There has been a great deal of activity related to the Arbor Hills Landfill this summer. Here is a quick update on some of the most important developments.
Sediment from Arbor Hills is entering Johnson Creek
In late July, The Conservancy Initiative found Arbor Hills’ stormwater runoff was extremely turbid (cloudy) and contain significant suspend solids as it entered Johnson Creek. A sampling team from EGLE viewed the discharge and was concerned that aquatic life would not be able to survive with the level of turbidity observed.
The Conservancy Initiative has learned a team from the Washtenaw County Drain Commissioner’s office responded (Thank You) to the landfill immediately following our post and together with EGLE is requiring Arbor Hills to take corrective actions. Unfortunately, the corrective actions will take some time to complete and the turdid (cloudy) water discharges are continuing. <CLICK HERE> for a video of the turbid discharge taken on Monday, August 7th from the Ridge Road Bridge over Johnson Creek.
Fig 1 - Picture taken August 7th taken at Ridge Road Bridge over Johnson Creek - The light brown water on the right side is from the landfill and is filled with sediment. The dark water on the left is Johnson Creek. The dark water is clear; the dark color is the creek bed.
PFOS Contamination in Johnson Creek
The stormwater runoff entering Johnson Creek (pictured above) is known to contain PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, known as a forever chemical as it does not biodegrade). PFOS concentrations have exceeded water quality standards in every publicly available analysis (we are aware of) since April 2020. PFOS is a regulated pollutant and has been linked to several different types of cancers. EGLE has promised an Adminstrative Consent Order (ACO) with the landfill owner, Green for Life (GFL) for more than 2 years to eliminate the non-compliant PFOS discharges. The Conservancy Initiative has unsuccessfully lobbied both EGLE and the GFL, to perform periodic testing of the stormwater runoff. EGLE believes the testing is not needed as the contamination is already known and GFL will not perform the testing until an ACO is negotiated or they are required to perform testing by EGLE.
The Conservancy Initiative has initiated its own program of testing program to spotlight the PFOS issue in Johnson Creek. Our testing is not ideal as we do not have access to the landfill property so we must sample several hundred feet downstream of the actual landfill discharge. We believe a periodic testing program is necessary to measure the impacts on Johnson Creek and track the progress of remediation projects.
<CLICK HERE> for a summary of the previous test data. We will report new results as they become available.
Increased Landfill Odors from Cell 6
On or about July 7th Arbor Hills started using Cell 6 which is significantly closer to Northville Township neighborhoods. As we feared, the closer proximity of cell 6 has increased odors for Northville Township residents. The graphs below tell the story very well. We have asked EGLE to increase their odor surveys and take enforcement actions based on the increased odors.
Please make sure you do your part. If a noxious odor from the landfill interrupts the enjoyment of your property, please make an odor report using our online odor reporting system. Odor reports can be made anonymously.
