EPA confirms BASF’s groundwater containment plan, inclusive of limitations and on-site treatment, to prevent contaminants from attaining the Detroit River.
Federal regulators have approved a Wyandotte, Michigan chemical producer’s plan to control pollution from reaching the Detroit River.
As per the plan, BASF will install physical barriers around its facility and create a groundwater collection system and on-site water treatment unit at its 230-acre riverfront site. The venture targets to keep chemicals which have drained from contaminated soil into groundwater from reaching the Detroit River.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency introduced complete approval of the company’s submission on Monday. BASF, the EPA and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) worked together to produce the plan.
Construction is anticipated to start in early 2027. Facets consist of:
- Perimeter boundaries to limit groundwater movement across the site boundary and into the Detroit River
- A groundwater collection and extraction system to capture contaminated groundwater
- An on-site water treatment facility to treat gathered groundwater
As per an EPA letter to BASF, the company must have to provide the agency with monthly updates on the construction growth.
BASF has stated it plans to construct a physical barrier alongside the north, east and south boundaries of the North Works plant in Wyandotte, aimed to control contaminated groundwater from migrating off the site.
EPA directed BASF to work towards the approach after rejecting an earlier cleanup proposal in 2018, concluding that a site-wide perimeter barrier integrated with groundwater treatment would offer a more comprehensive remedy.
The groundwater collection and extraction system will stop groundwater that would otherwise flow towards the river, pump it to the surface, and send it for treatment earlier than it’s discharged, as per the EPA documentation.
Water collected by the extraction system will be routed to a new above-ground treatment plant on BASF property.
The system is being formed to treat groundwater containing a huge range of pollutants recognized during EPA and EGLE investigations, inclusive of heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, semi-volatile organic compounds and per- and polyfluoroalkyl materials (also known as PFAS or forever chemicals).
Soil at the BASF site on Biddle Avenue, which is placed near Wyandotte’s drinking water intake system, is very polluted, officers stated. The former marshland was drained and filled with chemical waste in the 1880s. The plant, which is a huge employer in Wyandotte, produces products such as polyurethanes, specialty plastics and resins.
The Detroit News reached out to BASF representatives seeking remark however there was no instant response.
