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DPW seeks funds to repair Millersville landfill closed cells and prepare for PFAS monitoring/remediation
Summary
DPW presented FY26 requests to use the Solid Waste financial assurance fund for closed‑cell repairs at Millersville, to increase planning for PFAS monitoring and to create a contingency for extending public water if private well impacts are identified; officials said ongoing groundwater monitoring and a partnership with UMBC guide the efforts.
At the Anne Arundel County Council’s May 22 departmental budget hearing, Department of Public Works waste‑management officials asked the council to appropriate Solid Waste financial-assurance funds to repair localized erosion on closed landfill areas and outlined new planning for PFAS monitoring, private‑well responses and a contingency for public‑water extensions if required.
Repairs and financial-assurance funding Rody Holthouse, deputy director for Waste Management Services, said DPW performed a study of closed-cell conditions and identified multiple small erosion and slope‑repair sites on top of the Millersville landfill’s filled cells. DPW requested to appropriate $1.6 million from the Solid Waste financial assurance fund to complete the repairs and reduce long‑term maintenance risk. Holthouse said the fund is paid by current users and is intended to meet future closed‑site obligations.
PFAS monitoring and private-well contingency Holthouse and Karen Henry said the department has expanded leachate sampling and partnered with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) on PFAS monitoring and hotspot identification. DPW noted state testing and regulatory attention are increasing and asked for placeholder capital planning to retrofit on‑site leachate treatment if regulators require PFAS removal before discharge. Holthouse also reminded the council that the county has historically offered to replace private drinking wells affected by landfill-related contamination; staff said replacements since 1995 number 38, with a current approximate per‑well cost near $100,000 when property access and treatment systems are included.
Water-transmission contingency DPW said it has a contingency project in the long‑range plan to extend public water transmission in areas near the Millersville landfill if PFAS or other contaminants require connections rather than private-well responses. The transmission project was programmed as a design placeholder (design request cited at roughly $2.2 million in FY31) to allow the county to reactivate or construct a public-water option if monitoring shows that is the appropriate remedy.
Next steps No formal council action was taken on May 22 during the DPW presentation. DPW said it will return with a formal appropriation request and more detailed project schedules and cost estimates for any PFAS-treatment retrofits or closed‑cell repairs proposed for FY26 appropriations.
