Mid-Atlantic Superfund

EPA Region 3 (Mid-Atlantic)

45470 Persimmon Lane
Sterling, Loudoun County, VA 21065

EPA ID# VAD980829030

10th Congressional District

Last Update: December 2007

Other Names

Loudoun Dump Site

Current Site Status

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to add the Hidden Lane Landfill to the National Priorities List of most hazardous waste sites, making it eligible for funding from the federal Superfund cleanup program. The agency is accepting public comments on the listing through November 18, 2007.

Site Description

The Hidden Lane Landfill was a 25-acre privately owned and operated disposal facility north of Virginia Route 7 between the Broad Run Farms and Countryside communities. It is immediately adjacent to the floodplain of the Potomac River. Starting in 1971, the facility accepted a variety of solid wastes including construction and demolition wastes, land clearing wastes and other items such as appliances, tires, paper, and cardboard. The county closed down the facility in 1984, pursuant to a local court decision the year before. The Hidden Lane Landfill had been named by county and state health officials as the likely source of the degreasing solvent trichloroethylene, first detected in drinking water wells of some homes in the Broad Run Farms subdivision just west of the landfill in 1989.

Site Responsibility

The Loudoun County Department of Health and the Virginia Deparment of Environmental Quality have been the key agencies addressing the contamination issues at the site up until now. If the site is added to the National Priorities List, the EPA will take the lead and work with these other agencies at resolving the environmental and health risks at the site.

NPL Listing History

On September 19, 2007 the EPA proposed to add the site to the NPL. The deadline for comments on the listing was November 19, 2007.

Threats and Contaminants

Contaminant descriptions and associated risk factors are available on the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry, an arm of the CDC, web site at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/hazdat.html

Cleanup Progress

The Loudoun County Department of Health collected 67 samples from private wells in the Broad Run Farms area, searching for trichloroethylene (TCE) and other contaminants. The community to the east, Countryside, was not sampled because the homes in that subdivision use public drinking water. Data results indicated that 22 homes had TCE in their private wells; of those, 16 were above safe drinking water levels. Funds from the Virginia Environmental Emergency Fund were used to install 21 whole house carbon filtration units for homes that had detectable levels of TCE in their wells. The DEQ also performed two years of operation and maintenance on the filtration units, including four rounds of sampling to ensure that the units are working.

Initial discussions have been held among the county Department of Health, DEQ and EPA to plan for a whole site assessment. This assessment would be used to plan a potential groundwater cleanup under the Superfund program.

Contacts

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