US EPA returns to Lake Township third summer in a row to monitor chemical from old landfill

LAKE TWP − The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said its contractors will be using large drilling equipment to sample groundwater for signs of a chemical known as 1, 4-dioxane near the Industrial Excess Landfill Superfund site.

The U.S. EPA said it sent postcards this week to about 600 residents who live around the closed 30-acre landfill, which is on Cleveland Avenue NW south of Edison Street NW, or state Route 619. According to the U.S. EPA's profile of the Superfund site, the landfill operated from 1966 to 1980 and accepted industrial waste from the tire industry in Akron for decades.

Three years of monitoring

The U.S. EPA began sampling water in the area for 1, 4-dioxane in 2022.

According to the National Library of Medicine , 1,4 dioxane in large amounts can cause liver and kidney damage as well as death. In small amounts over a prolonged period of time, the chemical is considered a probable carcinogen.

The agency said it found 1, 4-dioxane in 35 residential and irrigation wells. That prompted the EPA to arrange for 39 homes in the affected area to switch from using their own wells to using municipal water.

The EPA said the work, which starts Monday and will continue until September, is meant to find out how far the 1, 4-dioxane has migrated from the landfill site the last several decades and determine whether additional cleanup is warranted. It's not clear what such a cleanup would involve if found necessary.

It's similar to work the EPA performed in the area in 2022 and 2023 .

Related: U.S. EPA investigating groundwater west of former Industrial Excess Landfill in Lake Twp.

“They did this same exact thing last year," said Lake Township Trustee John Arnold. "This is just a continual monitoring of that site. They're able to detected some chemicals now that they couldn't detect more than 20-years ago plus."

Valerie Wolford, the communications manager for the city of Green, where some of the drilling will take place, said no evidence has ever arisen that the dioxane or any other chemical from the landfill has affected the health of any residents of Green.

What are the details of the EPA's project?

A map indicates the EPA will install seven new monitoring wells, which will start off as temporary wells. Some may become permanent. They will join 17 completed groundwater monitoring sites in the area.

The agency said the contractors will work from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., possibly seven days a week, on public right-of-way in Green. The workers will start drilling on sites in the northwest portion of the area delineated in pink on the map and will work their way southeast toward the landfill site by early September.

Affected streets include East Turkeyfoot Lake Road, Myersville Road, Spade Road, Turtle Bay Circle, Pebble Stone Drive and Islandview Avenue NW.

Wolford said the U.S. EPA held a Zoom call with Green officials about the project July 19. The agency has already filed two permits to build monitoring wells on Turtle Bay Circle and Pebble Stone Drive.

Related: Groundwater sampling to expand around former Lake Township landfill

A U.S. EPA spokeswoman in an email wrote that the agency would need additional time to answer questions seeking details about the project.

Officials in Green and Lake Township said while the work might lead to temporary lane closures, impact on traffic is expected to be minimal, as most of the drill sites are on or near residential streets and not major roads. The noise from the work is also not expected to a nuisance for residents.

'Everything seems OK'

Amber Ashley lives in a brick home across Cleveland Avenue NW from the western side of the defunct landfill.

She said Thursday when she moved in four years ago, the seller never disclosed the 77-year-old home was across the street from a U.S. EPA Superfund site.

Ashley said her reaction when she got the postcard was, "What am I going to do now at this point?"

She said wildlife like birds and butterflies thrive in her backyard. Ashley has never had any mysterious illnesses or health conditions that she's aware of.

"Everything seems OK," she said. "You're being told by your government that this (contamination) is being taken care of. And I hope that's the situation. ... I feel we're surrounded by everything that's chemical unfortunately. ... I feel that we're fighting a losing battle (with) everything surrounding us in our environment."

Reach Robert at robert.wang@cantonrep.com. X formerly Twitter: @rwangREP.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: US EPA returns to Lake Township third summer in a row to monitor chemical from old landfill