Refuse Hideaway Landfill

Site Information

Middleton, WI (Dane County)
EPA ID# WID980610604
NPL Factsheet
Superfund Site Progress Profile
Alias(es): N/A
Map

Contact Information

Community Involvement Coordinator
Susan Pastor (pastor.susan@epa.gov)
312-353-1325 or 800-621-8431, ext. 31325

Remedial Project Manager
John Fagiolo (fagiolo.john@epa.gov)
312-886-0800 or 800-621-8431, ext. 60800

Wisconsin DNR State Project Manager
Jim Walden (james.walden@wisconsin.gov)
608-267-7572

Repositories

(where to view written records)

Middleton Public Library
7425 Hubbard Ave.
Middleton, WI

Links

EPA Superfund Home Page
Region 5 Superfund
Superfund Frequent Questions

Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry

Background

The 23-acre Refuse Hideaway Landfill site, located on U.S. Highway 14 in rural Dane County, was licensed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in 1974. The landfill accepted municipal, commercial, and industrial waste until 1988 when it was closed by a state court order. The owner complied with the order by installing a clay and soil cap and seeding the cover. Public and private wells, located within four miles of the landfill, provide water supplies to an estimated 14,600 people in the area. The nearest of these wells is privately owned and located within one-half mile of the site.

The cleanup was completed in 1998 and included:

operation and maintenance of the existing landfill cap
gas and leachate collection systems
a back-up plan to allow the installation of extra point-of-entry treatment systems, should additional wells become contaminated.

Although the site has been deemed "clean," very low levels of various volatile organic compounds, including perchloroethene, trichloroethene, and vinyl chloride, still exist in soil and ground water, as well as in some private wells southwest of the site.

The state of Wisconsin operates and maintains the site.

Site Updates | Fact Sheets || Technical Documents | Five-Year Reviews | Legal Documents

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Site Updates

September 2012

EPA has completed a status review of the cleanup. This type of review is required at least every five years where the cleanup is complete but hazardous waste remains managed on-site. These reviews are done to ensure that the cleanup continues to protect people and the environment.

The review included:

An evaluation of background information.
Cleanup requirements.
Effectiveness of the cleanup and any anticipated future actions.
Maintenance and monitoring efforts.

This was the second five-year review of the landfill.

A report (PDF) with details of the review is available.

EPA also changed the ground water cleanup standards detailed in its 1995 decision document, or record of decision, for this site. The changes are outlined in an official document called an "Explanation of Significant Differences (PDF)."

Originally, EPA used Wisconsin's Preventative Action Limits, or PALs, as its cleanup goals rather than the state's Enforcement Standards described in Wisconsin Administrative Code NR 140. Wisconsin NR 140 uses PALs as an indicator of potential ground water contamination problems. It also uses the Enforcement Standards as a compliance standard for human health and welfare concerns. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has also found in many cases that achieving PALs is not technically or economically feasible. The Enforcement Standards will now serve as the ground water cleanup goals for the site.