Board recommends meeting on cleanup
Board recommends meeting on cleanup
The Ann Arbor Environmental Commission voted unanimously Thursday night to recommend the city hold a public information meeting about a groundwater cleanup that could affect city parks.
Contamination of 1,4 dioxane, leached into groundwater from medical filter maker Pall Life Sciences years ago, was discovered earlier this year in aquifers under Veteran’s Memorial Park. The concentration of dioxane found under the park is higher than state standards allow, meaning the company has to clean it up. Dioxane is a solvent classified as a probable carcinogen.
The meeting, which commissioners recommended be held within the next two months, would help explain to citizens what has been going on with the cleanup to date and how the city might be involved in the future. Pall has drilled a monitoring well in Veteran’s and attempted to drill one in West Park but couldn’t find a suitable spot. The state has asked the company to install another well at Veteran’s.
City environmental staff will select a date and time for the meeting, environmental coordinator Matt Naud said.