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NPL Site Narrative for Ripon City Landfill
RIPON CITY LANDFILL
Fond Du Lac County, Wisconsin
Federal Register Notice: May 31, 1994The Ripon City Landfill (RCL) site is located on approximately 7.3 acres of land in Fond Du Lac County, Wisconsin. The site is approximately 0.75 miles northwest of the City of Ripon, on County Road NN, south of the intersection with County Road FF. The site is located in a rural area with woods to the north, an active gravel pit operation to the west, and a private residence and an agricultural field to the south. East of the site, a portion of the old (original) gravel pit not used by RCL, is being filled with miscellaneous debris by passersby.
RCL is owned by Arlene Sauer, who leased the land to the City of Ripon in 1967 for the purposes of landfilling. In March 1968, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) issued a permit to the City for the operation of the landfill. WDNR conducted a routine site inspection of RCL in early 1968 and discovered that the landfill was being used to dispose of liquid wastes and containers from Speed Queen, an electric appliance manufacturer in Ripon. Speed Queen apparently had disposed of its waste at the site since 1966. In 1973, after reviewing the wastes Speed Queen dumped at the landfill, WDNR determined that the waste was considered hazardous and should not be disposed of at the City landfill. Speed Queen continued to dump at the facility until 1979. In 1981, WDNR requested that the City put together a closure plan for the landfill and install new monitoring wells since older monitoring wells were destroyed by site operations. At that time WDNR requested that the City conduct quarterly ground water sampling at the facility, as required by State law for all closed landfills. The facility was closed in February 1983.
During the fall of 1984, WDNR collected ground water samples from private wells surrounding the RCL. A residential well located 500 feet south and hydraulically downgradient of the landfill contained total-1,2-dichloroethylene, trichloroethylene, and vinyl chloride. Due to the detection of these contaminants, WDNR sampled a hydraulically downgradient monitoring well at the site; trans-1,2-dichloroethylene and vinyl chloride were detected. This sampling confirmed that the landfill was the source of contamination in the residential well.
In June 1984 and July 1985, EPA performed a site inspection at RCL. During the inspection, EPA sampled the monitoring wells and confirmed the presence of vinyl chloride, trans-1,2-dichloroethylene, benzene, and xylene in ground water beneath the site. The City of Ripon is currently submitting quarterly ground water sampling results from the monitoring wells onsite. The sampling results have found elevated concentrations of vinyl chloride in groundwater beneath and hydraulically downgradient of the site.
Ground water is the primary route through which people may be exposed to contaminants associated with the RCL site. Within 4 miles of the site, residents obtain drinking water solely from ground water. The City of Ripon has a population of 11,286 people and is entirely within 4 miles of the site. The City of Green Lake (southwest of the landfill) utilizes one municipal well that serves approximately 500 people within 4 miles of the site. In addition, approximately 2,077 people, including residents, students, and workers, not served by the municipal drinking water sources receive drinking water from private wells. There is no drinking water source other than ground water available for people living within 4 miles of RCL.
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.