Former Meridian Road Landfill, Fortville, Indian

First stage of Remedial Investigation

In January 1990 Dames & Moore commenced investigating the site for AT&T/Lucent. The findings of the report were documented in a report entitled Remedial Investigation Report of Findings (RI) completed late in 1990. Twenty-one soil borings were taken in the eastern and western landfills to determine the nature and extent of contamination in the landfill. Six monitoring wells and seven piezometers were drilled to determine groundwater flow and contamination.

In November 1990, IDEM notified Lucent that the lateral and vertical extent of the landfill had not been established, so a field program was performed in 1991 by Dames & Moore to supplement the findings of the RI. Six additional piezometers, seventeen monitoring wells, Hydropunchâ sampling and geophysical surveys were performed in order to further describe groundwater flow and contamination at the landfill site. Two borings were made outside the landfill boundary to provide soil background levels while five landfill samples were obtained from locations previously bored in the 1990 RI. The results of the investigation were submitted to IDEM as a Supplemental Investigation, or SI, in May of 1992. Also in 1991 vinyl chloride was detected in a residential well at 80 West 1000 North. The well was subsequently replaced with a new well in an unaffected aquifer.

In 1993 vinyl chloride was detected in a well at 109 East 1000 North, which is northeast of the western landfill. That residence was supplied with bottled water until a new well was drilled. Two more monitoring wells and one piezometer were installed by Dames & Moore in 1993.

From 1993 to 1995 Dames & Moore obtained the necessary approvals to install a groundwater extraction and treatment system. In 1996 the system was installed and commenced operation. Water was pumped out of the ground from an extraction well, EW-2, where it was subsequently treated in an air stripper to remove volatile organic compounds (VOC). The treated water is discharged into Rash’s Ditch. Three more monitoring wells were installed in 1997 and an additional monitoring well was installed in 1998.

Groundwater samples and water level readings were taken annually from 1993 through 1998 in order to characterize groundwater quality and 10 residential wells of 54 in the vicinity of the landfill have been monitored quarterly since 1987 on a rotating basis.

Click here for Final Remedial Investigation

Click here for the complete overview in PDF format