Brighton Township Dump (Brighton Township, Livingston County)

Rebecca Taylor, TaylorR@Michigan.gov, 517-284-5160.

Please note that this landfill is CLOSED and does not accept waste. 

Brighton Township Dump located on Corlett Drive is a historic dump that accepted wastes during the 1960s and into the early 1970s.  The dump was closed in 1973 without covering or removing wastes. In 1990, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) removed approximately 200 drums and 450 cubic yards of visibly contaminated soil from a ravine-pit near the center of the facility. In 1996, monitoring wells were installed using state funds. In 2002, the State of Michigan removed highly contaminated soil bordering the south wetland. In 2009, the State of Michigan and Brighton Township entered into a consent decree. Brighton Township agreed to pay a portion of past costs incurred by the State of Michigan in exchange for conducting response activities at the dump that included methane monitoring, monitoring well groundwater sampling and annual sampling of residential wells near the dump for a 10-year period if performance objectives were met. The consent decree did not provide for conducting response activities to address emerging contaminants such as PFAS.

Brighton Township agreed to extend the sampling period in 2019 to evaluate volatile organic compound contamination that was found to have entered an adjacent property. On May 14, 2020, five monitoring wells were sampled by Brighton Township's consultant for volatile organic compounds only. EGLE staff collected groundwater samples for PFAS analysis. The sampled monitoring wells are near the wetlands and the residential well on the adjacent property.

There are nine residential wells surrounding the landfill, one of which is near two monitoring wells (one shallow and one deep) where PFOA and PFOS were detected. Brighton Township's consultant sampled the one residential well for VOC's and the result was non-detect.

Groundwater flows to the northwest, and seasonally, in the southeast corner of the landfill, flows to the east.

Content posted May 2021.

Residential wells draw water from sand and gravel deposits and are deeper than the monitoring wells. Clay layers identified in well logs may be protective of the aquifer where potable wells are set. EGLE is working with local health department.

EGLE's consultant will conduct residential well sampling at homes that grant permission in the late Spring 2021. EGLE staff will collect surface water samples from the wetland/pond next to the site in summer of 2021. Monitoring wells at the dump will be sampled in Fall 2020.