Toxic Plainfield Municipal Water Supply was Engineered to be recharged by rain collecting in a hazardous waste dump

 Where does Plainfield Township Water Come From?

“Our water comes from wells near Grand Rapids Gravel pit and Coit Avenue Gravel pit”

“According to our engineers (Prein & Newhof) we have a beautiful source of supply.”

“The Water is good, but does not meet Health Department requirements.”

A concerned citizen raised this question October 19th, 1981 at the Regular Board Meeting. This was the response they were given

The Municipal Water Plant along with Well Fields 2, and 3 are located at 5220 Woodfield. The Municipal Wells, Storage Tank, and Water Treatment Plant are listed as a Part 201 Hazardous waste site. The listed contaminants are Lead, Chrome, and other metals consistent with plating wastes including PFOS.

The townships number 1 well field is located in Versluis park is part of a EPA National Priorities List Hazardous Waste site, where the Municipal wells were found to be contaminated with Trichloroethylene, 1.2-Dichloroethane, Cls-1.2 Dichloroethylene, 1.1-Dichloroethane, Xylene, Barium, Nickel and other Organic Compounds. This well field is still listed as active today on the EGLE Well logic database, continuing to poison the public.

Plainfield Township is now in the process of installing a new well field at Grand Rogue Park in yet another Part 201 Hazardous Waste Contamination Site, the new site is contaminated with Hazardous plating waste and Mercury.

The Grand Rapids Gravel Pit where Plainfield Townships number 1 Well Field is located, has a Restrictive Covenant preventing the construction of any Water Supply Well due to Ground water Contamination.

The Plainfield Township Municipal Water System was Engineered by Ed Prein & Tom Newhof and several other engineers working under the name of Williams & Works. In 2018, Governor Rick Snyder whom many may remember from the Flint Water Crisis appointed Prein & Newhof Employee Dan Sorek to the MDEQ Advisory Board of Examiners for Drinking Water where he remains today.

The Advisory Board of Examiners for Drinking Water provides hearing opportunities to certified operators when there is consideration to suspend or revoke their operators certificate.

Prein & Newhof’s Dan Sorek is also the Co-Chair for the Michigan AWWA giving the contaminated system they engineered the award for best tasting water every year.

Prein & Newhof are the ones Testing their own Contamination of the Municipal water as well as contaminated homes and sites across the country. Contrary to what Plainfield Township and local Media are telling the consumers of the Municipal water it is not non-detect. The last PFOS Result shared in the Plainfield Charter Township Annual Water Quality Reports was 3.9 PPT in 2021 with their new Filters installed.

CH in this chart represents raw water

TP in this chart represents Treated Water with the new filters.

Violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act for PFOS occurs at 4.0 PPT,

The media gives the public the following while standing at the Part 201 Hazardous Waste Contamination Site known as the Plainfield Municipal Water Plant, Storage Tank and Wells.

Kent Counties only Hazardous Waste Landfill owner, Doug Fenske wrote an Autobiography, in which two engineers with very similar sounding fictitious names on page 169, paragraph 3, tells how Farmer Ed in Coopersville, Ernie Vandole of Riverdale Excavation, and Ernie’s two engineers Prime & Newhop each put up $200,000 start up capital to form the Coopersville dump. Ed, Ernie, and Prime & Newhop received stock in Waste Management when Waste Management Took Over their Coopersville Dump.

A decade prior in a letter dated August 26, 1971, following a meeting with Plainfield Township engineers Prein & Newhof whom engineered the Plainfield Municipal Water system Plainfield Township informed the Kent County Health Department that the source of the municipal water systems recharge was rain collecting in the landfill located above the gravel pits containing the Municipal wells.:

“The land fill area is on generally sandy ground at an average elevation of 150 feet or more above the Grand River. The area contains many depressions without outlet where the water percolates into the soil. It is this percolation which we feel provides the recharge for the township wells.”

The township also informed the Kent County Health Department of the likely contamination to private wells near the Northeast Gravel Land Fill / Boulder Creek.

“The liquid wastes consist of plating wastes which supposedly have been neutralized before being dumped. Approximately 800 feet from these pits on a line toward the river and in the direction of the suspected ground water flow are two homes. We are vitally concerned that the wells of these homes may become polluted.”

Ed Prein & Thomas Newhof engineered the Plainfield Municipal water system while employed with the engineering firm Williams & Works. Ed Prein & Thomas Newhof branched off of Williams & Works and formed the sister company Prein & Newhof in 1969 in preparation for the creation of the EPA in 1970 while Williams & Works continued to write the Master Plan for Plainfield Township.

