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MANCELONA- Representatives from the DEQ met last Wednesday, Dec. 19 to update the public on the most recent research and activity regarding one of the largest TCE Plumes in the U.S., located right here in Antrim County.

Members of the public and ACUTE, Antrim County United Through Ecology, learned last week that groundwater contaminated with TCE could move downward into the well field at Cedar River, and that total remediation of the massive plume is not financially viable.

The DEQ has performed extensive studies on the plume and poured in $17.8 million to date, installing and monitoring wells, testing the leakiness of underground sediment and clay, and providing clean drinking water to those affected.

But, all the research and testing shows that getting rid of the contaminated groundwater, possibly more than 10 trillion gallons, is not feasible.

"The current magnitude of the plume makes any complete remediation financially impossible," said Steve Murray of MACTEC Consulting, the group performing a feasibility study for this project.

The plume is a result of the improper disposal of Trichloroethylene, or TCE, used as a cleaning solvent for heavy machinery and often a vapor degreaser for automotive manufacturing, at the former Wickes Manufacturing in Mancelona. Contaminated groundwater has been slowly migrating from Mancelona northwest to the Cedar River/Schuss Mountain area for the last 50 to 60 years and now covers more than 5,100 acres.

The reason the plume is one of the largest in the country is partially due to the make up of the ground itself in this area, according to Robert Wagner, supervisor of the remediation and redevelopment division of the DEQ. There is a lot of sand and gravel and very few organic materials that could potentially break down the chemical. Additionally, Wagner said TCE is a very stable manmade chemical and "it's not something the natural world is used to breaking down."

Some of the contaminated water ranges from 10 to 100 parts per billion (ppb) of TCE, and the state of Michigan requires less than 5 ppb for safe drinking water, so the DEQ has been providing homeowners with bottled water since 1999 and MAWSA is extending it's water system to much of the affected areas by installing around 25,000 feet of new water mains Joe Elliott, of Gourdie Frasier, the engineers for the project, said at the meeting that people should expect it to be complete by next spring if all goes well.

"From a public health perspective we provide funding for the local health department to collect water samples from residential wells so that we know that they're safe," Wagner said. " Through that monitoring program we've found instances where concentrations have arrived and we first provide bottled water and follow up with connection to the municipal water system."

Another new development announced at the meeting is an additional contamination site that officials are currently investigating. The site in question, which could explain the great width of the plume, is located in northwest Mancelona.

The DEQ does not yet have permission to test directly on the site yet. "If we need to gain access, we have the ability to gain access," Wagner said. "But we want to have information to support the need to go on private property."

The largest risk right now is the Cedar River Well Field, which consists of four community water-supply wells, located at the closest point 4,300 feet from the leading edge of the plume. A survey taken by MACTEC showed thinning of some underground layers in valley-like patterns, which could offer an easier path for TCE migration.

"There is potential that the contamination could go down into the Cedar River aquifer or it could pass over it," Murray said. "We don't have enough information to answer that with surety at this time."

Though it is hard to estimate how quickly the groundwater moves, depending on topography, permeability of underground layers and other factors, Murray believes that with TCE detected above the Cedar River wells, risk of contamination is "still a long ways off timewise."

But Steve Grill, property owner in the Cedar River area and leader of the President's Council at Shanty Creek, doesn't feel like the possibility of contaminated water is that far off. He said how quickly it moves depends on a lot of things and that theoretically, he thought contamination could occur within a month's time.

"I want to bring it to the attention of people here that it's easy to say it (TCE) is 12,000 feet away from the well field," Grill said. "We as a group need to know it could be a month down the road. Likely? No, but possible. I want to take a realistic look at this."

Murray assured the group that many wells are in place and new ones being put in to watch and track and provide information on the water quality, and said that places where the clay layers are thinner are being monitored closely.

"Del Mason (Road) is kind of our fenceline network," he said. "We believe it will be detected there before it will be closer to the well field."

According to Murray, MACTEC and the DEQ are evaluating three approaches in monitoring the plume and protecting public health and safety, including withdrawing contaminated groundwater, containing or diverting the plume through extraction and injection and monitoring plume migration, replacing water-supply wells in the projected path of the plume and expanding groundwater-use restrictions.

With the DEQ and EPA monitoring the situation, the meeting last week was the last for ACUTE, a consensus-driven non-profit coalition of 18 local organizations.

"Over the years, ACUTE has put forward a lot of pretty vital questions," Chairperson Gary Knapp said. "We were hoping there'd be a remediation solution. We looked at nano-technology, but remediation of a plume this size with this type of topography is not financially or technologically feasible."

Hadley Robinson can be reached at hrobinson@michigannewspapers.com or by calling 231-533-8523.