RAP OK, county water system can proceed

Matt Whetstone | Cadillac News Michigan Department of Environmental Quality staff conduct a public hearing in May in Manton as part of the Remedial Action Plan process. At left is Lonnie Lee, the DEQÕs Waste Management Division Chief, and John Ozoga from the DEQÕs Grayling office.

CADILLAC — An event years in the making seemed almost anti-climactic when it was officially announced.

Upon hearing the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality had approved Wexford County’s Remedial Action Plan, John Divozzo passed out a simple, two-page letter to county commissioners.

“What does this mean?” a commissioner asked.

“Basically, it means the DEQ approved the RAP,” responded Divozzo, who is director of the Wexford County Department of Public Works.

There is one minor contingency, the RAP has to be signed by both parties before it can take effect. The plan itself lays out the county’s response to groundwater contamination caused by the landfill in Cedar Creek Township.

Contamination will remain in the ground but the county will construct a public water system to service residents who have been affected by the volatile organic compounds, or VOCs.

“The county needed to have a RAP in order to go forward with future plans. There was that incentive to spend the money and get the thing done,” said Phil Roycraft, DEQ Waste and Hazardous Materials Division manager. “I think also when it came right down to it, the county was able to work with the DEQ and the township. There were hard times along the way but in the end, I think all the parties worked together to get an agreement everyone could live with.”

Roycraft believes the public water supply provides the best protection for public health versus the alternatives.

Just getting an approved RAP is not an easy accomplishment. Throughout the state, Roycraft said many groundwater contamination sites do not have an approved RAP, either because the responsible party no longer exists or an agreement could not be reached.

Looking ahead, Roycraft believes there are sufficient monitoring, well testing and contingency plans to be prepared should contamination spread.

“The good news is the infrastructure would pretty much be already in place to expand the scope of the RAP if we need to expand,” he said.

The water system must be in place by 2011, according to the terms of the agreement.

The periphery areas will contain enough monitoring wells that it is very likely it will catch contamination before it goes into another area, Roycraft said.

Divozzo has been involved in the process for years.

“I’ve thought about this for four years now; as far as my professional work goes, it’s an immense accomplishment,” Divozzo said. “The fact that it is a remedy for groundwater contamination kind of tempers that a little bit.”

The county’s next move will be to identify a building site for the water system and secure funding. To date, the county has sought a low-interest loan through the DEQ’s Drinking Water Revolving Fund program. Divozzo is hopeful the county can obtain enough money through the loan to pay for the system and other RAP projects, like waste relocation. Right now, the county is eligible for about $7.7 million.

With an engineering firm nearly chosen, Divozzo said it will be a matter of going over the schedule and the deadlines with the firm to make sure the system is in place by 2011.

In total, Divozzo expects the RAP to cost the county $12 million, some of which has been spent already on other projects.

Cedar Creek Township Clerk Pat Buttermore said the process was a team effort that could not have been accomplished without all sides working toward the same goal.

“We had a lot of residents that would express their concerns, we would take those concerns to the table and get them resolved,” she said.

For example, Cedar Creek helped get language in the RAP so residents could see monitoring well test results, uniform testing protocols and contingency plans for the outlying areas.

“This has been a three-year battle dealing with this issue and it’s good to finally have the state’s approval on this,” Buttermore said. “Not everyone is happy but we have to keep moving forward, holding up the plans right now doesn’t benefit anybody.”

Buttermore is referring to a referendum effort by township residents who are opposed to an ordinance that prohibits well usage once the water system is in place. Without that ordinance, Buttermore said the RAP is void.

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