Mini-Project #5

Go to the EPA's website at www.epa.com and use the enviro-mapper feature to find the closest superfund site to my house.

The closest superfund site to my house is Davie Landfill, 4001 Sw 142nd avenue, Davie, Florida 33314.


Site Location and Description
The Davie Landfill is a 210-acre site located at 4001 S.W. 142 Avenue in the Town of Davie,
Florida. The landfill is situated between two major drainage canals. The North New River Canal
is approximately 3.5 miles north of the landfill and the South New River Canal (C-11) is
approximately 0.25 miles south of the landfill. To the east and west of the landfill are northsouth
drainage ditches that empty into the C-11 Canal. Figure 1 is a site location map of the
landfill and the surrounding area.
The 210-acre site is comprised of a closed 68- acre trash landfill, closed 48-acre sanitary
landfill, a former 8-acre sludge lagoon, and three onsite borrow pits which are now known as
lakes 1, 2, and 3. The site features are shown in Figure 2.
The landfill overlies the Biscayne Aquifer which is approximately 100 feet thick in the vicinity
of the landfill. The property surrounding the landfill is located above the floodplain and is
not classified as a wetlands area. Camp Seminole of the South Florida Council of the Boy Scouts
of America is located north of the landfill. Imagination Farms, a dairy farm, lies along the
western, southern, and most of the eastern boundaries of the landfill. A South Florida Water
Management District (SFWMD) telemetry tower is located southeast of the site along Boy Scout
Road, and adjacent to the C-11 canal which is in the jurisdiction of the Central Broward
Drainage District. Just south of the C-11 canal is the single- family residential development,
Sunshine Ranches.
1.3 Site History
Operation of the site began in 1964 with the startup of Broward County's garbage incinerator and
the opening of the trash landfill to accept trash, construction and demolition debris, and ash
from the County's garbage incinerator. In November 1971, the sludge lagoon was created in a
natural depression on- site to receive grease trap waste, septic tank wastes, and treated
municipal wastewater treatment plant sludges. In 1973, a water quality monitoring program was
initiated by Broward County in cooperation with the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS). In June
1975, the County incinerator closed because particulate matter emissions failed to meet new air
regulations and the sanitary landfill was opened for garbage only. The sanitary landfill
operated from 1975 until December 1987 when the entire site was closed to all incoming waste.
In 1975, the sludge lagoon received an estimated 2,500 tons per month of waste. In 1977, dikes
were constructed around two sides of the sludge lagoon to increase the capacity of the lagoon to
handle the volume of sludge disposal. Later these dikes were raised to receive increased loads.
By 1980, the volume of sludge placed in the lagoon had increased to approximately 7,100 tons per
month. In November 1981, concern regarding groundwater contamination from the sludge lagoon
resulted in the EPA designating the site as a Hazardous Waste Site under the Comprehensive
Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) and prompted Broward County to
cease all disposal operations at the lagoon.

In August 1982, EPA sampled the sludge in the lagoon and found high levels of total cyanides and
total sulfides. The site was placed on EPA’s National Priority List (NPL) in September 1983 due
to concerns related to the sludge lagoon. Subsequent sampling performed in 1983 and 1985 showed
reduced concentrations of both these elements. However, the sludge lagoon was still considered a
major source for potential contamination, and on September 27, 1985, EPA issued a Record of
Decision (ROD) regarding remediation of the sludge lagoon at the site.http://www.epa.gov/superfund/sites/fiveyear/f94-04003.pdf