Region 5 Superfund (SF)

U.S. EPA REGION 5
ADAMS COUNTY
QUINCY

Congressional District # 17

ADAMS COUNTY QUINCY LANDFILLS 2&3

EPA ID# ILD980607055
Last Updated: September, 2008

Site Description

The 56-acre Adams County Quincy Landfills #2 and #3 are located on Old Broadway Road south of Illinois Route 104, approximately five miles east of the city of Quincy, Adams County, in west central Illinois. The landfill was operated privately from 1967 to 1972. The city of Quincy leased the landfill from the owner in 1972 and operated it until 1978. The landfill was closed to receipt of waste in fall 1978. Site closure, including placement of final cover, was completed in mid-1979. The city of Quincy purchased the site in 1982.

The site was a disposal area for refuse, domestic waste, and industrial waste. Liquid industrial waste received at the landfill includes: acids; sludge, containing heavy metals; spent nonhalogenated solvents; spent halogenated solvents; wastewater treatment sludge from electroplating facilities; hydraulic oil; machine coolants; thinners; paint solvents and sludge; methyl chloroform; selenium; toluene; methylene chloride; acetone; chloroethene; lacquer thinners; metal etchers; cutting and grinding oils; and caustic cleaning solutions.

Site Responsibility

This site is being addressed through potentially responsible parties' actions conducted under a state enforcement action.

Threats and Contaminants

Volatile organic compound (VOC) contamination in groundwater monitoring wells onsite and in two residential drinking wells across the road from the site has been documented. However, a defined VOC plume, emanating from the site, has never been discovered. 

Cleanup Progress

An enforcement agreement for site design and cleanup, between the State of Illinois and parties whom EPA detemined may be legally responsible for the site's contaminmation (Potentially Responsible Parties [PRPs]), was filed in court on March 19,1996. Actions required by the enforcement agreement are: install a barrier fence around the landfill, connect area residents with private drinking water wells to the public water supply, recap and regrade the landfill, install a leachate collection system, set deed restrictions on the property, and monitor the groundwater. 

Site work completed to date includes: water service connections to five area residents; predesign field investigations; groundwater monitoring; and remedial action construction. The workplan for site cleanup design was approved in 1996. The cleanup activity is complete; most of the construction was completed at the end of 1998.  Site security and monitoring of the leachate collection system, groundwater quality, and cap integrity are the primary on-going operation and maintenance activities. The site cleanup activities are operating satisfactorily and all engineered remedies are functioning as designed, which was confirmed during the 2008 five-year review.  Immediate threats to human health and the environment have been addressed.  An Institutional Control Study has been submitted by the Potentially Responsible Parties and is under review by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to evaluate the effectiveness of the existing institutional controls.  A five-year review is scheduled for 2013.

Contacts

Remedial Project Manager, U.S. EPA
howard caine (caine.howard@epa.gov)
(312) 353-9685

Community Involvement Coordinator, U.S. EPA
janet pope
(312) 353-0628

Aliases

ADAMS COUNTY QUINCY LANDFILL SITE #2 & #3
QUINCY MUNI LDFL 2 AND 3 OF
ADAMS COUNTY QUINCY LDFL SITE #2 & #3
ADAMS COUNTY QUINCY LANDFILL SITE 2&3
QUINCY MUNI LDFL 2

 

Site Profile Information

This profile provides you with information on EPA's cleanup progress at this Superfund site.