Lee Bergquist

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A Johnson Controls subsidiary in Marinette said it is planning to install pollution-control systems in two waterways to keep toxic chemicals now likely flowing into Green Bay from reaching the water.

The efforts of Tyco Fire Products — a maker of fire suppression foam — to keep pollutants from seeping into Lake Michigan waters are believed to be unprecedented in Wisconsin, according to the Department of Natural Resources.

RELATED:Firefighting foam used by unit of Johnson Controls poses toxic threat to Green Bay

The cleanup process to remove the compounds known as perfluorinated chemicals could take years, according to the company.

Emails and other documents paint a complex cleanup process because the contaminants have seeped into groundwater and surface water at multiple points over the years, flowing gradually to Green Bay.

Perfluorinated chemicals are coming under growing scrutiny nationally because of their potential harmful health effects, widespread use in products ranging from fire retardants to non-stick pans, and because of their difficulty to break down in the environment.

A federal draft report released in June found chemicals like those coming from the Tyco site — perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, or PFOS — could be a greater public health risk than previously known.

Epidemiology studies suggest that the compounds are associated with increased risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension, liver damage, thyroid disease, asthma, decreased fertility, some cancers and a decline in response to vaccines.

RELATED:New evidence of groundwater pollution turning up near Lake Michigan at Tyco plant in Marinette

Early testing

In November 2017, Tyco began investigating the spread of PFOA and PFOS from a fire training facility it operates in Marinette and where the chemicals have been sprayed during training sessions for decades. (Tyco has also said it has found chemicals in groundwater a few miles away in monitoring wells at a manufacturing plant along the Menominee River, a Green Bay tributary.)

The work has included sampling surface and groundwater, and private wells in the area. The chemicals have turned up at various concentrations in all three, according to the company.

In July, Tyco began offering water treatment systems to any property owner whose well contained the chemicals — regardless of whether it exceeded the current federal lifetime health advisory.

Removing contaminants

In the most recent developments, Tyco is asking Marinette County officials for an easement on land in a county park about 50 feet from Green Bay to remove contaminants from a waterbody known as Ditch B.

The company briefed members of the Marinette County Board on Wednesday about its plans and hopes to have the system in place this fall.

Tyco has similar plans to test and remove the compounds for a second ditch — Ditch A — on its fire training property, which flows into the Little River, south of Marinette. The Little River is a tributary to Green Bay.

In both cases, the company would assess the extent of the chemicals and remove the compounds using granular activated carbon before water is returned to the ditch, Johnson Controls spokesman Fraser Engerman said in an email.

He said the cleanup project could last at least five years.

“Our intention is to continue to work with local and state officials to identify, test and potentially remediate those areas where these compounds are found,” Engerman said.

Ditch B does not pass through Tyco property. It was built decades ago to drain agricultural land and flows into Green Bay near the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Marinette campus.

Responding to questions from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, DNR officials said in emails that surface and sediment samples in Ditch B show “very low” concentrations of the contaminants as they flow east.

But as the ditch turns southeast toward the bay, measures of the chemicals skyrocket to 2,000 to 3,000 parts per trillion. According to the DNR, this means that groundwater feeding the ditch is supplying the high levels of contaminants.

“It doesn’t originate from their property,” said John Lefebvre, the county administrator. “The only way it can get there is from groundwater … at some point, or multiple points.”

Health standards

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has established a federal lifetime health advisory level for drinking water of 70 parts per trillion, but is under pressure by environmental and health groups to set a more restrictive limit.

Tyco has said the ditches are not used for drinking water.

Currently, Wisconsin has no standards for acceptable levels of the chemicals in drinking water or groundwater.

On March 2, the DNR asked the state Department of Health Services to recommend safe toxicity levels of 16 substances in groundwater, including PFOA and PFOS, which could lead to new restrictions on the chemicals. That process is ongoing, state officials have said.

Some states have moved independently to clamp down on the chemicals.

RELATED:Class of chemicals under growing scrutiny detected at four military sites in Wisconsin

Marinette gets its drinking water from Green Bay. Trace amounts of the chemicals have been found in municipal drinking water, according to city and DNR records. Officials have said that the levels detected are not a threat to public health.

Asked whether Tyco is subject to enforcement proceedings, the DNR said the company is following procedures in state law to investigate the extent of the problem and is addressing concerns about drinking water.

More action demanded

Jeff Lamont is a retired hydrogeologist who worked on toxic cleanups during his career. He lives in Marinette part of the year. His well is contaminated by the chemicals. He and others say they want to see Tyco and the DNR do more to tackle the problem.

The DNR responded that Tyco is addressing contamination outside its operations first, as required by law, and then will take up the job of removing chemicals on its property.

Lamont told members of the policy-setting Natural Resources Board on Aug. 8: “This is a problem that is going to get significantly more complex in the coming weeks and months.”

He asked the agency to make a damage claim against the company. DNR spokesman Andrew Savagian declined to comment on whether such an action was being contemplated.

After hearing Lamont at the Aug. 8 meeting, board member Frederick Prehn of Wausau asked department officials to provide more details to board members on the Tyco situation.

Savagian said the agency is still working with Tyco, “and is not ready to report back to the (board) just yet.”