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NPL Site Narrative for DuPage County Landfill/Blackwell Forest
DUPAGE COUNTY LANDFILL/BLACKWELL FOREST PRESERVE
Warrenville, Illinois
Federal Register Notice: February 21, 1990Conditions at proposal (June 24, 1988): DuPage County Landfill covers 40 acres of the 1,235-acre Blackwell Forest Preserve along the west branch of the DuPage River in Warrenville, DuPage County, Illinois. During 1965-72, the DuPage County Public Works Department operated the landfill, accepting demolition debris, municipal refuse, and unknown amounts of potentially hazardous waste.
The materials were deposited to a height of 188 feet above the original ground level. When the site was closed, the Public Works Department covered it with a clay cap that exceeds State standards. It is now used as a toboggan run in the winter.
In 1984, a consultant to the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County detected volatile organic compounds, including 1,1-dichloroethane, 1,2-dichloropropane, trans-1,2-dichloroethylene, and 1,2-dichloroethane, in numerous monitoring wells installed around the site. Private and public wells within 3 miles of the site provide drinking water to 44,000 people. The Forest Preserve District continues to monitor the landfill. A lake close to the landfill has been closed to swimming as a precautionary measure.
In 1987, the Forest Preserve District began pumping leachate from collection manholes and transporting it to a regulated disposal facility.
Status (February 21, 1990): In late 1989, the Forest Preserve District detected the same volatile chemicals detected in 1984 at greater concentrations downgradient of the site than upgradient.
In September 1989, the Forest Preserve District and EPA signed a CERCLA Administrative Order on Consent calling for the district to conduct a remedial investigation/feasibility study to determine the type and extent of contamination at the site and identify alternatives for remedial action.
For more information about the hazardous substances identified in this narrative summary, including general information regarding the effects of exposure to these substances on human health, please see the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) ToxFAQs. ATSDR ToxFAQs can be found on the Internet at http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaq.html or by telephone at 1-888-42-ATSDR or 1-888-422-8737.