Please note that we are continuing to build this page.
More FAQ information and citations coming soon.
We are asking you to join Wyandotte residents in petitioning Wyandotte City Council to request that the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) and Michigan Department of Engery, Great Lakes, and Environment (EGLE) share their assessment of the feasibility and associated costs of connecting Wyandotte to GLWA.
Click here to view and sign the Wyandotte GLWA Connection Project petition.
Click here to view/print our informational flier about this petition, share it with others!
Freqently Asked Questions:
1. Isn't the water safe right now?
There are limited water tests conducted 4x a year and they have all been “non-detect” which seems good, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. Only drinking water standard regulated chemicals are being tested for, while other chemicals known to be present are not being tested for, such as napthalene.
The tremendous volume of water the pollution is mixed within the Detroit River makes finding the chemicals in a small sample virtually impossible-- a true needle in the haystack.
We know that absence of evidence doesn’t equate to safety. The risk of contamination around the Wyandotte intake (the area designated as a Critical Assessment Zone (CAZ)) was determined to be “Significantly At Risk” according to the Wyandotte Source Water Report published in 2004 by the Federal and State Governments as part of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
2. Is BASF Wyandotte illegally polluting the Detroit River?
Yes. BASF Wyandotte is currently in violation of numerous State and Federal Environmental Laws, including Parts 31, 201 and 111 of PA451, as well as the Resource Conservation Recovery Act (RCRA). BASF is also currently in violation of 5 Court/Administrative Orders related to their groundwater contamination, outfall contamination into the Detroit River/Wyandotte Critical Assessment Zone (CAZ), as well as air quality violations.
3. What will it cost to connect Wyandotte to GLWA?
That answer will be addressed as part of a feasibility assessment. Wyandotte residents should ask Wyandotte City Council to request the feasibility assessment information from GLWA. Having this information is the only way residents can make an informed decision about the source of their drinking water.
4. 50 years of water quality experts voicing concern for human health?
Well, actually it's more like 80 years since this 1947 Detroit Free Press article about how BASF's pollution has an impact on Downriver's "health and welfare".
We say 50 years in reference to the State Orders to remediate the pollution, linked in question 5.
in 1980 a Michigan State toxicologist issued a statement of concern, requesting flow studies of BASF's groundwater as well as cancer screening for Wyandotte citizens. These requests were made based on the known contamination leaving the BASF site into the area of the Wyandotte intake.
USEPA had this to say about BASFs contamination and Wyandotte's Drinking Water. LINK
5. If the problem is so bad, why hasn't anything been done about it?
There are a lot of ways to answer that question.
The State of Michigan and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) combined have at least 4 Court/Administrative Orders with BASF to stop the release of the contaminated groundwater and outfall discharges going into the Detroit River. These orders are supposed to be the State pushing for change, but adequate enforcement of these orders has not come to fruition.
Here's a link to the 1980 order
Here's the 1985 order
The 1994 order is found here
And finally the 2026 order is here.
The State of Michigan nor the USEPA have enforced the orders against BASF to stop the pollution. Our lived reality is that BASF has been allowed to continue with their pollution without taking action to stop their pollution practices. BASF has steadily, for 50 years, developed plan after plan for how they'll stop the pollution in the future, all while continuing to pollute. Those future dates come and pass, and the pollution continues. 57 gallons per minute, 80,000 gallons per day, straight into the Critical Assessment Zone (CAZ) of the Wyandotte water intake.
Why has the state allowed BASF's inaction and continued pollution of Wyandotte's Critical Assessment Zone? The answer is unclear.
6. Why would BASF purposefully pollute our water?
It saves them money. That's it, that's the entire reason.
A hazardous waste expert provided a low end estimated cost of $10 per gallon to treat hazardous waste water in Michigan. EGLE estimates that BASF's contaminated groundwater flows at a rate of 57 gallons per minute into the Critical Assessment Zone (CAZ) of Wyandotte's water intake.
This means that BASF is saving approximately $295,000,000 each year by allowing the contaminated water to flow into the Detroit River instead of capturing and treating that water.
7. If these chemcals were ever in the tap water, wouldn't everyone be sick from it?
There are many factors that influece the development of environmentally-related conditions/diseases such as cancer, autoimmune disease, cardiovascular disease, asthma, type 1 diabetes, Parkinson's, poor fetal health, miscarriages, etc., source article.
A person likely won't develop a such a condition based on a single exposure to harmful chemicals. However there will be increased odds of developing disease with increased exposures and other complicating health factors. This concept of overlapping contributing factors has been illustrated by the "Swiss Cheese Model" of disease development, see Understanding the "Swiss Cheese Model".
