“Living here in this pristine nature area was like being up north every day. The lake, wildlife and plants are beyond beautiful every season of the year. PURE MICHIGAN.

I moved out to the country to hear the birds and be in quiet. Instead, now I hear the mine hammering away at the earth and their trucks beeping and making their way through the mine before the sound ordinance allows at 6:45 every morning-six days a week.

It’s like having a highway in my backyard. And to top it off, there is sediment and a bright green substance flowing from the mine into the lake and creek at times. This unknown sediment and green substance eventually flows its way to Lake Huron and this is beyond heartbreaking. This is not PURE MICHIGAN.”

— Sarah, 7 year resident

“For 26 years, while the Vella Pit was under its previous owners, we had no problems with our well water supply. This summer our 80' well, with the pump at 63 feet went dry and the pump burned out. We were just returning from vacation on July 7th when this happened.

We called Cribley Drilling, assuming it was a problem with the pump. We were shocked when they told us that our well was dry. They said it had dropped rather quickly in the last few weeks, as the water line was still visible on the well pipe.

They dropped the new pump to near 80', and said that it just remained to be seen how long we would have water with this well, and that it could not be made deeper. If it went dry again, we would have to dig another well. This is a significant problem as it is right now, and it may only get worse if nothing is done. ”

— Robin & Steve, 28 year residents

“On January 28, 2023 our well went dry. Cribley Well Drillers were able to lower our well pump 10’ and the well was functioning again.

On April 7, 2023 our well went dry again requiring drilling a new well with a pump at a lower level. The water table at our well located 1.3 miles west south-west of the quarry dropped 10’ in approximately 10 weeks; a drop in the water table of ~1 foot per week.

We don’t feel our well going dry is a ‘by chance’ occurrence since our neighbor’s well went dry in early July, 2023. The over 10’ drop in the water table at our well is consistent with our neighbor’s well which showed an observable drop in the water table of 17’. This drop occurred during Vella Pit current water draw from our diminishing aquifer at 2 million gallons per day.

We spent 8 days without water due to the dry well. One never realizes how important precious water is to living in Ann Arbor Township until the source of the water supply is taken away from you and you can’t run water for drinking, showering or flushing toilets.”

— Katie & Howard, 35 year residents

“We have lived on Earhart Road for 30 years. We were attracted to the acres of wilderness and privacy just a bike ride away from downtown. We raised two kids and countless farm critters in this idyllic space.

We knew Washtenaw Sand & Gravel was a mile down the road when we moved here. It felt like a mom-and-pop establishment. Neighbors would get an occasional load of sand or gravel for a project. Landscape trucks were our greatest inconvenience. Once Mid Michigan Materials purchased WS&G, the trucks were constant. Double train semis banging and clanging loudly, empty, going north; then thumping and resonating in the bass frequency, full, heading south. Dust from this traffic wafts through the woods, coating everything and seeping into our house.

And now, the dewatering activity at the MMM pit is severely affecting our daily lives. Eleven wells have gone dry in our area in the last 6 months. Our well’s static water level has dropped 16.5 feet. The anxiety of waiting for what feels like the inevitable dry well is palpable among neighbors! We cherish our untreated, mineral rich well water. The idea of a new deeper well with potential arsenic that requires lifelong filtering is distressing. Our animals would be exposed to untreated, unhealthy water. We would no longer want to eat our organically raised chicken eggs or the vegetables from our large organic garden.”

— Hollis & Tom, 30 year residents

“Three years ago, we bought our home and property right before Washtenaw Sand & Gravel was sold to Mid Michigan Materials (MMM). We left our home of 20 years in the city of Ann Arbor for a chance to live closer to nature, to savor the peace of this area and to be good stewards of our land and natural resources. We thoroughly researched the neighborhood and the Ann Arbor Township Master Plan; we were impressed and encouraged by the township’s commitment to preserving the rural peaceful nature of the area and trusted it would remain so; moving here was a dream come true for us.

Shortly after MMM bought the pit and was granted their conditional use permit (CUP) by the township, our peaceful neighborhood began to rapidly change. The double train gravel trucks are near constant most days the pit is open for business. The trucks are so loud and disruptive that we cannot sleep past 6:45 AM on the days the pit is open - 6 days per week.

Early on in the CUP process, home/property owners were reassured that our wells and ponds would NOT be impacted by the expansion of the gravel pit. Yet here we are three years later with dry wells and drastic drops in static water levels. It’s been incredibly stressful and disruptive to our lives to anticipate what inevitably happened; we had to have our well replaced. And it’s been heartbreaking and maddening to know that MMM has been allowed to deplete the natural resources on our property and the properties of our neighbors and friends. We never could have imagined having to fight to have access to clean and healthy water in our own home and on our own property. ”

— Susan & Kay, 3 year residents

“We love the peaceful slice of nature and the kind people in the community. After purchasing our lot in 2020 we have been slowly working to clear out invasive species, create hiking trails, maintain our trees and help bring back native species.

Wells on our property have dropped 23 feet and we fear for the worse as the consequences of rapid dewatering and increased pollution in the area could be dire to the fragile ecosystem.”

— Michael & Sandra, 3 year land owners