Broward County ran a waste management facility on this site from 1964 to 1987. That operation left behind contamination in groundwater, sludge, and soil. The EPA added the site to the National Priorities List (NPL) in September 1983, making it eligible for federal Superfund cleanup funding and oversight.
Twelve contaminants were identified as posing unacceptable risk. The sludge lagoon held arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, and mercury in sludge and soil. Groundwater contained antimony and vinyl chloride, among other contaminants. The EPA divided the site into three operable units to tackle each problem area separately: the sludge lagoon, groundwater contamination and landfill assessment, and a third unit for broader landfill review.
Broward County led several key cleanup actions, working alongside the EPA and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. In 1989, the county removed and stabilized contaminated sludge from a lagoon, placed it in a protected cell, and capped it. The county also connected nearby homes to the public water supply. Groundwater was monitored over many years. Between 2000 and 2003, groundwater met cleanup standards in seven straight sampling events. Between 2005 and 2010, two nearby wells occasionally showed slight exceedances of the vinyl chloride cleanup goal, but by 2011 groundwater had met drinking water standards in two consecutive sampling events.
The EPA completed construction at the site in November 1995. The site was deleted from the NPL in August 2006 after all remedial goals were met. A final Five-Year Review in March 2011 confirmed that cleanup actions continue to protect human health and the environment. Human exposure is under control, and groundwater contamination is stabilized in its original area. The EPA does not plan further Superfund work at the site, though the state will continue groundwater monitoring under RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) requirements. Broward County redeveloped most of the site into Vista View Park, a regional recreational facility that opened in 2003.
Community members with questions can contact the EPA's Community Involvement Coordinator or Remedial Project Manager. Public records related to Superfund work at this site are available at the Broward County Public Library at 100 S. Andrews Ave., Level 5, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
