Closed, Illegal and Abandoned (CIA) Disposal Sites

Site Characterization

• Site identification
• Site access
• Documentation
• Follow-up actions

Site identification

A CIA site may be identified and located by one of several methods:

• Research and information request through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) from counties, cities, and municipal public works agencies for former municipal disposal sites. Public works records may have maps and drawings showing the location of former municipal disposal sites.
• Research of rescinded Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) waste discharge requirements (WDR) for disposal sites operated from the 1960s–1980s. Former sites may also be included under the air and water Solid Waste Assessment Testing (SWAT) program.
• Sites can be identified through complaints or notification from private individuals discovering a site (for example, developers and geotechnical consultants discovering waste during routine construction activities). The reporting party may notify the LEA by anonymous means, whereupon the LEA visits the site and determines if the site is in violation of the minimum requirements for compliance.
• The LEA may discover new CIA sites while conducting inspections of nearby facilities or known CIA sites.
• Interviews with local fire department, waste hauler personnel, and local developers or construction contractors may provide information on past disposal practices and the location of former disposal sites (contact information for local fire departments can be found by visiting the "counties" or "cities" links above.)
• Sites can be identified through historical aerial photos, general plans, and solid waste management plans. City and county historical societies may have information on past municipal disposal practices.
• U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) maps depicting gravel mining operations should be reviewed to determine if any local mines were reclaimed for landfilling.

(Select each image to see a larger version. Use your "back" button to return.)

	TerraServer aerial photo of 14th Avenue Landfill, Sacramento County(41 KB)	U.S. Geological Survey topographical map of 14th Avenue Landfill, Sacramento County (44 KB)

• Transfer stations and legacy illegal disposal sites have been located over old municipal landfills.
• Burn sites are usually collocated with active permitted landfills.
• Wastewater treatment plants have been sited over old municipal disposal areas.

When a CIA site is located, it is the responsibility of the enforcement agency to inspect the site pursuant to  Title 14, California Code of Regulations (14 CCR) sections 18083 and 18303.  A procedure was developed for investigating and evaluating such sites.  This procedure—termed the Site Investigation Process (SIP)—provides a method that allows the LEA and the Board staff to evaluate and identify a CIA site and to assess and determine the magnitude of potential hazard a CIA site might have on public health and safety and the environment.

The SIP provides: 

• A standard investigation procedure for a one-time evaluation of CIA sites.
• Guidance for classification of sites with respect to public health and safety and the environment.
• A mechanism to ensure rapid response for sites requiring emergency action to protect public health and safety and the environment, or enforcement action to clean up illegal dumping.
• A mechanism to identify sites that warrant no further LEA action and therefore eliminate their inspection requirement in the LEA's Enforcement Program Plan (EPP).
• A mechanism to document the acceptability of reduced inspection frequency at appropriate sites.
• A technical basis for determination of appropriate closure, remediation, or corrective action and enforcement follow up.

Site access

Should an LEA be denied site access, an inspection warrant may be necessary.  The LEA should contact its legal counsel for the proper procedures for obtaining an inspection warrant. A site access form (MS Word, 22 KB | Adobe PDF, 24 KB) is available for use. Statutory authority for site access can be found 

Documentation

Two forms have been developed to assist in providing documentation on the investigation of CIA sites:

• Site Identification Form (MS Word, 47 KB or Adobe PDF, 13 KB).
• Site Assessment Form (MS Word, 150 KB Adobe PDF, 15 KB).

Although LEAs are not required to use these SIP forms, LEAs are encouraged to complete the forms to identify a new CIA site or to characterize an existing site pursuant to their EPP. The following discussion of the SIP forms and process is illustrated in the SIP flowchart.

Site Identification Form. This form compiles basic information on land use on and adjacent to the site, waste type, disposal history, and current site conditions. The form is completed using a preliminary review of site information and a field inspection. A limited site investigation may be necessary to complete the form.

Guidance on obtaining property ownership information (for example, titles and deeds, assessor parcel maps, etc.) can be found on the Phase I office investigation page of the CIA Web site. Useful aerial photographic information, which can provide geographical coordinates (latitude and longitude) and provide land-use and adjacent land-use information, is also available.

