Toxic water released from a Ford facility is threatening the residents of Livonia and bothers the authorities of the city.
Ford Motors Company is polluting the environment. The American automaker will pull samples of groundwater from a residential area near its transmission facility based in Livonia, as it tries to measure the distance covered by a toxic plume released from its facility.
An official of Ford, Todd Watton, said TCE or trichloroethylene’s breakdown byproduct vinyl chloride is found in the eastern side of the facility in quantities surpassing the federal standards of drinking water, although the organization said local supplies of tap water are intact because municipal consumable water is purchased by Livonia from Detroit.
The degree of the toxicant in the water is currently being determined. Todd told during renovations that a well-known carcinogen TCE was found on plant grounds. The chemical substance was used as parts cleaner and deceased agent up till 1980s. The plant in Livonia was set up in 1952.
Groundwater in the region is moving eastwards and Todd stated soil sampling demonstrates that the byproduct TCE is between 7-feet to 28-feet down and going towards Belden Court, a light industrial cul-de-sac to the Livonia immediate east of campus. To the east of that is the Alden Village subdivision – a residential area.
Testing at a facility on the Belden Court’s northern end succeeded in finding vinyl chloride at 12ppb and 28 parts per billion at different levels of depth in the same region. Out of the 37 ground samples taken near Belden Court, 11 surpassed 2 ppb, which is drinking water regulatory limit set by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Ford informed city of Livonia, businesses located on west side of Belden Court, and Michigan Department of Environmental Quality on August 14 and businesses located on the east side on December 18. Recently, letters were written to owners of homes in the residential area.
A meeting is scheduled on February 9, 2015 and a website is developed. Owners said now there is no indication that people have inhaled the chemical vapor released by the toxicant or came into directly contact with the chemical substances.
An official of the city of Livonia, Dave Varga, said a third-party consultant was hired by the city to independently conduct an examination of the testing data. Federal rules hold Ford responsible to clean up the TCE.
In 2013, Ford settled litigation with Shelby Township and accepted to monitor and cleanup after TCE contaminated its former Utica Trim Plant property.
After the sale of the property, Ford would be held responsible for the contamination. Exactly if or how the toxicant would be cleaned is still undetermined.