Michigan’s Other Water Crisis: PFAS’s Prevalence in Private Wells

Seeking peace and quiet amid hectic careers, Sandy Wynn-Stelt and her husband Joel moved to Kent County, Michigan, in 1992. They picked out a home surrounded by woods and across from a Christmas tree farm, which Wynn-Stelt said was “about as Michigan as you can get.”

She was working in the mental health field. He was a social worker investigating child abuse. Their peace in the idylls of rural Michigan lasted 25 years, but ended unexpectedly. In 2016, Joel developed liver cancer and died within three weeks of his diagnosis. The next year, the state’s environmental agency found extremely high levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, PFAS, in the home’s well water.