Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
CLAYPOOL - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 has begun work at the Lakeland Disposal Landfill Superfund site, an inactive 39-acre landfill about 3-1/2 miles northwest of Claypool.
The first phase of the cleanup is expected to last until fall.
The remedy chosen by the EPA for the Lakeland site includes a cut-off wall, a landfill cap, excavation and on-site treatment of contaminated soil and waste material.
Institutional controls, including deed restrictions, a perimeter fence and groundwater monitoring, are a part of the remedy.
The first part of the solution is "low-temperature thermal desorption" of contaminated soil and waste material in Waste Disposal Area 2, which is being excavated and transferred by conveyor to an on-site LTTD unit for treatment. This process uses a rotating dryer to heat soil and wastes at 300- to 800-degrees F until contaminants vaporize in the unit. Heat-treated soils must meet federal decontamination standards before they are approved for use as backfill.
The landfill cap and slurry wall work will begin later this summer.
Information packets are available at the Claypool Post Office, 117 S. Main St., Claypool, and at the Kosciusko County Health Department, 100 W. Center St., Third Floor, Room 2, Warsaw.
EPA employees assigned to the project are Don DeBlaiso 800-621-8431, Ext. 6-4360, deblasio.don@epa.gov or Scott Hansen 800-621-8432, ext. 6-1999.
