Burger/Goodwood PFAS Remediation
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Project engineers, Prein & Newhof, keep a frequently updated webpage for the project. Cascade Township will continue to send out periodic eblasts with updates and reminders, as well as keep this page up-to-date.
If you are interested in receiving email updates regarding the PFAS Remediation Water Extension Project, click here to subscribe to the PFAS e-news list.
Jump down to: Phase Two - Other Phase Two Info - Phase Two Tree Removal
Water Filtration System Removal - Groundwater Restrictions - Previous Updates - Useful Links
Phase Two Update- Updated 9.5.24
Phase Two
CL Trucking & Excavating began work on Phase II of the Burger/Goodwood PFAS Remediation Water Project on August 19th. Crews began placing watermain on Brookhills Ct between Thornapple River Dr and Tricklewood Dr. Crews have successfully placed new watermain on Brookpoint Dr between Tanglewood Dr and Brookhills Ct and on Misty Lane Ct. Watermain on Winterberry Ct should have installation completed by the end of this week.
After the watermain has been placed, the contractor, in coordination with the City of Grand Rapids, will pressure test and chlorinate the new main in preparation for beginning water service. Once the new main has passed all required testing, tie-ins for new services will be placed.
Due to CL Trucking & Excavating’s progress so far, they intend to begin work on Ridgemont Ct, Tricklewood Dr, and Woodbrook Dr yet this year. The other streets in Phase II will begin after the winter pause, in Spring of 2025.
Residents on Brookhills Ct, Winterberry Ct, and Misty Lane Ct who have yet to schedule a quote for connection and residents on Ridgemont Ct, Tricklewood Dr, and Woodbrook Dr are encouraged to reach out to McDonald Plumbing as soon as possible, as those homes may be ready for connection yet this year. As all remaining residences will be completed in 2025, homeowners on all other streets should wait until early spring of 2025 to call McDonald Plumbing for a quote. We will update residents when it is time for additional streets to request quotes.
McDonald Plumbing Contact info:
Grace Thumser – (616) 698-6771
As a reminder, the work McDonald Plumbing will be providing will be paid for by the project, not residents. The only fee homeowners would be responsible for is the difference in price if they choose copper for the private portion of the water service, rather than the plastic version that is covered by the project, and any costs associated with retaining their well for irrigation, if they choose to do so.
If residents are concerned with meter and/or service sizing for their home, we recommend they discuss their concerns with McDonald Plumbing when they receive a quote for the property. Residents can also contact Lawrence Olson with the City of Grand Rapids (lolson@grand-rapids.mi.us) as he can also assist with proper sizing.
Irrigation Repairs – Property owners should be aware that many irrigation systems will likely be damaged and have lines/zones removed or severed. As part of the contract, CL Trucking and Excavating will be coordinating with an irrigation company to repair these systems at no cost to the property owner. Residents are encouraged to work with their landscape/irrigation companies to winterize their irrigation systems as they usually do. When repairs are made to systems as part of the water main contract, the contractor will test the systems and re-winterize them.
If you have any concerns regarding the project, please reach out to the project email account at goodwoodwater@gmail.com.
Other Phase Two Information
The other streets will begin after the winter pause, in spring 2025. The contractual completion date for Phase Two water main extension is November 1, 2025.
Unlike the grants that funded Phase I, the Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (DWSRF) obtained for Phase II do not allow multiple plumbing contractors to complete the connections from the road to the residences. McDonald Plumbing was the low bidder for these private side connections and was awarded the contract for all Phase II services.
Cascade Township will communicate the project schedule to residents as it becomes available from the contractor. Residents will have at least through spring 2026 to complete their connection. Please continue directing questions on Phase Two of the project to goodwoodwater@gmail.com.
Phase Two Tree Removal
Due to the nature of the project’s funding, no tree removal is permitted between April and October, to preserve bat roosting habitats. In order to begin installation in 2024, the Township sent letters to residences who would have one or more trees removed in winter 2023. This only took place in a small portion of Phase Two’s scope, with additional tree removal occurring in 2024 and potentially 2025.