On June 27, 1973, following yet another meeting with Plainfield Township Engineers Prein & Newhof whom designed the public water system to be recharged by a landfill containing Hazardous wastes the State of Michigan Department of Public Health was informed the recharge source for the Plainfield Township Municipal Water Supply was a landfill containing Hazardous Waste. The Michigan Department of Public Health responded with the following letter which states:

(1) Contamination of the water supply is indicated to be merely a question of time.

(2) Degradation of the water quality from Hazardous Wastes which may be present in a sanitary landfill cannot be compensated (filtered) for in the water treatment process

(3) Landfill construction and operation practices intended to minimize hazards do retard, but do not guarantee elimination of the problem.

(4) Hazardous Wastes and concentrations of wastes in general simply do not belong in the recharge area of a public waer supply with the geological characteristics under consideration.

In order to assure the continued safety of the Plainfield Township water supply and to protect the public health, the township should exert every effort to prevent expansion and encourage termination of the existing sanitary landfill or as an alternative, prepare to develop a new source of water within the period of time for influence (contamination) on the ground water resource to be observed.

August 2, 1971 at a regular board meeting a concerned citizen brought to the Plainfield Township Boards attention Chrome Plating waste was being trucked in 24/7 and dumped in lagoons located at the North East Gravel / Boulder Creek landfill located approximately 1500 feet from the gravel pits containing the Plainfield Township Municipal wells. The Manager of Water Resources for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Mr. Chet Harvey authorized this dumping.

On December 16, 1974 President Ford signed the Safe Drinking Water Act into law.

In preparation of this law, Plainfield Township Engineers Prein & Newhof in 1974 created a Environmental and Drinking Water testing laboratory located near the landfill containing hazardous wastes that provide the recharge for the Plainfield Municipal water system they engineered.

Among the first contaminants regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act were plating wastes. The 12-5--77 date listed, is the date Plainfield Township added this document to their minutes.

On December 5, 1977 at the Plainfield Township Board meeting, the board recognized the heads of several plating companies, Grand Rapids City Officials, and Kent County officials whom were requesting disposal of the now listed hazardous plating waste in Plainfield Township to avoid the pending “Economic Crisis” should the plating companies be forced to close due to not having a location to dump their hazardous waste. They felt the plating companies in and around Grand Rapids needed a permanent place to dump their hazardous waste during this crisis, which they blamed on the closure of the Fenske Landfill. The consensus of the individuals was that the Michigan Department of Natural Resources had already given verbal approval, that they do not foresee any environmental problem, and the County would like verbal approval immediatly, to avert an economic problem that could result from shutdowns there by putting people out of work.

In October of 1983, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources confirmed the Hazardous Waste from the landfills had reached the Plainfield Township Municipal Water Supply and several residential wells. The Municipal Water Supply was found to be contaminated with Trichloroethylene, 1.2-Dichloroethane, Cls-1.2 Dichloroethylene, 1.1-Dichloroethane, Xylene, and other Organic Compounds. In 1985, the EPA Confirmed in monitoring wells Trans 1.2 Dichloroethylene, Ethylbenzene, Xylenes, Barium, and Nickel. It was estimated 13,000 people obtain drinking water from Public and Private wells within 3 miles of the site

In 1985, Waste Management was allowed to conduct their own investigation of the site

Current Status in 2024 remains the same as (February 21, 1990) Waste Management has conducted two hydrogeological studies in the immediate vicinity and downgradient of the landfill. These studies did not identify the source of all downgradient contamination. MDNR and Waste Management have been discussing a third hydrogeological study for the past 34 years, as well as a remedial investigation/feasibility study to determine the type and extent of contamination at the site and identify alternatives for remedial action.

In 1984, H.Wayne Huizenga Founder of Waste Management whom attended Calvin College in Grand Rapids focused whom saw profit in this poisoning of the public focused his interests on Bottled Water Companies starting with buying Aqua Pure, in 2018 he owned more than 16 bottled water companies and numerous water filtration companies.

Wayne Huizenga’s Company Waste Management is listed by the EPA as the Primary Responsible Party for the landfills leaking hazardous waste into the Plainfield Township Municipal Water Supply. Through the Huizenga’s family of companies such as Blockbuster, Viacom, Paramount Pictures, or Sports Teams such as the Miami Dolphins, Florida Marlins, the Florida Panthers he has kept the public fully distracted and entertained while selling the public bottled water and water filtration systems from his bottled water companies.

