Grand Haven Public Schools | Robinson Elementary School PFAS Ion Exchange Treatment System

The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes & Energy (EGLE) sampled the school’s drinking water in 2018 and detected a total concentration of PFOA and PFOS of 110 ppt, which exceeded the 70 ppt USEPA drinking water health advisory level at that time. The school was immediately put on bottled water and Grand Haven Area Public Schools (GHAPS) began working to resolve the issue. 

The Fishbeck PFAS team was retained by GHAPS to assist on selecting the best available treatment for their facility. The most effective treatment was selected, an ion exchange system (IX) specific for treating PFAS. GHAPS, EGLE, Ottawa County, and Fishbeck worked together to develop the plan that was approved in October 2019. The system was installed and went through a demonstration period of 12 months. On January 2021, the Ottawa County health Department issued a letter that GHAPS was allowed to use the treated water for human consumption. To date, IX continues to be effective. Since the installation of the PFAS control system, the analytical testing continues to come back non-detect  (<2 ppt) for all tested PFAS materials, complying with current EPA drinking water criteria.