Michigan has some of the highest levels of PFAS in the United States. Throughout Michigan, many of the state’s streams, rivers, lakes, and drinking water have been contaminated by PFAS chemicals. To help mitigate future PFAS contamination, the State of Michigan has approved two new bills.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed into law Michigan House Bills 4389 and 4390 on July 8 that regulate the use and reporting of PFAS-containing firefighting foam, including aqueous film forming foams (AFFF). Under the new law, fire chiefs are required to report to the state within 48 hours any incident where PFAS-containing foams were used. 

“We ensure any time a fire department uses firefighting foam that contains PFAS, the state is notified and the foam can be disposed of, so that these forever chemicals don’t seep into our drinking water and needlessly harm Michiganders,” the governor said in the official state release.

This is the latest step addressing PFAS contamination concerns in Michigan. Michigan has assumed a lead role amongst states in the investigation, evaluation, assessment, clean-up, and regulation of PFAS to limiting exposure while preventing further contamination. With a significant number of PFAS-contaminated sites throughout Michigan, it’s important to limit the amount of PFAS chemicals that are used in everyday life. Some of these items include non-stick cookware, waterproof apparel, and fire-fighting foam. PFAS Contamination has also caused fish consumption advisories.

Merit is a leading national PFAS environmental laboratory, analyzing drinking water, soil, wastewater, groundwater, and other sample matrices, including biosolids and sludge. Analytical methods performed by Merit for PFAS include drinking water by EPA 533, EPA 537.1, and EPA 537 rev. 1.1 and soil, wastewater, groundwater, and surface water by ASTM D7979 with Isotopic Dilution.