Please contact the Site Lead for the most up-to-date status of this site.
Damian Simonini, SimoniniD@Michigan.gov, 517-256-3951
Former Plainwell Mill Operable Unit 7 (OU7) is located near the intersection of West Allegan Street and North Main Street and is part of the Allied Paper, Inc/Portage Creek/Kalamazoo River Superfund Site. In the summer of 2024, groundwater sampling was conducted at the site by the potentially responsible party (PRP) after the soil remedy was completed, which identified PFAS in groundwater. The highest detections were 420 ppt PFOA (compared to 8 ppt) and 350 ppt PFOS (compared to 16 ppt) at monitor well MW-12S.
Groundwater elevation/flow data was not provided with the recent analytical summary report. Historic groundwater data suggests that groundwater flow in the shallow aquifer is generally to the north and west, parallel to the Kalamazoo River. The Kalamazoo River and mill race border the site to the north and east, respectively.
Content updated July 2025.
Municipal water is available in the area but there are several private drinking water wells that EGLE, DHHS, and local health identified for sampling. Letters were mailed to these residents requesting access to sample their drinking water. Nine homes were sampled, three of which were non-detect, three were above criteria, and three below current criteria.
At this time, the PRP has not performed an investigation to delineate the full nature and extent of contamination and determine the fate of contaminated groundwater that appears to be migrating off-site.
The PRP is planning to complete one additional round of groundwater sampling on-site.
