The Wickes TCE plume is still spreading — and it's now two to three years from the Shanty Creek headwaters
By Brad De Young | Michigan Watershed Watch
More than half a century after an industrial solvent was dumped on the ground near Mancelona, the pollution it left behind has not stayed put. It is still moving beneath Antrim County — and another residential area now sits in its path.
The underground plume of trichloroethylene (TCE) tied to the former Wickes Manufacturing operation now stretches roughly 6.7 miles and reaches up to 1.5 miles wide. Over its history, TCE has affected more than 500 shallow residential drinking-water wells.
At a September 16 public meeting at Shanty Creek, about 100 residents heard an update from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) and the Health Department of Northwest Michigan. The headline: the plume is expected to reach the Shanty Creek headwaters in roughly two to three years.
How It Started
From 1947 through 1967, Mount Clemens Industries — later Wickes Manufacturing — used TCE as a degreasing solvent in its Mancelona auto-parts plant. According to EGLE, TCE-laden waste was discarded on the ground and in lagoons, where it seeped through the soil and into groundwater.
TCE is a known human carcinogen. Long-term exposure can harm the liver, kidneys, immune system and central nervous system. The state identifies drinking contaminated groundwater and breathing TCE vapors as the main exposure risks at the Wickes site.
The factory is long gone. The contamination is not.
One of Michigan's Largest Groundwater Problems
EGLE's August 2026 fact sheet lays out the scale:
- Length: about 6.7 miles
- Width: up to 1.5 miles
- Depth: TCE detected approaching 500 feet in places
- Volume: more than 13 trillion gallons of contaminated groundwater
- Wells affected: more than 500 shallow residential wells
Groundwater here generally flows west and northwest from Mancelona toward lower ground, including the Cedar River and the Shanty Creek headwaters. EGLE calls the portion heading toward Shanty Creek the West Lobe. In the shallow zone, TCE is moving an estimated 325 to 400 feet per year.
Protecting People, One Property at a Time
The Health Department of Northwest Michigan works with EGLE to sample residential wells near the plume. When TCE turns up, the response is immediate: the home goes on bottled water, the well is abandoned, and the property is connected to public water where it's available.
That process has been repeated many times. EGLE reports spending more than $32 million over the past two decades on monitoring, mapping, water infrastructure and hookups.
Which raises a hard question: how long can a community keep responding to a moving plume one well at a time?
Monitoring Isn't Removal
This is the key distinction. Michigan is tracking the contamination, supplying safe water and extending water mains — but the TCE itself remains in the aquifer.
The state has studied active cleanup, including pump-and-treat systems and chemical and biological treatment. Estimated costs range from $22 million to $99 million. None of the options studied guarantees complete cleanup, and all would require decades of operation and maintenance.
For now, EGLE considers public water the safest, most practical way to prevent exposure. In plain terms, the strategy isn't to remove the pollution — it's to keep people from drinking it.
What It Means for Shanty Creek
Reaching the creek is a major monitoring milestone, but it doesn't mean Shanty Creek is expected to become unsafe for recreation.
EGLE predicts TCE concentrations reaching the creek will be below levels considered protective of the environment, and TCE readily evaporates once it reaches surface water. According to reporting from the September meeting, TCE has not been detected in Shanty Creek itself.
The real concern is the groundwater below — and the wells that draw from it.
The Well First Policy
The Health Department of Northwest Michigan created its Well First Policy in 2005 to keep the plume from contaminating a new generation of wells. It has been expanded as the plume moved; the latest expansion was approved in May 2026 and took effect June 1.
- Where public water is available: new drinking wells are prohibited, and properties must connect to the public system.
- Where it isn't: new wells must meet specific construction requirements and pass lab testing for volatile organic compounds, including TCE, before going into service.
The policy reflects the core lesson of Wickes: groundwater that is clean today can't be assumed to stay clean.
Two Decades of Data
EGLE has installed 143 permanent monitoring wells between the former Wickes site and Shanty Creek. Since 2004, crews have collected and analyzed more than 2,000 groundwater samples, plus hundreds of depth-specific samples.
That work has produced a detailed picture — and a sobering one. The contamination behaves much like groundwater itself, drifting steadily toward lower elevations. It has effectively become part of the groundwater system.
What Comes Next
State officials say they're working to stay ahead of the plume by:
- Expanding municipal water service
- Monitoring vulnerable residential wells
- Installing additional "early warning" monitoring wells along the West Lobe
- Conducting a hydrologic study of how much groundwater discharges into Shanty Creek
The playbook is simple: find the contamination before it reaches a well, test, supply bottled water if needed, abandon the well, connect the home — then move farther down the plume and repeat. That protects families. It doesn't erase what's beneath them.
The Question Michigan Can't Avoid
The Wickes plume shows how pollution can outlive the companies and people who caused it. Taxpayers and public agencies are still paying to monitor it, test wells, deliver bottled water and build infrastructure. Families in its path are left with a problem they didn't create and can't see — no warning sign, no fence, no smell. Just clear water from a working well, and a plume moving hundreds of feet below.
Managing exposure has protected drinking water and kept many residents from consuming TCE. But as the plume heads for Shanty Creek, the bigger question gets harder to ignore: at what point does managing the contamination cost more — environmentally, financially and socially — than aggressively working to remove it?
The state's concerns about cost, time and uncertain results are legitimate. But every year the plume moves, the map changes. Another property enters the monitoring zone. Another well needs testing. Another family may end up on bottled water.
For residents living above the plume, the clock is already running. And underground, the water keeps moving.
Paddle Michigan's Rivers — and Help Keep an Eye on Them
The people who spend the most time on Michigan's rivers are often the first to notice when something changes. If you care about clean water and love getting out on it, join the West Michigan Kayaking Club — a free, Grand Rapids–based paddling community exploring rivers across the Lower and Upper Peninsulas, from beginner paddles to multi-day kayak camping trips.
Wild Rivers. Rugged Trails. Real Adventure.
- Website: westmichigankayakingclub.online
- Facebook group: West Michigan Kayaking Club on Facebook
Brad De Young | Michigan Watershed Watch
Sources and Further Reading
- Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy — Wickes Manufacturing TCE Plume Fact Sheet, August 2026 (Michigan.gov)
- Health Department of Northwest Michigan — Wickes Manufacturing TCE Plume information
- Interlochen Public Radio — September 21, 2026 report on the continuing expansion of the Wickes plume
- The Antrim Review — October 1, 2026 report on the projected two-to-three-year timeline for reaching Shanty Creek
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