Powell Road Landfill

Overview

Powell Road Landfill covers 70 acres in Dayton, Ohio and operated from 1959 to 1984, accepting commercial, industrial, and non-hazardous domestic waste. It was added to EPA's National Priorities List in September 1984. The site is also known as Powell Road LDFL and SCA Serv Inc. Physical cleanup construction finished in February 2000, and the site reached sitewide ready-for-anticipated-reuse status in January 2011.

EPA identified over 140 contaminants at the site. These include volatile organic compounds like benzene, toluene, and vinyl chloride, chlorinated solvents such as tetrachloroethene and various dichloroethanes, heavy metals including lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons like pyrene and benzo[a]pyrene, and pesticides including DDT. Phthalates, phenol, and cyanide are also present. Contamination was found in soil, groundwater, surface water, sediments, leachate, and debris. The primary health risk involves people ingesting contaminants in groundwater.

Cleanup actions included capping the landfill in 1999, excavating and capping contaminated soil, installing a landfill gas collection and destruction system, and setting up a leachate collection system. The remedy also covers groundwater monitoring, flood protection, storm water controls, monitored natural attenuation, and institutional controls. Two Explanations of Significant Differences were issued in 1997 to make nonfundamental adjustments to the cleanup approach. Institutional controls restricting future site uses were formally established in 2010.

Human exposure is currently under control, with no unacceptable exposure pathways identified across the entire site. Contaminated groundwater migration is stabilized, and EPA has determined there is no unacceptable discharge to surface water. Long-term protectiveness still requires ongoing landfill gas and leachate collection and treatment, plus continued groundwater monitoring. EPA completed the fifth five-year review on May 31, 2023. The previous 2018 review found the remedy protective but identified a need for a Long-Term Stewardship Plan or updated Operations and Maintenance Plan to monitor institutional controls. It also called on the current owner to set up communication procedures with EPA and Ohio EPA and provide annual certifications that controls remain effective. The next five-year review is estimated between May and July 2028. The site has not been deleted from the National Priorities List.

Community members with questions can contact the EPA's Community Involvement Coordinator or Remedial Project Manager.