The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)  is holding a public information meeting on Thursday, August 24 at 7 pm at the Chester Municipal building, 1 Parker Road, Chester, NJ. 

They will share the latest information about the Combe Fill South Superfund Site located in Chester and Washington Townships.

The EPA has set up equipment and trailers at the Combe Fill South Superfund site, located in Chester and Washington Townships, this past spring to prepare for field work scheduled to begin this summer. EPA will build a new groundwater treatment plant and install new wells to extract contaminated groundwater.

In 2018, EPA chose a cleanup plan to address 1,4-dioxane and to enhance treatment of contamination at the site. EPA’s cleanup plan includes building a new groundwater treatment system to include treatment for 1,4-dioxane and to extract contamination from deeper groundwater wells. Demolition activities are scheduled to begin this summer and some site workers may be dressed in protective clothing to keep contaminated soil off their clothes and may wear dust masks during the work at the site, but this does not indicate a risk to the surrounding residents. The work is expected to be completed by fall 2024.

 

Noise Impacts: Residents living near the work area may hear noise or feel vibrations that are similar to those felt or heard during other construction projects, such as road work.
Traffic Impacts: EPA and its contractors are working closely with the townships of Chester and Washington to coordinate traffic control and answer questions about the cleanup activities. When the work begins, residents may also experience increased traffic in surrounding roadways.
Air Monitoring: EPA will monitor the air during the building demolition and other cleanup activities to ensure the site workers and the community are protected from any resulting dust.
Site Background
The Combe Fill South Landfill site is located in Chester and Washington Townships, Morris County, Jersey. This inactive municipal landfill is located off Parker Road about two miles southwest of the Borough of Chester. The site has three separate fill areas covering about 65 acres of the 115-acre parcel that was owned by the Combe Fill Corporation (CFC). The area surrounding the site is semi-rural. Trout Brook is used for fishing and recreational activities. Approximately 170 people live within half mile of the landfill. Most of the residents use private wells as their source of drinking water. Vegetable and grain crops, orchards, and horse farms are located near the site.

The site operated as a municipal landfill from the 1940s until 1981 and was licensed to accept domestic and non-hazardous industrial wastes, sewage sludge, septic tank wastes, chemicals, and waste oils. In 1978, CFC bought the landfill and started accepting pharmaceutical waste and organic waste drums, cleared forested wetlands for additional landfill space and allowed exposed waste to enter bedrock fractures, thereby contaminating the groundwater. CFC went bankrupt in 1981, before the landfill was properly closed. In September 1981, NJDEP issued an order to stop landfilling due to groundwater contamination and began site investigations in 1983. EPA placed the site on the National Priorities List in 1983.

EPA and NJDEP took steps to address the contamination in 1986 by providing an alternate water supply system for affected residents, covering the landfill to prevent rain from coming into contact with the waste, treating the groundwater, collecting landfill gas and leachate, and controlling stormwater runoff. EPA finished constructing the landfill cap and groundwater extraction and treatment system in 1997 and the system has been operational since. In April 2006, EPA updated that cleanup plan to change the gas venting system from actively pumping out the gas from the landfill to letting it vent on its own. EPA will not actively pump out the gas because gas production in a landfill decreases after a certain amount of time thereby reducing pressure.

EPA routinely samples the landfill and in 2009 1,4-dioxane was detected in groundwater located under nearby properties. EPA further investigated the deep bedrock aquifer beneath the landfill and areas outside the landfill property boundary and installed a waterline to residential properties affected or threatened by site-related groundwater contamination in 2015.
EPA Contact Information
Pamela J. Baxter, Ph.D., PMP, CHMM
Remedial Project Manager
(212) 637- 4416
baxter.pamela@epa.gov

Pat Seppi
Community Involvement Coordinator
(646) 369-0068
seppi.pat@epa.gov