Taylor Road Landfill

• Site Profile
• Administrative Record Index (PDF): OU1 (8 pp., 309K), ESD (1 pp., 20K)
• Reuse Success Fact Sheet (PDF, 1pp., 106K)
• Additional Site Documents including Five Year Reviews, Records of Decisions (ROD) and Explanation of Significant Differences (ESD).
• For documents not available on the website, please contact the Region 4 Freedom of Information Office (http://www.epa.gov/region4/foiapgs/submit.htm).

Site Background:
The Taylor Road Landfill, located in Hillsborough County, Florida, is a 42 acre municipal landfill owned and operated by Hillsborough County from 1976 to 1980. The landfill is unlined and contains an unknown quantity of hazardous waste. Two additional landfills are situated adjacent to the Taylor Road Landfill. In October 1979, as part of a nationwide program of groundwater sampling and analysis, EPA discovered volatile organic compounds and metals in site monitoring wells and numerous private wells drilled into the Floridan Aquifer. The Floridan Aquifer is the drinking water source for much of the greater Tampa area.

Site Responsibility

The Hillsborough County Solid Waste Management Department is conducting the clean up on behalf of a larger group of responsible parties.

Threats and Contaminants 

Volatile organic compounds and metals in monitoring wells on-site and numerous private wells drilled into the Floridan Aquifer.

Cleanup Approach
Past actions:

In 1979, EPA advised residents in the vicinity of the site to discontinue the use of their wells. A bottled water program was established and eventually about 400 residences and businesses were connected to the county water supply. Under a 1983 RCRA Consent Decree, Hillsborough County closed all three landfills and began a 30-year maintenance and monitoring program. Continued groundwater monitoring conducted since the landfills were closed demonstrated significant attenuation of contamination in the area of the landfills. A final remedy decision addressing the groundwater contamination was made in September, 1995. The remedy consists of groundwater monitoring to document the continuation of the attenuation process, creating a buffer zone around the landfills by supplying additional residents with municipal water, and planning for active groundwater remediation if future monitoring reveals the need.

EPA signed a Consent Decree with Hillsborough County and a number of private PRPs to implement the final remedy. Groundwater monitoring continues at the site to make sure the remedy remains effective.

Cleanup Progress
Construction Completed

In 1999, the Final Construction Report was issued and approved by EPA and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, signifying the completion of the Remedial Action. A Preliminary Closeout Report documenting Construction Completion was finalized in June 1999.

Statutory Five-Year Reviews were performed by EPA with the support of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection between May and September 2003 and 2008. The remedy at the Taylor Road Landfill was determined to currently protect human health and the environment because ground water monitoring at the compliance ring ensures contingent measures can be taken prior to impacts to domestic supply wells, institutional controls restrict the installation of new domestic supply wells in the impacted area, post-closure care of the landfills under RCRA minimizes ongoing impacts to the aquifer, and natural attenuation is demonstrated to be occurring.

Future Work and Contacts

Current work at the site includes evaluating the sampling program to optimize the long term monitoring plan.

The next five-year review will be completed in the fall of 2013.

EPA Remedial Project Manager – Erik Spalvins 404-562-8938