The current plan calls for the enhancement of a cap over the landfill as well as treating groundwater at the site and installing vapor depressurization systems to prevent contaminated vapors from migrating into surrounding buildings.
In addition, the EPA would restrict land use regarding the site as well as limit exposure to waste and ensure people are not drinking contaminated water.
The 22-acre former sold waste landfill at 715 North Dayton-Lakeview Road was added to the Superfund National Priorities list in 2009. That decision made it eligible for long-term clean-up paid for by the federal Superfund program.
That location near New Carlisle served as a general solid waste landfill site for about two decades and was officially closed in 1977.
Before that it received industrial, commercial and residential wastes, according to a report from the EPA. Since then, it has remained unused and undeveloped and is currently covered with a vegetated clay cover, the report stated.
“No waste or contamination has been found at the surface of the landfill parcel, but additions to the cover are necessary to meet current Federal and State requirements,” the report said.
The agency also found that houses which previously used wells that were affected by contaminated groundwater from the landfill site have been connected to municipal water sources.
The agency previously reported that groundwater sampling detected contaminants called volatile organic compounds in groundwater south of the landfill.
Groundwater flows in a southerly direction in the region and New Carlisle’s public water supply production wells located northeast of the site have not been impacted by site conditions, according to the EPA.
In 2005, the EPA completed an emergency cleanup to provide alternate potable water to a nearby nursery as well as to residences with affected private wells.
Other residential and business wells in the area that have been sampled during Ohio EPA investigations were found not to have site contaminants above drinking water standards, according to information provided by the EPA.
A remedial investigation to determine the nature and extent of contamination at the site was completed in 2017 and a feasibility study regarding cleanup options was completed in 2019.
The current cleanup plan calls for enhancing the cover over the landfill as well as installing vents to allow for landfill gas to be released passively.
It also includes taking action to break down contaminates in on-site ground water. There are also plans to install systems in buildings to actively prevent the potential migration of contaminated vapors.
For more information or to submit a comment regarding the cleanup plan, visit the EPA’s website pertaining to the Clark County landfill at epa.gov/superfund/new-carlisle-landfill or call 312-353-6646.
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