Auburn Road Landfill sits in Londonderry, New Hampshire, and covers roughly 12 acres across three former disposal areas: a town dump, a tire and demolition debris area, and a solid waste landfill. The state ordered the landfill closed in 1980 after finding hazardous waste in soil and toxic organic compounds in surface water and groundwater. EPA added the site to the National Priorities List in September 1983, and cleanup work has been ongoing since the mid-1980s.
Groundwater is the primary affected medium. Contaminants include volatile organic compounds such as benzene, trichloroethene, tetrachloroethene, vinyl chloride, and toluene, as well as heavy metals including arsenic, cadmium, and lead. More recently, PFAS compounds have been detected in groundwater, including readings above 30 nanograms per liter for PFOA at some locations beyond site boundaries. Arsenic cleanup in certain wells is estimated to take more than 50 years.
Key cleanup actions began in 1986, when the Federal Emergency Management Agency relocated 17 families and EPA started excavating drums. By 1988, roughly 2,200 drums had been removed. The Town of Londonderry extended municipal water service to about 300 homes and 270 mobile homes between 1987 and 1988, eliminating direct exposure to contaminated groundwater. Multi-layer caps were placed over all three disposal areas by 1996. EPA originally planned groundwater pumping and treatment, but switched to monitored natural attenuation after volatile organic compound levels declined, a change formalized in a 1996 remedy amendment. Overall construction was completed in April 1998. A 1999 settlement with responsible parties covered past and future cleanup costs.
The site reached sitewide ready for anticipated reuse in May 2016, and part of it now supports passive recreational use. EPA's most recent five-year review, completed in September 2022, found that municipal water and institutional controls are protective of human health and the environment in the short term. EPA is conducting additional investigation into the extent of PFAS contamination. Institutional controls restricting groundwater use and land use remain in place and will continue as long as contamination persists. The next five-year review is estimated between September and November 2027.
Community members can get current information by contacting EPA's Community Involvement Coordinator, Aaron Shaheen, or Remedial Project Manager Gerardo Millan-Ramos. Site documents, including fact sheets and five-year review reports, are available at Leach Public Library in Londonderry, at EPA Region 1's Records and Information Center in Boston, and online at www.epa.gov/superfund/auburnroad.
