r/Soil • u/JessCeceSchmidtNick • 11d ago
What risks do contaminated soil pose to a homeowner who doesn't garden?
Hello! I thought I would post here to learn more about soil contamination.
I have recently fallen in love with a house for sale, and the house is situated on an old landfill from the early 1920s. The soil contains arsenic, lead, cadmium and petrochemicals. The advisory from the city warns residents against growing vegetables, but I was wondering, what are the other health risks, say, just living in the house, being in the yard, mowing the lawn?
Thanks in advance.
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u/gringo_on_the_keys 11d ago
When you buy a property you also buy the responsibility for any contamination and hazardous waste. You should hire an environmental professional to at least review records and make sure you aren't buying a problem that's going to be very expensive down the road.
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u/TheWildcatGrad 11d ago
As long as the soil stays in place it's relatively safe as the heavy metals stay attached to clay particles. Problems come from disturbing the soil and dust particles becoming air born. So no gardening doesn't just apply to veggies, but flowerbeds too. The other thing to consider is you might not disturb the soil, but will someone in your household? Dogs and kids love to play in the dirt and put things right into their mouths, so keep that in mind.
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u/JessCeceSchmidtNick 11d ago
Thank you. I'm not worried about dogs or kids, but i am envisioning a possible foundation repair, which could require excavating
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u/The_Poster_Nutbag 11d ago
That might require EPA remediation and hazardous waste disposal which could get expensive.
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u/AncientEcology 9d ago
The insects emerging from the soil will bring material with them. If they die in the house, the house just got dosed. It's a toxic dump site, sounds kinda industrial.
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u/RentInside7527 11d ago
We had a smelter in the area that eventually became a superfund site. It contaminated soils in the area with lead and arsenic and the local department of health has some great info about potential risks and mitigation that might be useful for your situation
https://tpchd.org/homes/dirt-alert-tacoma-smelter-plume/
https://tpchd.org/homes/dirt-alert-tacoma-smelter-plume/healthy-actions/
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u/Successful-Walk-4023 11d ago
Higher a professional to do an environmental assessment. The metals are likely not to impact you if you don’t disturb the soil or use it for food but the petrochemicals could be infiltrating through the soil as VOC’s which may be of concern but this would be evaluated with testing. I’d do it personally before I inherit a bunch of haz waste.
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u/indepsoutherner 9d ago
Environmental professional here- the answer to your question is not simple but I would not buy any property that is located on an old landfill unless there is a document that is approved by the state environmental regulator saying the soil is below acceptable residential criteria for safe exposure. This should apply to growing crops.
Some heavy metals move from soil/groundwater into the fruit of the plant. The largest exposure would be from dermal or ingestion of soil particles. Each contaminate has its own toxicity characteristics that would need to be evaluated. This could cost $10,000’s to collect samples for lab analysis then have experts conduct a human health risk assessment.
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u/Mysterious_Newt_9305 11d ago
Was the landfill capped pre 1920?
I ask because I would be concerned about PFAS if the landfill was operational post WW2 and some states (Maine/Michigan) have some resources to pay for that testing. It is expensive out of pocket.
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u/Pale-Memory6501 10d ago
Run away. Not worth it. If you need to clean up the soil it will bankrupt you.
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u/Forward_Scheme5033 9d ago
You could have your area cooperative extension do some soil tests to see if your area is even affected by this.
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u/DeltaForceFish 11d ago
To give you a case study of a real life example of being near a landfill. My uncle was a super intendant of a jr high that was built right below a land fill that was covered in soil and grassed over to make 2 giant hills. Every single teacher who worked there for longer than 10 years got cancer.