Fultz Landfill, located 0.5 miles north of Byesville in Guernsey County Ohio, represents a public health hazard. This is based on the potential for impact on drinking water supplies. The risk is greatest for people whose wells are located downgradient from the landfill. Downgradient is towards the west in the shallow aquifer and towards the south-southeast in the deep aquifer. Municipal well #2 for the City of Byesville is 1 mile south and downgradient from the landfill. Those at risk are individuals whose water supplies may become contaminated with arsenic, barium, chromium, lead, vinyl chloride, and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons. Groundwater on-site contained high levels of these chemicals. At the time of the Remedial Investigation, there were no chemicals of concern present in Byesville water samples or residential wells, but because of the proximity to the site, the potential for future contamination exists.
Health Activities Recommendation Panel (HARP) Recommendations:
The data and information developed in the Fultz Landfill public health assessment have been evaluated for appropriate follow-up health activities. There are no indications humans have been or are being exposed to on-site and/or off-site contaminants at levels of public health concern. Therefore, the site is not being considered for follow-up activities at this time. However, if data become available suggesting that human exposure to hazardous substances at levels of public health concern is occurring or has occurred in the past, ATSDR will reevaluate this site for health follow-up activities.
No follow-up health actions were recommended for the Fultz Landfill site by ODH and HARP based upon the information reviewed. The recommendations regarding the restriction of site access and further sampling have been provided to the USEPA and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
Tracy Shelley, M.S.
Chief, Health Assessment Branch
Bureau of Epidemiology and Toxicology
Ohio Department of Health
Irena Scott, Ph.D
Researcher, Health Assessment Branch
Bureau of Epidemiology and Toxicology
Ohio Department of Health
Robert Frey, Ph.D
Geologist, Health Assessment Branch
Bureau of Epidemiology and Toxicology
Ohio Department of Health
Evelyn Christner, M.A.
Epidemiology Investigator
Bureau of Epidemiology and Toxicology
Ohio Department of Health
Reviewed by B. Kim Mortensen, Ph.D
Chief, Bureau of Epidemiology and Toxicology
Ohio Department of Health
ATSDR Regional Representative:
Louise Fabinski
Regional Services
Office of the Assistant Administrator, ATSDR
ATSDR Technical Project Officer
Richard R. Kauffman
Division of Health Assessment and Consultation,
Remedial Program Branch
This Fultz Landfill public health assessment was prepared by the Ohio Department of Health under a cooperative agreement with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). It is in accordance with approved methodology and procedures existing at the time the public health assessment was begun.
Richard R. Kauffman
Technical Project Officer, SPS, RPB, DHAC
The Division of Health Assessment and Consultation, ATSDR, has reviewed this public health assessment, and concurs with its findings.
Juan J. Reyes
for Director, DHAC, ATSDR
*ATSDR. 1989. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry toxicological profile for arsenic. ATSDR/ TP-88/02.
*ATSDR. 1989. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry toxicological profile for chromium. ATSDR/ TP-88/10.
*ATSDR. 1989. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry toxicological profile for vinyl chloride. ATSDR/TP-88/25.
ATSDR. October, 1990. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry toxicological profile for barium - draft for public comment.
*ATSDR. 1990. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry toxicological profile for lead. ATSDR/TP-88/17.
*Gosselin RE, Smith RP, Hodge JC. 1984. Clinical toxicology of commercial products. 5th ed. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, II-166.
Harper D, Olyphant GA, and Hartke EJ. 1990. Unexpected hydrologic perturbation in an abandoned underground coal mine: Response to surface reclamation? Environmental Geology and Water Sciences 15(3):179-187.
NIOSH/CDC. 1986. Recommendations for occupational safety and health standards. (Supplement to Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 35 No. 15, Sept. 26, 1986).
*PRC Environmental Management, Inc. 1990. Agency review draft, Phase II remedial investigation report.
PRC Environmental Management, Inc. 1991. Feasibility study report, Appendix B, Evaluation of mine subsidence potential.
*Sandmeyer E. 1981. Aromatic hydrocarbons, Chapter 47. In: Clayton and Clayton, eds. Patty's industrial hygiene and toxicology.
*Sittig M. 1985. Handbook of toxic and hazardous chemicals and carcinogens. 2nd ed. Park Ridge, NJ: Noyes Data Corporation, 918.
Alluvial aquifer: An aquifer associated with a stream or river valley.
Ambient air: The air or atmosphere surrounding the site.
Aquifer: A permeable body of rock capable of yielding large amounts of water.
Artesian flow: What occurs when an aquifer is overlain by a water-tight layer of soil or rock, pressurizing the water in the aquifer such that water will flow above the level of the aquifer under its own power without the need of a pump.
Bedrock: The continuous solid rock that forms the earth's crust.
Capture zone: An area where groundwater flow is disrupted, with the water gathered up or captured, and redirected elsewhere.
Carcinogen: Any substance that produces cancer.
Cardiovascular: Pertaining to the heart and blood vessels.
Cataracts: A gradually developing opacity of the eye lens; a common cause of vision loss.
Chronic exposure: An exposure over a period of time.
Enzyme: Proteins which modify or increase the rate of a chemical reaction in living organisms.
EPA: Environmental Protection Agency.
Epidemiology: The study of the spread of diseases.
FDA: The Food and Drug Administration.
Gastrointestinal: The stomach and the intestines.
Groundwater: Water stored beneath the surface in an aquifer.
Hydrogeology: The geology of groundwater, with particular emphasis on the chemistry and movement of water.
Immune system: The body's natural defense system that protects against harmful disease agents.
Infiltration: The movement of water into and through soil or rock.
Ingest: To take into the body, as by swallowing or absorbing.
Leachate: Any liquid that has percolated through, or drains from, an accumulation of buried or underground waste.
Maximum Contaminant Level, MCL: A concentration level determined by the USEPA to be the maximum amount of a chemical allowable in public drinking water.
Noncarcinogenic: Not cancer-causing.
Perched aquifer: An aquifer, recharged by infiltrating rain water, that is underlain by an impermeable or low permeability layer of soil or rock, causing its water to usually discharge to the surface.
Permeable: Allowing water to flow through.
Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons, PAHs: A group of organic chemicals that share a similar chemical structure. They are commonly associated with the burning of fossil fuels, coal, and coal byproducts.
Porous: Soil or rock composed of grains with tiny air or water-filled spaces inbetween.
Unconfined: An aquifer that is exposed to the surface such that the water table corresponds to the top of the saturated (water-filled) zone within the aquifer.
Volatile Organic Compounds, VOCs: Organic compounds that are grouped together based on similar properties. There are many chemicals which are considered VOCs.
Water table: The level below which underground soil or rock is filled or saturated with
groundwater.
