Temporary water filters will be added this week to a Metro Detroit automotive supplier factory that’s been identified as a source of high levels of PFAS contamination in the Huron River.

The equipment is expected to be installed on Friday, October 5, at the Adept Plastics/Tribar plant in Wixom.

Coming next: A permanent water-cleansing system to reduce the discharge to below 12 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFOS and PFOA. That is expected by year-end, said attorney Paul Bohn.

"We would like it sooner rather than later," said Bohn.

The specialized equipment hadn't been available until now, Bohn said, as company officials spent months navigating what he called "unique circumstances" surrounding the chemicals emerging from their factory.

PFAS contamination prompted an escalating series of public health warnings surrounding the Huron River starting in August - including warnings not to eat fish in five southeast Michigan counties - as officials learned that the Wixom wastewater treatment plant had been discharging the chemicals into a tributary.

The city's effluent testing determined that treated water containing at least 290 ppt of PFOS was flowing into Norton Creek, after the treatment plant accepted water from Adept/Tribar that - according to one test - contained PFOS at 28,000 ppt.

Investigations by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality later indicated that PFOS - part of the PFAS chemical family, and recognized as a cause of cancer and other health concerns - measured 5,500 ppt in Norton Creek. State surface water standards allow up to 12 ppt of PFOS in Michigan's lakes and rivers.

The testing came as concerns about PFAS mount across the U.S., resulting in a Senate subcommittee hearing last week and multiple calls for the Environmental Protection Agency to set national enforceable standards for the so-called "forever chemicals."

In Michigan, state officials set a rigorous course of PFAS investigation in November. By midyear, the DEQ found that at least 1.5 million Michigan residents unwittingly have been drinking municipal water with some level of contamination by the toxic chemicals.

Among them are city of Ann Arbor water customers. Testing of the city's water supply showed PFAS at levels up to about one-half of the federal lifetime health advisory starting in 2014.

The city gets about 85 percent of its water from the Huron River, one reason that Bohn said Adept/Tribar attempted to act quickly to address its role in the contamination. He said the effort began over the summer.

Adept/Tribar hired Clean Harbors Inc., which located the temporary equipment and also is planning the permanent filter installation.

"They understand they have a challenge ahead of them," Bohn said. "They're trying to meet that challenge."

The equipment is highly specialized and "not a cookie-cutter system," Bohn said. It follows significant on-site work to make sure no lingering PFAS remained in the company's production processes after it - along with other U.S. plating companies - followed a voluntary move to stop using PFOS and PFOA in 2015.

Bohn said he did not yet have an amount that Adept/Tribar is spending on the PFAS issue.

The company received a 30-day administrative order from Wixom on September 19. Adept/Tribar faces an October 19 deadline to tell the city how the "violations occurred and how future violations will be prevented." It also has to provide a detailed work plan on how it will prevent pass-through contamination while it works on a solution, as well as pay for the city's ongoing testing.

Bohn said these steps likely will address the request from the city, which has continued to supply wastewater services to the plant. So far, Bohn said, Adept/Tribar has not curtailed production of its chrome-plated plastic components since the PFAS discovery.

Along with DEQ urgency on the Huron River testing, watershed advocates and public officials called for the state to focus on the factory's discharge.

"I think the priority should be on cleaning up the Adept factory," said Laura Rubin, executive director of the Huron River Watershed Council, in mid-September. And last week, state Rep. Yousef Rabhi called on Gov. Rick Snyder to shut down the source of the PFAS contamination in the river.

Adept/Tribar is one identified source of PFAS contamination in the Huron River, which now also has a recent foam advisory - a rare move in Michigan after the city tested thick, white foam found in four locations and found very high readings.

The state continues to look for other sources in the five-county watershed.

Bohn said he can "understand why people were upset" at the PFAS discovery, given both the drinking water connection and the recreational uses of the river and its chain of lakes.

His client, he added, likely will find itself among additional industrial users in a similar situation. Lapeer Plating and Plastics also has been working with the city of Lapeer to reduce the PFAS in its water treatment influent, and testing is under way to find others.

While the immediate focus for Adept/Tribar is on finding and setting up the filtration equipment, the company also is cautious about defining its role in the river contamination.

"The company hasn't determined it put anything into the river," Bohn said. "... It's focus is on attempting to install a solution and making sure it's eliminating the material from their plants."

The Huron River Watershed Council is holding a meeting called “PFAS and the Health of the Huron River” at 7 p.m. Thursday, October 4, at the Milford Civic Center, 1100 Atlantic Street, Milford MI.