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Considerations for home buyers

Drop of water

Contents

  1. Regulations governing waste disposal sites and ground water in Virginia
  2. Actions required once ground water impact has been identified at solid waste sites
  3. Private well testing options
  4. Resource links

Waste Disposal Areas and their impact on ground water quality

Questions and Data sources for the home owner

If your family gets drinking water from a well, do you know if the water is safe to drink? What health risks could you and your family face? Where can you go for help or advice in answering ground water quality questions? This document addresses the common questions home owners may have regarding sites upon which waste materials have been historically disposed of and which have been found to have, or pose a potential risk to impact the quality of the ground water aquifer.

Historical waste disposal practices, undertaken at a time of minimal regulatory oversight have led to health and environmental concerns as residential and commercial development expands into formerly remote rural areas. Some former landfill or dump sites have contaminated ground water and the quality of well water. Other sites have partially exposed waste representing a physical or chemical hazard; or they have fire hazards resulting from potentially explosive landfill gas.

In the case of drinking water impact, many old landfill and dump sites were built without liners to prevent ground water contamination and migration. When the dumps were full, they were typically covered with a layer of topsoil and seeded with grass. Without a low permeability final cover, rainwater and precipitation seep into the waste and carry chemicals to the ground water aquifer below the landfill. Because some old landfill and dump sites used ravines or wetland areas for disposal sites, the wastes can be in direct contact with the ground water table thereby increasing the likelihood of aquifer contamination.

The chemicals contaminating ground water may vary at old landfill sites, but commonly include one or more chlorinated solvents used as cleaning agents in industrial or manufacturing processes. Some of these solvents can pose a cancer risk at certain exposure levels. When these chemicals reach private drinking water wells, levels may exceed Federal Maximum Contaminant Limits (MCLs) and therefore be of concern to human health.

The risk of well contamination rises if people build homes near former disposal areas. The closer and shallower a residential well is to an old disposal area, the greater the risk of contamination is. Wells located on property adjacent to, and downgradient of an old landfill are at the highest risk of potential impact.

To protect your health, you should know the depth of your well, when the well was installed, how it was constructed, and what its rated yield (in gallons per minute) is. This information can help you judge the risk any nearby disposal areas may present to your water quality.

A) Regulations governing waste disposal sites and ground water in Virginia

A.1. When did Virginia first regulate waste disposal sites?

Prior to April of 1971 Virginia had no ‘statewide’ regulation governing solid waste disposal. On April 1, 1971, the Department of Health adopted minimal regulations which governed the siting, operation and closure of landfills. These regulations were substantially revised on December 21, 1988 when the Department of Waste Management issued it’s Solid Waste Management Regulations.

A.2. When did Virginia first require landfills to monitor ground water quality?

Prior to the enactment of the Department of Waste Management regulations, landfills were not required to monitor their impact on ground water quality. The December 21, 1988 regulations required all landfills operating without monitoring to have ground water wells installed no later than July 1, 1991. However, landfills which had ceased accepting waste materials prior to December 21, 1988 did not have to install ground water monitoring wells or investigate their impact on ground water quality.

A.3. How many landfill sites lack any form of ground water monitoring?

There are approximately 330 permitted landfills in Virginia, which based on the date they last received waste, do not have to monitor their ground water quality. The Department does not have a full listing of other landfills which may have operated without a valid Permit and which also do not monitor ground water.

A.4. Would ground water monitoring ever be required at landfill sites currently lacking ground water wells?

Monitoring can be required if a landfill site/unit can be classified as an “open dump”. The solid waste regulations contain the criteria used in determining whether an old landfill meets the definition of being an open dump, and lists the requirements for the investigation and remediation of any contamination leaking from the open dump.

A.5. How do I find out the locations of these Permitted landfill sites which do not undertake any form of ground water monitoring?

The Department’s Waste Division maintains a listing of the 330 permitted landfills which based on the date they last received waste, do not currently monitor their ground water quality.

A.6. How do I find out the locations of un-Permitted landfill sites which do not undertake any form of ground water monitoring?

The Department’s Waste Division maintains a listing of the known, unpermitted landfills or dumpsites which do not monitor their ground water quality. The listing has been derived from a number of separate sources, and is updated as needed.

A.7. Are there any other ways to locate old landfills?