Exposures to chemicals can activate gene mutations in certain people, while other people won't have that gene activation even with the same exposure. It is well known that the people most vulnerable to health risks associated with chemical exposures are children, pregnant women, elderly, and sick individuals.
People not experiencing health effects due to chemical exposures is not the same as those chemical exposures being harmless.
Additional Web recources can be found at: https://sites.google.com/view/foias-basf-dtr/home
8. Isn't BASF in the middle of designing a fix for all of this?
This current design plan to address the issues of pollution is at least the 5th design plan proposed by BASF to the State or EPA. BASF has been developing these design plans since 1980, all while still continuing to pollute the Wyandotte CAZ and all while still making billions of dollars in profit.
9. Didn't the State just sue a bunch of PFAS polluting sites?
Yes! And BASF wasn't one of them.
10. Wasn't there a State employee whistleblower who sounded the alarm about this?
Yes, there have actually been 3 State employee whistleblowers regarding the BASF Wyandotte pollution. A whistleblower is an insider, such as an employee or former worker, who reports illegal, unethical, or dangerous activities within a private or public organization. Whistleblowers are protected by Michigan's Act 469 for coming forth and exposing corruption or illegal activity.
Work in progress:
11. What is a Critical Assessment Zone (CAZ) of an Intake, such as in Wyandotte on the Detroit River?
A Critical Assessment Zone is a protected area in front of a Drinking Water Intake, where Residential Drinking Water Quality Criteria must be met prior to the raw water entering the intake pipe. This was mandated by the Amendments to the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act of 1986. Michigan began implemented its CAZ program for Great Lake Intakes around 2002, and Wyandottes Intake was delinated in a Federal Source Water Report in 2004. (LINK to 2004 Wyandotte Report).
In the Wyandotte 2004 Source Water Report, it was noted that contamination from local nearby sources were likely to reaching the Wyandotte intake, and that the intake as a whole was Highly Suseptable to pollution sources. In 2020, EGLE came out with its policy on Critical Assessment Zones, stating that no dilution or mixing of contaminants are allowed in CAZs, and that Residential Drinking Water Criteria must be met at all times. (LINK- WRD 053).
The City of Wyandotte, the State, and USEPA know that BASFs contaminated groundwater is entering the Wyandotte CAZ with over 30 individual contaminats over criteria, with 17 of these being carcinogens, and that this is a Felony. The State of Michigan has known this since July 1, 1977, per the State Attorney General.
(Picture - 1978 Free Press Article Frank Kelly)
12. How are the water tests not testing for the known chemicals that are being released into the Detroit River?
A. There is a difference in testing between Open water (such as in the CAZ) vs Treated water (at the tap) for
drinking water pollutants. BASF is releasing 82,000 gallons of Toxic Hazardous Waste per day directly into the OPEN WATER of the Critical Assessment Zone (per EGLE estimate). The Wyandotte Water Plant TREATS the contaminated water it takes in from the CAZ, first with chemicals to remove iron and calcium (hardness) and second with chlorine as a disinfectant (~2.0 mg/l total chloramine at the tap).
The addition of chemicals and disinfectants from the plant causes severe interference's with many of the open chemical monitoring methods used in the open water. That is why Tap water monitoring has fewer tests available than open water because of the chemicals and chlorine the water plant adds.
The chemicals and chlorine added by the Wyandotte Water Plant do not make the very high levels of BASF contaminants and carcinogens magically disappear, they just become untestable.
The City of Wyandotte, the State of Michigan, and USEPA chose to tell citizens that the limited results of Treated Water show that the water is fine. They chose NOT to tell the citizens of the BASF contamination and violations going into the Drinking Water CAZ and the Detroit River, as well as chose to not enforce the Court Orders requiring BASF to halt the contamination above the intake, for the past 40 years.
Is Wyandotte Water Safe? It depends on whether you choose to look at all the data and ask why there are BASF court orders in place to protect the Intake that are in violation, or only look at the limited monitoring results the City of Wyandotte provides for its citizens of the Treated Water.
Who do you Trust to tell you the Whole Truth?
The City of Wyandotte, the State, and USEPA are protecting BASFs ability to continue polluting, over Downriver citizens Drinking Water and Public Resource Protection.
The water in the Wyandotte CAZ must meet Drinking Water Criteria (Part 201, based on Rule 57 values) BEFORE it enters the Wyandotte Intake, and the State of Michigan, USEPA, and the City of Wyandotte know that BASFs groundwater discharge is violating those Drinking Water Quality Criteria in the Open Water of the Critical Assessment Zone.
