PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — When residents in one Plainfield Township neighborhood were told their area wasn’t contaminated with a likely carcinogen linked to shoe manufacturing waste, they were skeptical and decided to find out for themselves.
When 24 Hour News 8 talked to the neighbors on Bittersweet Drive NE in October, they were certain that waste from Rockford-based Wolverine Worldwide has been dumped nearby. The litany of sicknesses had them convinced there was something in their water.
They wanted to see their well water tested. When no one at Wolverine, the state or the county would do it, they shelled out the $1,300 each to do it themselves.
“I just want to know what’s in my water. I’m scared,” said Cindy Burden, who lives on the street north of Boulder Creek Golf Club and a block away from where the municipal water lines stop, leaving her with well water.
“There’s a lady that’s two houses down, she died of cancer. The woman next door to us, she’s got cancer now. Down the street, she has MS and her husband had bladder cancer. Across the street, there’s been a couple of deaths and a woman with liver cancer. The young boy over here had leukemia. They’ve moved out now. And everybody’s got stomach problems,” Burden said in October.
Several neighbors paid to have testing done and the tests showed PFOS, the likely carcinogen, in the water — though at levels far below the federal advisory limit.
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