ESCANABA TOWNSHIP — People living and using wells near the Carol’s Corner area of Escanaba Township and along County Road 416 are once again dealing with groundwater contamination issues that have been present in these areas for decades.

A resident of the area approached the Daily Press saying that his well and those of other residents were contaminated and blamed a product used to condition soil by area farmers. The resident, however, later contacted the Daily Press and said he did not want his name mentioned in the article.

Area health officials said that contaminated wells are nothing new in the Carol’s Corner area and the soil conditioning product is not to blame.

At its April 19, 2018, meeting, the Public Health, Delta and Menominee Counties (PHDM) Board of Health was given an update on these issues by Health Officer/Administrator Mike Snyder. In 1993, PHDM had tested groundwater near Carol’s Corner; groundwater near County Road 416 had been tested in the late ’80s or early ’90s.

When the Carol’s Corner tests took place, total coliform or E. coli bacteria were found in about half of the samples. Because of this, special well construction requirements have been put into place for the Carol’s Corner area. (Identical requirements are in place along County Road 416.)

“It was determined at that time … that the upper aquifer is vulnerable to surface contamination due to geological features in the area,” Snyder said. These features include shallow soil over the local bedrock.

The issue of groundwater contamination in Escanaba Township reared its head again earlier this year.

“This past spring, area residents tested their water … for coliform bacteria because they had noticed a change in the water quality,” Snyder said.

In the winter of 2018, farmers in the area had applied “VersoGrow” — a soil conditioner product made with residuals from Verso’s Escanaba paper mill — to their land.

In a report prepared by Erin Satchell of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) to determine whether VersoGrow was in compliance with both its labeling and Generally Accepted Agricultural Management Practices, the possibility of a connection between recent complaints related to excessive odor in Escanaba Township and the use of VersoGrow was discussed.

“The current label for VersoGrow does not address odor, and there may have been little awareness of the potential for odor generated from this product,” Satchell wrote.

In the report, Satchell also noted that test results shared by David DeVet — the senior environmental engineer for Verso’s Escanaba mill — showed that VersoGrow tested negative for salmonella, listeria, and E. coli.

“Given the widespread agreement among local officials regarding the contamination of the upper aquifer for years prior to the application of VersoGrow, the presence of fecal coliform bacteria in the affected wells, and no apparent mechanism for the VersoGrow application to have caused fecal coliform bacteria contamination, I have found no reason to suspect that the land application of VersoGrow resulted in runoff or leaching with a negative impact on surface or groundwater,” he wrote.

Snyder said that, as the upper aquifer near Carol’s Corner and County Road 416 is vulnerable to surface activity, it is possible that VersoGrow played a role in the discoloration and odor some Escanaba Township residents have noticed in their well water recently. Still, he does not believe the detection of coliform bacteria in this water was related to the use of VersoGrow.

“I don’t believe that the VersoGrow had anything to (do) with the bacteria contamination in that upper aquifer,” he said.

While people in the area were encouraged to replace their wells 25 years ago, Snyder noted that some wells had not been replaced at this time. This may have been a factor in the test results seen in the area recently.