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EPA places Sterling landfill on hazardous site list
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced March 19 that it officially added eastern Loudoun's Hidden Lane Landfill onto its list of so-called Superfund sites, meaning the federal government will clean up the long-contaminated property.
"The good news now is that it starts," said Supervisor Andrea McGimsey (D-Potomac) on the clean up effort.
Situated between Broad Run Farms and CountrySide, Hidden Lane operated as a landfill from 1971 to 1984. The 25-acre operation eventually closed and was covered with a clay cap.
Early on it was suspected the landfill was contaminating nearby water sources. In 2005, the county's Health Department tested 69 wells near the site, and found trichloroethylene, or TCE, in 24 of them. TCE is a solvent used to clean metals. The chemical was suspected to have come from the landfill.
Hidden Lane was one of a dozen sites the EPA announced on Wednesday were being added to its Superfund list.
Contaminated areas are designated Superfund sites if they pose risks to humans and the environment, the EPA said.
The next step the EPA will take, McGimsey said, is to test the site to find the exact source of the contamination and determine if there are other chemicals in the surrounding property.
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