Wayne Huizenga passed away March 22, 2018

His Son Wayne Huizenga Jr. now sits at the head of the table, the following is clip from a video Wayne Jr. Published.

I highly encourage you to read the following 9 page autobiography from Grand Rapids own Peter Huizenga’s. In which he retells his families history, and the history of Waste Management starting with his Grand Father, Harm Huizenga.

Harm Huizenga is often credited with starting the first garbage business in Chicago in 1893. Harm quickly began expanding the family business and it has been passed down to todays generations.

Harm Huizenga and Al Capone lived in Cicero Illinois with Al Capone arriving from New York in 1923. During the roaring 20s and Prohibition Capone and Huizenga got along well together in Cicero as Harm Huizenga’s Father Siert Huizenga was a Cooper specializing in finely crafted Whiskey Barrels.

You will also learn about the Hoekstras and other garbage families

A good book to add to your research list is, “The Making of a Blockbuster - How Wayne Huizenga Built an Entertainment Empire from Trash, Grit, and Videotape.”

At a Special Meeting December 12, 1988. Plainfield Township Board member Susan Morrow was reminded of the hazardous waste Contaminating the Public Water Supply by Walter Meinert of Fishbeck Engineering Firm.

Grand Rapids being aware of the contamination of the public water supply extended the offer to connect to the Grand Rapids Water Pipeline under Construction to Lake Michigan.

Susan Morrow moved, that the Supervisor convey to Grand Rapids that Plainfield Township intentions are to make every effort to remain independent. The motion passed with no one objecting.

Beginning in 1989 the following year, the Plainfield Township Municipal and Residential wells were ranked the second most contaminated site in the State of Michigan

The Most Toxic site in the state of Michigan was Story Chemical in Muskegon, the Michigan DNR oversaw the cleanup and moved the waste into the unlicensed landfill in Plainfield township where liquid hazardous waste from the most contaminated site in the state was discharged into the Rogue River and .

To get a better look into history of Municipal Water Corruption in Kent County, I highly suggest reading University of Nebraska’s, Brian F. Sarnacki’s Masters Paper titled “A Small City’s Big Scandal: Municipal Corruption, Progressive Reform, and the Grand Rapids Michigan Water Scandal”

While once you realize we have been drinking from a hazardous waste site for the last 61 years and PFOS is not the most deadly contaminant we have been exposed to it is worthwhile to note that the EPA Completed their PFOS Chromium Electroplater Study Region 5 which includes Michigan in 2009

The EPA found that 4,700 Platers across the United States were believed to be discharging PFOS into the environment

The Prein & Newhof engineered North Kent Sewer System whose Board Members: are Steve Grimm (Cannon Township), Matt McConnon (Courtland Township), Greg Madura (Alpine Township), Beth Alt (Alpine, alternate), Thad Beard (City of Rockford), Cameron VanWyngarden (Plainfield Charter Township) have been discharging PFOS and other contaminants directly into the Grand River at concentrations exceeding 100 times the legal limit for PFOS in drinking water at over 450ppt. The North Kent Sewer Authority is currently fighting a Compliance & Enforcement Consent Order with the EGLE according to the North Kent Sewer Authority April 4th Minutes, New Business, B section.

Currently the sewer system being overseen by the board consisting of Steve Grimm (Cannon Township), Matt McConnon (Courtland Township), Greg Madura (Alpine Township), Beth Alt (Alpine, alternate), Thad Beard (City of Rockford), Cameron VanWyngarden (Plainfield Charter Township) and engineered by Prein & Newhof is in a Violation status, with 18 total Violations including Improper Sampling Methods, Failure to properly classify SIU’s, Failure to implement Industrial Pretreatment Program Procedures, Failure to Follow Emergency Response Plan, Violation of Water Quality Standards, Contaminant Value exceeding Limits

On April 10, 2024 The Biden / Harris Administration Set the final rule for PFAS Compounds in the Safe Drinking Water Act. The Maximum Contaminant Level for PFOS was set at 4.0 PPT.

Plainfield Township Municipal water WITH the new filters and the Versluis Well Field toggled off tested at 3.9 PPT, with the Maximum Contaminant Level of the Save Drinking Water Act set at 4.0 PPT, Plainfield has not published a PFOS result in their Annual Water Quality Report Since. Is there any point to more results unless a major change is made? It seems like weather, rain etc would have more of an impact on the shallow 30’ wells results in the part 201 Hazardous Waste Well Fields. The township has already been filtering all of their wells with GAC Filters for greater than a year when this 3.9 result was posted.