Archived News Release: October 4, 2019 - Since July, City of Ann Arbor staff have been working with the city's contractor Tetra Tech to evaluate locations to install monitoring wells between the north edge of the contaminant 1,4-dioxane plume prohibition zone and Barton Pond.
Public Meeting
The public is invited to attend an informational meeting on Monday, Oct. 28, 2019, 7-9 p.m. at Larcom City Hall, Council Chambers, located at 301 E. Huron St. This is an informational meeting which will include a presentation of the work performed by Tetra Tech and discuss their recommendations, as well as provide time to answer questions from attendees. This meeting will be televised by CTN and available online at https://a2ctn.viebit.com.
Project Phases
The Gelman Plume monitoring well location recommendation project involves six phases of work. This work is part of the city's approach to ensure the city's surface water supply is protected from contamination.
Phase One July - August: The first phase of the project included reviewing existing contamination data including well logs and sampling results from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE), Washtenaw County Health Department, Coalition for Action on Remediation of Dioxane (CARD) and Gelman Science.
Phase Two August – September: The second phase included the generating of a 3-dimensional model to understand the contaminant migration pathways to be used to identify data gaps where additional monitoring wells are needed. This phase also includes public engagement and community feedback, which will occur at this October meeting.
Phase Three - September: Central Michigan University Professor Dr. Larry Lemke reviewed the model developed by Tetra Tech and its outputs, and provided feedback that has been incorporated into Tetra Tech's work.
Phase Four – July to September: Due to the inability to get agreement on sampling existing monitoring wells with Gelman, this task will not be completed. While this data would have been valuable, the city will proceed with developing recommendations without this information.
Phase Five – October: Well location recommendations will be presented to the public.
More information about the project phases are outlined via the 2019 Timeline: Sentinel Well Location Study for the Gelman Plume on the city's website www.QualityWaterMatters.org.
