Emmell's Septic Landfill is a Superfund site located at 128 South Zurich Avenue in Galloway Township in Atlantic County, New Jersey. It occupies 38 acres in a mixed rural / residential area much of which is heavily wooded with several farms nearby. There are over one hundred residents in the area and Stockton University is 0.8 miles to the east. At the time the site was closed, there was a fire-damaged one-story building and garage which was not occupied.

 

     At that time, both the residents and Stockton used groundwater wells as their source of drinking water with residential wells getting water at depths of 100 - 120 feet.  These wells sourced from the Kirkwood/Cohansey aquifer which are comprised of fine to coarse sand interspersed occasionally with thin layers of silt and clay. Groundwater near the surface is at depths of five to ten feet. Groundwater migrates to the east at about 1 ft per day. Two clay layers which could be aquitards occur at 80 feet and at 120 feet. The residents have seen been transitioned to municipal water, though Stockton University still uses groundwater as a source of potable water.

​

​

 

     Emmell's Septic Landfill was designated as a facility for the disposal of septic waste and sewer sludge from 1967 to 1979 when it closed. Unfortunately, it was also used as a dump for various chemicals, drums of paint sludge, gas cylinders, construction debris, old tires, and even household garbage. The only record of a permit is from 1975 which only authorized septic and sewer waste. The site was supposed to be plowed over but they were cited several times from 1976 to 1980 for surface pooling of waste and improper disposal of wastes. The were also citations for improperly disposing of unregistered chemicals. 

​

​

​

      In May and June of 1984 samples of several residential wells half a mile east of the site were done by the Atlantic County Health Department (ACHD). Results showed Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in the groundwater with levels of vinyl chloride above the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) and the level needed for a removal action (RAL) of 150 micro grams per liter,  Tetrachloroethylene (PCE) above the MCL of 2 micro grams per liter, and trichloroethylene (TCE) higher than the MCL of 4 micro grams per liter. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) closed these residential wells and drilled new, deeper wells for residents at over 200 feet down with funds from the State Spill Fund. Testing by the ACHD four years later found contamination still present in wells.

​

     During the same year as the initial ACHD investigation, the NJDEP did their own testing and found polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), hydrocarbons, and metals in the soils around the site as well as VOCs and metals in the groundwater wells. 

​

     It was not until 1996 that the NJDEP performed additional testing and installed seven monitoring wells, and determined that the contamination of the groundwater was from the Emmell's site. Contaminants of Concern (COC) found included cis-l,2-dichloroethylene chloroform, and methyl-tert-butyl ether at  levels exceeding:New Jersey Groundwater Quality Standards (NJGQSs).

​

     In 1997 the US EPA began preliminary investigations of the site and did testing of soil and groundwater in 1997 and 1998 to confirm the source of contamination. A litany of contaminatnts were found in the soil at the site, including: vinyl chloride, 1,1-dichloroethylene, cis-l,2-dichloroethylene, benzene, trichloroethylene, toluene, and tetrachloroethylene, PCBs, lead, arsenic, chromium, cadmium, and zinc. Wow!

​

    

​