Phase One Whole Home Water Filtration System Removal
Now that water main installation is complete for Phase One, water filtration systems are no longer needed in homes that have connected to city water. The Township is going through the lists of homes that are receiving bottled water and water filtration services and compare it with addresses that have connected to city water. Residences that had a whole home water filtration system installed due to PFAS contamination have the opportunity to keep the filtration system and take on full responsibility for system maintenance and disposal. Since there is generally a high cost to remove and dispose of the filtration systems, we are requiring all residences who want to keep their whole home filtration system to sign a filter agreement, transferring the title of the filtration system to the homeowner. There will not be an additional cost to the resident from the township to keep the whole home filtration system. If this is something you are interested in, please email goodwoodwater@gmail.com for a copy of the form and further information.
Groundwater Restrictions
At the beginning of the Goodwood/Berger PFAS investigation, there was discussion that the township may adopt a Groundwater Use Ordinance, like the one adopted in Plainfield Township. Cascade Township does not currently intend to pass any type of Groundwater Use Ordinance because, unlike Plainfield, Cascade was able to secure enough grant funding from the state and federal government to cover the project without requiring the same magnitude of funding from the party at fault which the township identifies as the Gerald R Ford International Airport. Plainfield Township passed a Groundwater Use Ordinance as part of their agreement with Wolverine World Wide that provided for PFAS cleanup costs.
This means that Cascade Township will not be requiring residents to cap their wells or hook up to city water at this time. If the state were to require this type of ordinance in the future, the situation would become more complicated. Depending on the circumstances, the Township may be able to ask the GR Ford Airport to pay for well capping as part of remediation, but that depends on how many years down the line this legislation would be adopted and what it required.
There is already a portion of Cascade Township's ordinance that addresses required city water connections at residences where it is available:
§ 313-83. Public water connection required. [Amended 12-22-1993 by Ord. No. 18-1993; 6-13-2018 by Ord. No. 5-2018]
C. All existing single-family residential structures and multifamily residential structures, including such structures which are covered by an existing Special Assessment District for public water, shall be required to connect to available public water:
(1) When there is a major repair required of the private well, as determined by the Kent County Health Department.
Failure of a well would constitute a 'major repair', as determined by the health department, and would require connection to 'available public water', as defined earlier in the ordinance.
§ 313-82. Definitions. As used in this Part 6, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated: AVAILABLE PUBLIC WATER — Public water pipes located in a right-of-way, easement, highway, street, or public way which crosses, joins, or abuts upon the property and passing not more than 300 feet at the nearest point from a structure.
This means that if your property is closer than 300 ft from public water utilities, whether they were available prior to this project or were installed as a result of this project, and your well fails, you won't be allowed to drill a new well. In this circumstance you would have to move onto city water and there isn't any guarantee that government funding would be available at that time; this would put the monetary burden of connection to city water on the property.
The Township is not currently planning to impose water testing requirements at residences that do not connect during the project.
Project Contacts
A list of contacts for the project can be found on the left-hand side of the Prein & Newhof project page here: https://www.preinnewhof.com/construction_projects/goodwood-watermain/.
If you don’t see your question/answer above, you can always reach out to the project email address at goodwoodwater@gmail.com.
Previous Updates
Phase Two Update- 7.30.24
View the letter sent to Phase One and Phase Two residents regarding Phase One completion and Phase Two beginning.
Phase One Closeout Letter - 5.21.24
View the letter sent to all Phase One residents explaining that Phase One of the project would be ending and what they would need to do if they still wanted to connect to municipal water as part of the project.
Project Update - 11.28.23
View the complete 11.28.23 project update for historical information on Phase One tree restoration, whole home water filtration system removal, Phase Two tree removal, keeping wells for irrigation and accessing clean water until municipal water connections are complete.
Project Update - 2.08.23
View the 2.08.23 project update for answers to common questions about connecting to the water system as well as information about keeping wells for irrigation and accessing clean water until the connections are made.
Project Timeline - 10.12.22
Due to circumstances outside of the Township’s control, the construction contractor for the Cascade PFAS Remediation Water Extension Project has indicated that construction on this project will now commence in spring of 2023. The Township is working with the City of Grand Rapids, project contractors, and project engineers to ensure this delay does not effect the agreed upon completion date of the project and that clean water is brought to the neighborhood as soon as possible. We will provide another update with more information as soon as one is available.
