"COLUMBIA, S.C. — Groundwater at a large landfill in lower Richland County, S.C., continues to show signs of harmful pollution, despite more than a decade of cleanup efforts."

"While contamination levels are dropping in many groundwater samples at the Northeast Landfill, pollution hot spots persist at the 23-year-old disposal site a mile from Cook's Mountain near Eastover, S.C., state records show.

Toxic materials, known as volatile organic compounds, showed up in four on-site monitoring wells late last year and earlier this year, according to a June 30 consulting report filed with the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

One of the monitoring wells near the center of the landfill registered levels of trichloroethylene exceeding state safe drinking water standards, records show. The state standard is 5 parts per billion; the well registered levels exceeding 7 parts per billion in late 2010 and again in early 2011, the consulting report says."

Sammy Fretwell reports for the Columbia (SC) State [2].