New tests confirm cadmium at Tennessee landfill

New groundwater tests at Environmental Waste Solutions landfill in the rural community of Camden, Tennessee, have tested at twice the acceptable limit for cadmium, according to a report in The Tennessean.

The groundwater was retested after tests in June reportedly measured more than five times the acceptable limit for cadmium.

The Tennessean references an email from a spokesman for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) who said the new test that the previous test results were a lab error. But the new tests are reportedly of little comfort to local residents.

The closed 42-acre landfill has drawn criticism, legal challenges and complaints to TDEC from city officials and residents, who reported foul odors, nausea, vomiting and other health problems, according to the newspaper report.

In April 2016, the landfill was found to be a hazardous waste generator, though it was permitted to accept special wastes. That same month, the landfill owner abandoned the site and filed for bankruptcy. Workers reportedly left “two tanker trucks full of potentially explosive ammonia, dozens of 250-pound plastic containers containing cadmium sludge and thousands of gallons of potentially toxic runoff near a residential neighborhood,” the Tennessean article states.

The city’s drinking water runs underneath a pipe that carries wastewater from the landfill. Prior to the bankruptcy filing landfill officials reportedly refused to pay to have the waterline moved. TDEC has since taken over the landfill, stopped accepting waste and is in the process of shutting it down. That could cost millions and take decades, according to the report. The article says cost will be partially covered by a $1.7 million bond EWS held as a requirement of its permit.