Acknowledgment from the Environmental Protection Agency that the presence of contaminants has reached West Grand Traverse Bay from a Superfund site in Greilickville has prompted a call to support an aggressive extraction and treatment plan.

At stake is the EPA’s planned cleanup of the former site of Grand Traverse Overall Supply Company, which is closely watched by the Watershed Center Grand Traverse Bay.

Water samples from the bay surface taken by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality have detected the presence of contaminants from the long-closed commercial laundry, documenting that the contamination plume is entering the bay.

“We should all be concerned. We’re here because of the water and our tourism industry depends on the water,” said Jeffrey Shaw, whose bayfront home straddles Cedar Creek in Elmwood Township. “I think the DEQ has done the best they could given the situation.”

Samples from DEQ test wells on Shaw’s property have come back clean.

“At least now it’s being addressed,” he said.

Andy Knott, executive director of the Grand Traverse Watershed Center, asked members of the Friends of the Watershed to submit comments to the EPA regarding the planned cleanup of the site, which is located adjacent to Norris School in Greilickville.

“Their Nov. 29 public hearing was the first time they said (contamination) had actually reached the bay,” said Knott. “The thought was that it had, but there was never any proof. Now there’s proof.”

The DEQ takes surface samples every six months where Cedar Creek flows into Grand Traverse Bay.

“Adequate cleanup of the site, a former industrial dry cleaning facility, is extremely important as the MDEQ recently reported that surface water monitoring in Grand Traverse Band has detected chemicals associated with the contamination plume entering the bay,” Knott said.

Samples taken in October 2006 and May 2007 detected low levels of dichloroethylene in the bay down gradient from the former Grand Traverse Overall site.

“EPA modeling of the plume indicates that, by far, the largest volume of the plume remains in the groundwater and is likely moving toward the bay,” Knott said.

The former operators of Grand Traverse Overall discharged wastewater from laundering and dry cleaning operations into a dry well and lagoons between the mid-1950s and 1977.

“This would appear to indicate that there is approximately 20-plus years’ worth of contamination in the groundwater plume that will continue to pose a threat to the bay until appropriate cleanup is completed,” Knott said.

Knott believes the most appropriate option is groundwater extraction and treatment, with discharge of the clean groundwater to the public sewer treatment system. Knott said the extraction process should be designed to ensure that the entire volume of the contamination plume is treated, thereby lessening the risks to the groundwater, Cedar Creek, and Grand Traverse Bay.

Knott doesn’t believe that water from the extraction and treatment process should be discharged into Cedar Creek, an option mentioned during the Nov. 29 public hearing. He is also seeking more frequent monitoring to ensure that whatever option is pursued, is successful.

The EPA staff will recommend action based on input and comments received through Dec. 31.

“They’ll go before a panel of supervisors to get funding,” Knott said. “That’s one of reasons for the public hearing.”

Comments may be sent to Mary A. Gade, administrator; EPA Region V; 77 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604.

Meanwhile, all remaining equipment and electrical components are being removed from the structure at the Superfund site and deposited in an “approved facility” off site. The process will also require pumping materials from sumps and trenches within the building in which water and sludge remain. The entire property will be fenced, with tentative plans to begin demolition Dec. 27.

In the event that removal of debris has not been completed by the time school resumes next month after the holiday break, truck traffic in and out of the area will be limited to non-school hours. EPA staff will continue to monitor for a wide range of materials.

The next step, in late January and February, will involve having workers drill through the slab to sample the soil beneath, which the agency has been “unable to characterize.”

The process is expected to take four to six weeks.

Afterward, excavation equipment will be used to remove soils to an estimated depth of 13 to 15 feet — or some 1.5 to 2 million cubic yards. Soil will be collected in piles and covered and then transported to a hazardous waste disposal site in the Detroit area.

Then the agency will launch remediation activities which Knott hopes will be the groundwater treatment discharge of the clean groundwater to the public sewer treatment system. Soil vapor extraction equipment, put in place at Norris Elementary and maintained by the DEQ, will remain in place through July.