MERIDIAN ROAD LANDFILL

SITE LOCATION

Fortville, Indiana; northeast of Indianapolis

SITE DESCRIPTION (as of dates of TOSC assistance)

The Meridian Road Landfill sits on approximately five acres west of Meridian Road and a 0.33-acre section east of Meridian Road in Fortville, Indiana. The landfill sits on sites that, prior to 1952, were excavated for sand and gravel. From 1952-1965, unregulated dumping and trash burning occurred at the western site. The western gravel pit was operated as a landfill pursuant to permits issued by Hancock County, Indiana from 1965 to 1969, when it received residential, commercial and industrial waste. The owners of the eastern site had landfill materials placed in the gravel pit in order to fill the depression. Both sites have been inactive since 1969. The landfill was backfilled and covered with soil when it was closed in 1969.

Sampling performed at both landfills has determined that site soils and/or groundwater are contaminated with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as TCE, cis-DCE and vinyl chloride, semivolatile organic compounds (SVOCs), PCBs and with metals such as lead. Several local homeowners have had new wells drilled in a deeper aquifer due to VOC contamination of well water. Presently a pump is extracting contaminated groundwater from the site and treating the groundwater by air stripping. The treated water is then discharged into Rash’s Ditch.

ORGANIZATION REQUESTING TOSC ASSISTANCE

Meridian United Citizens

BEGINNING DATE OF TOSC ASSISTANCE

March 1998

ENDING DATE OF TOSC ASSISTANCE

November 2000

INFORMATION CONTACT

Kirk Riley
TOSC Program Manager
Tel: (517) 355-7493
Fax: (517) 432-1550
E-mail: rileyki@egr.msu.edu

SUMMARY OF TOSC ASSISTANCE

The MSU TOSC Program held a series of workshops focusing on the investigation of the Meridian Road Landfill and the risk assessment that was conducted prior to cleanup decision making. Following a needs assessment, TOSC provided fact sheets to address citizen concerns and conducted an independent review of the Dames and Moore investigation of the site. TOSC also provided a set of comments to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management and community members on the risk assessment. Visit this link for those comments. The main TOSC website for the project is http://www.tosc.msu.edu/meridian.