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Cascade Township approves design work to extend public water to Recreation Park amid PFAS concerns
Summary
The Cascade Charter Township board authorized design services to extend a 6-inch public water main into Recreation Park, using available PFAS remediation funds for engineering. Trustees and residents discussed continuing use of an irrigation well, health department testing, and uncertainty about final construction decisions.
The Cascade Charter Township board on May 6 approved a proposal to design a public water main extension to Cascade Recreation Park, a project staff said would allow the park to be served from a 6-inch stub left on Forest Valley Drive.
Manager Smith and Engineer Thorn told the board the design authorization would be paid in part from county PFAS remediation dollars remaining after the Burger Plat water-main project. Manager Smith said the Rec Park was excluded from the original grant because serving the park requires a long 6-inch main and separate funding. "We are a matter of weeks away from effectively wrapping up the Burger Plat water main extension," Manager Smith said, noting more than 200 homes will connect to city water through that project and that remediation dollars remain for follow-up work.
The board and residents focused discussion on PFAS and irrigation. Engineer Thorn said the park has two drinking wells and one irrigation well; the irrigation well is substantially deeper. "If you can drill a well that tests clear, there is no PFAS contamination in the well, you could use that well even in the future for irrigation purposes," Manager Smith said, citing the Kent County Health Department's position. Several trustees and speakers asked for more research on exposure risk before making permanent operational choices. Trustee Rizzi urged building the new system so future conversion is possible while permitting continued irrigation from the existing well if testing allows.
Trustee Shipley moved and Trustee Rizzi seconded approval of design services to extend public water to Recreation Park. The motion passed by voice vote.
The board directed staff to proceed to engineering with options: a fully functional connection for drinking and irrigation and the ability to leave irrigation on the existing well if later deemed safe and cost-effective. Responses from the Kent County Health Department and specific testing plans for the park wells were described as topics for the engineering phase and future decision points.
Clarifying details discussed at the meeting include that Recreation Park currently uses two drinking wells and one irrigation well; the irrigation well was described as roughly 80–85 feet deeper than the drinking wells and was installed in 2016 with recent repairs; the extension would tie into a purposely left 6-inch stub on Forest Valley Drive; and county PFAS remediation funds — not township general tax dollars — were cited as the likely design-phase funding source.
Next steps for the project are engineering and testing during design; the board did not make a final decision about abandoning the irrigation well for irrigation use. Staff said the engineering work will identify whether continued irrigation from the existing well is feasible and safe, and the board reserved future decisions for later meetings.
