Gude Landfill Cleanup to be Discussed at Meeting Tonight

Officials from the county’s Department of Environmental Protection Division of Solid Waste Services will detail plans for addressing toxins leaking into groundwater and the air from the Gude Landfill at a community meeting in Derwood tonight.

County officials believe that the “trace amounts” of the toxins do not pose a health threat, but residents near the site are concerned, The Washington Post reported in May.

The meeting will be held from 7 to 8:30 at the Montgomery County Service Park Building, at 16641 Crabbs Branch Way.

The update on the Gude Landfill Remediation Project will include a discussion of:

• The landfill’s history.
• A Waste Delineation Study and exchange of land with the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, whose trails adjacent the site are affected by pollution.
• The Nature and Extent Study.
• Introduce the Assessment of Corrective Measures.

DEP will deliver a 30-minute presentation followed by a 60-minute discussion forum for community members to ask questions.

The Assessment of Corrective Measures, or ACM, to be carried out over the next nine months, according to an ACM fact sheet on the county website. The ACM will “identify and evaluate corrective measures to mitigate site issues” related to groundwater contamination, methane gas discharges and potential seeping of toxins from the landfill. 

“Based on the results of the detailed analyses and evaluations, a corrective measure alternative or a combination of alternatives will be recommended to MDE for consideration and approval,” according to the ACM fact sheet.

In 2011, the county committed to installing new groundwater monitoring wells and temporary monitoring locations in order to further investigate potential groundwater pollution, according to a county community outreach newsletter.

The county is considering several options for addressing the toxins, including keeping the site fallow or creating a barrier between the garbage and the groundwater using a synthetic cap, The Washington Post reported.

“Remediation could cost up to $30 million, according to county officials,” The Post reported.

Visit the Gude Landfill Remediation Project website for more information.

The 100-acre site, at 600 East Gude Drive, is the oldest formal landfill in the county, according to the county’s web profile of the landfill. The site received about 4.8 million tons of municipal waste from 1965 until it was closed in 1982.

The Gude Landfill ConcernedCitizens group, whose members comprise three homeowners associations in the Derwood Station neighborhood, helped organize the meeting. The group has collected documents related to the landfill on a website.

For more information contact Stephen T. Lezinski at 240-777-6590  or steve.lezinski@montgomerycountymd.gov; or Jamie C. Foster  at 240-777-6564 or jamie.foster@montgomerycountymd.gov or TTY 240-777-6442.