auburn road landfill

AUBURN RD

The Auburn Road Landfill in Londonderry is a 200-acre site that consists of three separate disposal areas which cover slightly more than 12-acres. The three disposal areas include: the former Londonderry Town Dump, which operated during the 1960's and was used for the disposal of over 1,000 drums of chemical waste; a tire disposal area, where tires and demolition debris and several hundred drums of chemical waste were dumped; and a solid waste landfill, the largest disposal area, which was active until the State ordered the entire landfill closed in 1980 after hazardous wastes were identified in soil, and toxic organic substances were found in surface water and ground water. In 1986, EPA determined that contaminated ground water was flowing off-site toward drinking water supply wells at the Whispering Pines Mobile Home Park, and potentially towards other private residential wells in the area. The area surrounding the landfill is residential and commercial, and the 300 homes and 270 mobile homes within a 1-mile radius primarily used ground water as a source of drinking water until municipal water was supplied to these homes in 1987. Approximately 1,000 people live within 3 miles of the site. Two unnamed streams drain from the site and flow into Cohas Brook, which in turn empties into the Merrimack River. A former septage lagoon, which was located just northeast of the solid waste landfill, was excavated and disposed of within the solid waste landfill by the Town prior to 1996.