Yard 520 Restricted Waste Site has 23 groundwater monitoring wells, 21 of which have been polluted above federal advisory levels based on samples collected between April 28, 2010 and October 22, 2014. Groundwater at this site contains unsafe levels of manganese, boron, molybdenum, arsenic, sulfate and lead.
Site descriptionThe Yard 520 Restricted Waste Site is a closed coal ash landfill located in the Town of Pines, Indiana near Lake Michigan. The landfill contains coal ash from Northern Indiana Public Service Corporation (NIPSCO) power plants and sits in contact with the same groundwater aquifer that was used as the source of drinking water by the Town of Pines until the early 2000s. According to the U.S. EPA, coal ash was used as fill in residential yards, beneath roads, and in other areas in the town during the 1970s.
The landfill is listed among the U.S. EPA's proven damage cases, indicating that it has polluted groundwater or surface water at levels which threaten human health and the environment. Town of Pines is also a Superfund Alternative Site due to groundwater and soil contamination caused by coal ash.