In addition to DEQ sources, soil surveys produced by the USDA Soil Conservation Service often designate areas used formerly for waste disposal. Contact your local USDA Office for more assistance. Geologic quadrangle maps produced by the US Geological Survey often note areas of “fill” which may include landfill sites. To find out if a geological quadrangle map is available for your area, visit the USGS Website at www.usgs.gov.

Local Government offices which deal with solid waste issues may have a listing of former landfill sites. A regulatory requirement under 9 VAC 20-130-120.D regarding the development of Solid Waste Management Plans requires all solid waste planning districts document and record all known solid waste disposal sites (closed, inactive and active) at a centralized archive authorized to receive and record the information. Lastly, archived newspaper stories may contain environmental health stories related to old dump sites.

B) Actions required once ground water impact has been identified at solid waste sites

B.1. How does a landfill determine if it has impacted ground water quality?

The landfill must undertake routine ground water sampling and those analytical results are compared to site background data. If the data comparison indicates impact to ground water quality in wells downgradient of the disposal area(s) which is above site background levels, the facility must establish ground water protection levels (using Federal Safe Drinking Water Act Maximum Contaminant Limits (MCLs) and risk-based levels).

B.2. How does the DEQ decide if remediation is required to clean-up ground water impact at a landfill?

If data comparison indicates impact to ground water quality in wells downgradient of the disposal area(s) above ground water protection standards (i.e. MCLs), the facility must enter the ground water corrective action program to fully delineate the extent of their ground water plume and clean ground water to meet Federal Safe Drinking Water Act MCLs.

B.3. What protections are there in the waste regulations regarding impacts to private drinking water wells from leaking landfills?

The landfill owner is required by regulation to notify all persons who own land under which the plume of contamination is migrating. The landfill owner is also required under regulation to take any interim measures as may be needed to remove any present or potential risk to human health such as that in the case of drinking contaminated water from a private well. Interim measures may include carbon filtration systems, bottled water, or municipal water supply hook-up.

B.4. Do citizens have a role to play in determining the type of ground water clean-up implemented?

Yes, by regulation, the landfill owner is responsible for holding a public hearing to discuss the ground water clean-up options prior to making a final remedy selection. The regulations also require the Department to hold a public hearing prior to the landfill beginning its ground water clean-up program.

B.5. How do I find out where these Permitted landfill sites are located which are in the Corrective Action process for ground water remediation?

The Department’s Waste Division maintains a listing of the permitted landfills which based on an exceedance of one or more ground water protection standard, are in the Corrective Action program.

C) Private well testing options

C.1. If I think my well is contaminated, who pays to have the water quality tested?

In most instances, it is up to the home owner to pay for having a drinking water well sampled for analysis. In some cases, the County Health Department, the USEPA, the US Geological Survey, or the Department may pay for well sampling costs if such efforts are part of larger ‘on-going’ aquifer studies or contamination investigations. In cases such as these, the home owner will be contacted for permission to sample the well.

C.2. If I have to undertake sampling on my own, is there a listing of laboratories that can provide analysis of drinking water wells?

Yes. The Office of Drinking Water provides a listing of laboratories that are certified to conduct testing for the public water supply system. The listing may be found at www.vdh.state.va.us/dw/private_lab.asp. It is suggested that these same laboratories be used for the testing of private wells also.

C.3. What ground water constituents should be tested for?

The most common constituents of concern are those called volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Any laboratory providing analysis of a private drinking water well sample should be asked to provide a scan for the Virginia Solid Waste Table 5.5 organics, or the EPA 8260 constituent list. The results should be reported in the form of “milligrams per Liter” in order to compare them to Federal MCLs.

C.4. Why aren’t metals on that listing?

While metals can be part of landfill leachate, their properties make them far less mobile in ground water than VOC’s. Additionally, a well cased in a bedrock aquifer will yield certain metals naturally derived from bedrock. It’s hard to differentiate between metals derived from bedrock and those which may come from landfill waste.

C.5. What do I compare my well test results against?

The analytical results should be compared against the USEPA’s most recent listing of Federal MCLs. The listing may be found at www.epa.gov/safewater/mcl.html.

C.6. Where can health information on ground water constituents be found?

Information can be found in the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry website www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofile by searching under the chemical’s name.

Resource links

If you would like more information about how waste disposal sites impact your quality of life and environment, we suggest these links:

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