Elizabethtown Landfill

Overview

Elizabethtown Landfill is a 16-acre inactive landfill in West Donegal Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, about one mile southwest of Elizabethtown. It accepted municipal, household, and industrial waste from at least 1959 through 1973 without a license. EPA added it to the National Priorities List (NPL) in March 1989 after leachate containing volatile organic compounds and manganese turned up in nearby groundwater and surface water. The site is also known as United Disposal.

Nine contaminants of concern have been identified in groundwater at the site. They are 1,1-dichloroethene, arsenic, benzene, bis(2-chloroethyl)ether, chlorobenzene, chloroethene (vinyl chloride), dichloromethane (methylene chloride), tetrachloroethene, and trichloroethene. EPA identified these substances by assessing which people and ecological resources could be exposed, how much contamination is present, and what health or ecological effects contact with them could cause.

Cleanup began in the mid-1980s. The selected remedy, finalized in October 1997, included capping the landfill, extracting and treating contaminated groundwater, collecting leachate, and putting institutional controls in place. The landfill cap was completed in 2003, and a groundwater extraction well system was built in 2022 to drive contaminant levels down to cleanup standards. A 2021 modification added bioremediation and chemical oxidation as in-place treatment methods. Final construction was completed on June 9, 2023, and the site reached sitewide readiness for anticipated reuse on August 1, 2023. Institutional controls prohibit groundwater use on the landfill property and on downgradient properties, and zoning restrictions prevent residential development.

The 2023 five-year review confirmed that human exposure is under control and that groundwater migration is stabilized with no unacceptable discharge to surface water. Quarterly monitoring of five residential wells and two public water supply wells continues. If contaminants above action levels are found in those wells, an alternate drinking water source or treatment must be provided. The next five-year review is estimated between June and August 2028. The site has not yet been deleted from the NPL.

Community members can review the site's administrative record, which includes 166 remedial documents, at the West Donegal Township Building in Elizabethtown or at the EPA Region 3 office in Philadelphia. Appointments should be scheduled in advance by calling either location. For questions, residents can contact EPA's Community Involvement Coordinator or the Remedial Project Manager directly using the contact information below.