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Metamora Landfill, Michigan The Metamora landfill, part of David T. Hanson's Waste Land series, is located just east of Metamora Village in Lapeer County, adjacent to Oakland County, Michigan. Prior to 1966, this site contained mines and excavation areas. However, by 1966, once all of the resources were exhausted, the area was converted into a landfill for household garbage and it remained in use until 1980. Unfortunately, chemical wastes were also deposited at the site. By 1980, the landfill became full and was covered up. Sections named Drum Areas 1 and 4 were thought to be cemeteries for a great deal of chemical wastes. In 1982, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources used a metal detector to locate the dangerous metal drums filled with chemicals, thereby confirming established fears (Filpus et al.). The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been primarily concerned with the volatile organic compounds and what the arsenic in the landfill might do to the 600 or so residents of the city about one mile away. About 10 per cent of Metamora's population drinks groundwater that may be contaminated with arsenic and volatile organic compounds from the landfill (EPA). During the 1990's, the EPA began to clean up the Metamora landfill and sue the responsible parties. By 2001, after exhuming and moving the chemical waste elsewhere, it capped the landfill again. As of June 2005, the groundwater remains unpurified (EPA).
Selected Bibliography Filpus, John, James Bedford, John L. Hesse, et al. "Metamora Landfill Public Health Assessment." Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 24 March 1992. Weblink.
"Metamora Landfill." Environmental Protection Agency, June 2005. Weblink. Metamora Landfill, Michigan Pictures in the Gallery 
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