A lagoon dug by General Motors on the old Buick City site decades ago could serve as a guide for better containing PFAS in the future.
Located along James P. Cole Blvd, north of Leith Street, the contaminated lagoon was emptied of about 6 million gallons of surface water a year ago and has been refilled with earth and forms of carbon cement.
Grant Trigger, cleanup manager of RACER Trust told a community meeting recently that 35 soil samples were taken from around the lagoon in early June to be studied for how different materials performed in capturing and binding PFAS from materials like sediment from the lagoon bottom, stockpiled clay soils and invasive vegetation in the area.
“We basically turned this process into a field experiment… (for) effectively dealing with contamination,” Trigger said. “Part of what we want to do with the lagoon is to test some of this stuff and see if we best use it elsewhere on the site.”
PFAS-known as a “forever chemical” because it doesn’t easily break down in the environment or the human body-remains a challenge to the trust at Buick City as the site is prepared for redevelopment by Ashley Capital, which broke ground earlier last month for the Flint Commerce Center.
“The goal is to put this piece of property in a condition that would be suitable for Ashley Capital to develop in the future,” Trigger said.
Current work is focused on three areas with the most concentrated levels of PFAS, the lagoon, a firefighting foam generation building, and a section of property nearest Hamilton Ave.
Initial tests of the lagoon in 2021 showed PFOS, one of a group of man-made chemicals that constitute the family of PFAS chemicals, in surface water and sediment, as well as arsenic, cobalt, chromium, manganese, and selenium in sediment. Monitoring wells detected PFOS at concentrations ranging from 48 to 1,800 parts per trillion.
PFAS are considered harmful in a low parts per trillion level in the human body. Some are known to increase the risk of certain cancers, suppressed immune system response, cause pregnancy complications and low birth rates.
Testing also detected PFAS contamination in sediment and stockpiled soils that came from the lagoon.
RACER has also closed off storm sewer outlets on the Buick City site to prevent PFAS and other contamination from moving to the Flint River, where elevated levels have been found and a fish contamination advisory is in place.
