Landfill of old a problem of now

Every day students park, play and walk on what was Seattle's largest landfill -- a place where household trash and industrial pollutants were mixed with unknown hazardous materials to create a class-four Superfund site.

All the UW property between Hec Edmundson Pavilion and U. Village, and between Lake Washington and Montlake Boulevard, was once the destination for 66 percent of Seattle's garbage, but now serves as a way for students to get out of the classroom and into the fresh air.

The landfill -- commonly referred to as the Montlake or Ravenna landfill -- was operated from 1926 to 1966, and was Seattle's largest dump until, in 1966, it was covered and the UW began to build. The Montlake parking lot was paved, the recreational sports facility and sports fields were created, and the driving range was erected.

In 1984, nearly 20 years after the landfill closed, the King County Department of Health conducted a study of the site and found high concentrations of pollutants. It also discovered that though the landfill had not spread since the 1960s, it was sinking into the swamp below. Additionally, the report stated there was no way of knowing what had been dumped in the site, and thus how to treat it.

Although it seems that most of the pollution leached directly into Lake Washington years ago, the wetlands sitting on the old dump site and the sinking of the land are posing new problems.

It is estimated that in 30 years, the Montlake parking lot, the intramural fields and the driving range will be underwater, and the dump will be completely surrounded by water.

Based on what has been uncovered during constriction, along with water tests and soil samples from around Union Bay, the Montlake area has been labeled a "class four" on the Washington Ranking Method, the method to determine Superfund sites in Washington state.

Sites are ranked on a scale from one to five in terms of environmental concern and their comparison to other sites in the state. In this system, a site classified as a one, such as Gasworks Park, requires immediate action. A five, on the other hand, means no further action needs to be taken to ensure safety.

Even though the classification of four means no action is recommended, the area is not necessarily safe. However, it may be a greater risk to take action to clean the area, according to Karen Van Dusen, director of Environmental Health and Safety at the UW.

Since the landfill has been covered, it poses "no immediate threat" to the environment or humans; and since building on it is relatively stable, the University has made use of the "reclaimed" land since 1964. This reclamation has, especially in recent years, sparked controversy over the usage and handling of the site, especially regarding new construction.

Now, 18 years after the 1984 report, various departments within the University are gathering large amounts of information about the health, contamination and history of the area, because UW is responsible for the site.

"We have to know what's down there so we don't forget it again," Van Dusen said.