A goal of the Solid Waste Information System (SWIS) used by CIWMB to track CIA sites is to use Geographical Information System (GIS) software to organize data by geographical location. In order to use this software, each CIA site must have latitude and longitude coordinates. If the site’s address or general map location is known, internet resources such as Microsoft's TerraServer Web site, or software such as “USA Street Atlas” can be used to find the latitude and longitude coordinates for a site if you do not have access to a hand-held Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. The following is an example of a TerraServer product: 1993 Aerial Photo, Pleasanton Landfill.

The form provides for an LEA "recommendation" to indicate whether the site warrants emergency response due to immediate threat to public health and safety and the environment, action under local ordinances to clean up illegal dumping, completion of the Site Assessment Form, or no further action. Examples of instances where no further action is warranted include sites:

• Whose wastes have been removed (clean closure).
• Where disposal of solid waste cannot be confirmed, small sites which contain inert wastes.
• That do not fall under LEA jurisdiction (hazardous waste sites).

Site Assessment Form. This form contains questions whose answers determine potential threats to public health and safety and the environment. It tabulates detailed information on disposal site characteristics, landfill gas emissions, leachate seeps, burn ash exposures, and postclosure land use. Once the form is completed, the site classification can be established using the information.

Disposal site classification categories "A," "B," and "C" respectively refer to confirmed, suspected, or not confirmed or suspected gas migration or leachate seeps, burn ash, or putrescible material exposures with significant threat of pollution or nuisance or public health threat. Classification categories A and B and emergency conditions, as determined in the Site Identification Form, could lead to corrective action(s). Category "C" sites warrant minimal action(s) to prevent human or animal contact with waste and action(s) to ensure postclosure land use is compatible with protection of public health and safety and the environment. 

Although the previous SIP advisory stated that burn dumps would likely be in the "C" category, recent experience indicates that burn dumps should be in category "A" or "B" if public health hazards exist or there is nearby development. However, if burn dumps are adequately closed, they would be in the "C" category. 

Category "D" sites should warrant no further action. Inert sites should be in this category if there is no active dumping. Also, sites which were clean-closed would be category "D" sites. Category “U” (unconfirmed) sites are sites where the disposal of solid waste can be neither confirmed nor denied. Category “X” (not a solid waste disposal site) sites are sites where no solid waste disposal has occurred or sites which do not fall under the jurisdiction of the LEA (for example, hazardous waste sites regulated by the Department of Toxic Substances Control).

The number following the "A," "B," and "C" category designations indicates the proximity of the site to public and environmental receptors as defined by postclosure land uses. The Board approved the SIP classification categories as part of a Solid Waste Clean-up Program Board item in December 2001.

Follow-up actions

If the applicable closure requirements were not implemented at the time waste acceptance ceased, the site is subject to all of the existing closure requirements contained in Title 27, California Code of Regulations (27 CCR).  In general, sites that accepted waste after October 18, 1984, with wastes left in place, must have a final cover that includes a low-permeability layer.

Regardless of the last date waste was accepted, should the site pose a threat to public health and safety or the environment, or be a significant nuisance, the minimum closure standards should be applied. Pursuant to 27 CCR section 21100 (d), LEAs can implement the closure regulations as necessary or appropriate. Staff in the Board's Closed, Illegal and Abandoned Site Section can provide both office and field investigation assistance to obtain information and data that will quantify site conditions as they relate to State minimum standards for the purpose of enforcement actions and remedial scoping.

Also, new postclosure activities that could jeopardize the integrity of previously closed sites or pose a potential threat to public health and safety or the environment will also invoke the closure requirements. Please see LEA Advisory No. 51 for further guidance on postclosure land use.

LEAs may refer sites that pose a significant threat to public health and safety and the environment, where the responsible parties either cannot be identified, have no financial resources, or are recalcitrant and unresponsive to enforcement action, to the Board's Solid Waste Disposal and Codisposal (AB 2136) Program for potential follow-up action.

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Last updated: April 18, 2008