Project Timeline - 10.05.22
Water main connections are set to begin on 10.10.22. Check out our most updated project timeline for more information.
Visit the P&N Construction Update Page
In addition to this project page maintained by Cascade Township, Prein & Newhof is also maintaining a project page which will be updated regularly regarding weekly work schedules once the project begins.
September 7 & October 12, 2022 - Residential Connection FAQ Map outlining project phases
August 2, 2022 - Project update
June 10, 2022 - Update of the project schedule
May 31, 2022 - Update to the project plan
June 19, 2020 - EGLE update regarding residential well sampling
February 19, 2020 - Update #4 - Cascade Township Residential Drinking Water Well Sampling
November 15, 2019 - Update #3 - Cascade Township Residential Drinking Water Well Sampling
August 5, 2019 - Update # 2 - Cascade Township Residential Drinking Water Well Sampling
May 16, 2019 - Update #1 - Cascade Township Residential Drinking Water Well Sampling​
March 12, 2019 - The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality conducted an evaluation of residential drinking wells for PFAS compounds in approximately 50 homes along the Trout Creek area east of the 36th Street exits off I-96 and west of Tricklewood Drive. Residents previously sampled as part of the efforts by Gerald R. Ford International Airport or Lacks Industries were not resampled. Residents who provided independent PFAS results below 5 ppt were not contacted.
Register for future updates from MDEQ on the “Cascade Township Residential Wells Sampling and PFAS Analysis” listserv.
Full news release
September 26, 2018 - Airport Residential Well Testing Results Statement
June 29, 2018 - Kent County Health Department news release advising against the ingestion of foam on the Thornapple River. Sample set results can be viewed here.
June 15, 2018 - State of Michigan PFAS Health Advisory Level & Cleanup Criteria Report from GR Ford Airport's multi-step evaluation process to assess the protential presence of PFAS on airport property.
May 31, 2018 - Airport testing process details as they near the conclusion of the sample collection phase
April 19, 2018 - The Township learned of potential PFAS contamination caused by a fire-retardant material, known as the AFFF, at the airport, Cascade Charter Township hired Fleis & VandenBrink to test the two wells that serve Cascade Township Park, located at 3810 Thornapple River Dr. SE. Test results determined no amount of PFAS was detected in the wells that serve the park. See the summary of the report and the full report.
March 30, 2018 - Previous Township Manager Ben Swayze spoke with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and learned:
- March 29 - The DEQ did not have confirmation of PFAS contamination in or around the Gerald R. Ford International Airport.
- The DEQ formally asked the airport to conduct an investigation into the chemicals used in firefighting foam. This process included soil sampling and aquifer profiling in order to map out the potential for contamination.
- The DEQ was the first contact for residents and could be reached at the Environmental Assistance Center at 800.662.9278. The DEQ did not advised residents to drink bottled water or to have their wells tested at that time.
- Residents interested in the state’s response to PFAS in Northern Kent County can find more information here.
In partnership with the City of Grand Rapids, the Township applied for and was awarded a $5 million grant to begin the extension of municipal water service to the Trout Creek area, where drinking wells have been contaminated with PFAS. In addition, the state of Michigan has provided $1.65 million for the project. This funding ensures phase 1 of the project can begin in 2022. The Township and other project partners are pursuing funding for phase 2 of the project, which is expected to be completed in 2023.
If you are interested in receiving email updates regarding the PFAS Remediation Water Extension Project, click here to subscribe to the PFAS e-news list.
Useful Links
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PFAS Grant Application
PFAS Project Map
Safe Water for Cascade - PFAS Community Forum Presentation
PFAS Meeting - Letter to Residents
Watermain Plans
Community Meeting - Prepared Slides
Gerald R. Ford International Airport Contact Info
February 3, 2022 Citizens Meeting Video Recording
PFAS Citizens Committee Agendas/Packets - This committee meets the first Thursday of every other month at 4:00 p.m. at the Cascade Township Office (5920 Tahoe Dr. SE).
State of Michigan PFAS Action Response Team - Cascade Township
State of Michigan PFAS Action Response Team - Gerald R. Ford International Airport