13. The State of Michigan has flipped-flopped on whether the pollution from BASF Northworks reaches the Wyandotte intake, why? (Response in progress)
Initial grave concerns for the safety of the Wyandotte Drinking Water were made by the State of Michigan Attorney General Frank Kelly in 1978 (LINK to 1978 Article). In 1980, state officials called for new flow monitoring to be conducted to definatively determine if BASF Northworks discharge was affecting the Wyandotte Intake. (LINK - 1980 FINK).
The State was convinced that there was a great threat to the Wyandotte Intake, and thus directly entered Court Orders with BASF to " Stop the discharge of Toxic and Hazardous Substances" (LINK-1980 CD) and further, to "Halt the flow of contaminated groundwater to the Detroit River" (BASF Northworks and Southworks) by a deadline December 31, 1986. (LINK-1985 CD).
BASF signed on to both State Court orders and thus the flow studies were never conducted because BASF agreed to stop all discharges of pollution towards the Wyandotte Intake by the end of 1986.
State of Michigan Monitoring conducted by the EGLE Whistleblower in 2021-2022 showed that extreme contamination was still venting from BASF Northworks into the Critical Assessment Zone of the Wyandotte Intake at 57 gallons per minute. In 2022, knowing the level of contamination from BASF still discharging towards the Intake, EGLE made a determination using only calculations, that BASF Northworks discharge would likely not go over the intake. (LINK-Depetro evaluation). EGLE cautioned that this calculation determination lacked EPA methodology or uncertaty analysis, or even any actual modeling. Futhermore, its did not take into account whether the BASF venting was legal in terms of Court Order violations. It did not address whether there were exceedances of water quality standards Great Lakes water, or even take into account EGLEs own Critical Assessment Zone statutory protections (LINK WRD 053 CAZ Policy).
In August of 2023, EGLE staff, with the assistance of the Detroit Riverkeeper, conducted an actual field assessment of the flow lines eminating off BASF Northworks to answer definitively if the calculations from EGLE Depetro 2022 assessment were accurate. What the 2023 field study showed was that the EGLE calculations were wrong and that BASF Northworks venting groundwater did indeed go directly towards and over the Wyandotte Intake's exact location in the river. This was captured not only by GPS trackers, but by actual drone footage of the drogue buoys in real time as well as with thermal IR imagery.
LINK - GPS Tracker Lines off BASF
LINK - Flow Lines off BASF - Video
Based on actual field verification, it cannot be denied that BASF Northwork's groundwater, which is highly toxic and a hazardous waste, is venting at 82,000 gallons per day and flows directly towards the actual position of the Wyandotte Drinking Water Intake.
Notes still in Progress:
Environmental pollution and human effects are difficult to prove directly. That is why the State and USEPA have environmental numbers known as Criteria for all major pollutants found in Water that is protected for Drinking, such as the Great Lakes and the Detriot River.
These are known as Residential Drinking Criteria and are derived by studies of specific contaminants on laboratory animals and the cancer (Human Cancer Value) or illness (Non Cancer Value) found in lab animal tissues, or reproductive failures/deformaties in newborns fed these contaminant. The level of contaminants causing lab animal harm are proportionally extrapolated to criteria numbers that should not exceeded due to the great risk to Humans, both adult tissue, nursing mothers, and newborn exposure.
BASF pollution entering the Detroit River and flowing directly over the Wyandotte Drinking Water Intake has been shown to exceed Human Health Drinking Water criteria for 30 contaminant criteria, up to 1000 times the allowable limit, and 17 of these have been identified as known or probable carcinogens in the Critical Assessment Zone of the Wyandotte Intake, which is protected by law on paper. State and USEPA Court Orders have not enforced, thus the pollution continues.
2006 State data LINK
2012 BASF data LINK
2021 EGLE-WRD data review LINK
2021 Executive Memo and Contaminant MAP of INTAKE
2021-2022 BASF and STATE data tables
In 2018, USEPA gave BASF an ultimatum to come up with a Final Plan to implement within 90 days (LINK). This deadline came and went, and USEPA in 2026 has still not enforced the "Delay in Performance/Stipulated Penalties" Section from their Administrative Order with BASF that is 32 years old, (signed in 1994 (LINK).
In 2024, after 5 years of internal evidence gathering and freedom of information act disclosure, a State Employee filed a Whistleblower Criminal Complaint against the State for knowingly allowing FELONY exceedance and violations of State Environmental Law and Court Orders, as well for failing in the States duties to protect Human Health, the Environment, and the Public Trust. LINK
After the Whistleblower complaint, violation notices was issued to BASF in 2025 and 2026, but with no further enforcement or penalties for the years of pollution that still continue unabated
LINK 2025 State Violation Notice - groundwater
LINK 2026 State Violation Notice - NPDES outfall
and will continue to Poison the Critical Assessment Zone of the Wyandotte Intake for years to come under the current 2026 Planning efforts.