Hawkins and her husband bought this house in the northern Michigan resort area of Shanty Creek back in 2004.
The contamination has expanded more than a mile towards Hawkins’ community since 2005, the year after she purchased her home.
Janice Adams is a senior geologist with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
He says this policy requires homebuilders to hook up to public water if it’s available, or test new wells for TCE before they can get a permit.
In total, the DEQ has poured $27 million into monitoring, mapping, and extending municipal water to homes affected by the plume.
In 2015, the state and Antrim County partnered to fund extra infrastructure that will supply clean water if this field becomes contaminated.
Janice Adams says it could be absorbed into Mancelona’s system, or hook up to the next town over, Bellaire.
“Well, it’s nice the DEQ is going to pay for getting me hooked up to public water, but what if somebody says ‘oh, we’re not going to fund that anymore’?
You know, and with the state of the government at this point, it’s just not very comforting to me to accept that assurance.” State officials say it would cost too much to clean up the contamination.
So, they say they’re just going to keep connecting homes to municipal water as the plume moves.