitoring wells will be tested for PFAS as well as previously identified contaminants. The additional investigation activities will help EGLE determine the need for expanded residential drinking water well testing.