Landfill in Loudoun Makes List of Most Hazardous U.S. Sites

Goodfriend said the county treats such concerns seriously but has not confirmed that any illnesses are directly linked to the water.

"We're not aware of any health effects in people or animals directly tied to the TCE," he said.

Goodfriend said it took more than a decade to detect a pattern of contaminated wells because of an old practice by local health officials of simply notifying the well's property owner rather than also testing surrounding areas.

"We now realize the advantage of taking that additional step of, when we do see an abnormal testing result, to look at surrounding properties . . . to see if this may be a reflection of groundwater contamination," he said.

Loudoun Supervisor Andrea McGimsey (D-Potomac), whose district includes the landfill, called the issue "personal," saying a friend whose home is bounded by the landfill has health problems and suspects they were caused by TCE.

"That uncertainty, that feeling of not being safe in your own home, that's really the core issue," McGimsey said.

DeJonghe said that he is pleased by the Superfund listing because it promises to bring closure to the issue but that the area should have been cleaned up long ago.

"I'm frustrated that the state turned a blind eye to it," he said. "If there's TCE in somebody's wells, it's coming from somewhere. It's not natural."

The EPA attempts to make the parties responsible for the contamination pay for the cleanup; otherwise the government does.

Hidden Lane's former owners, Philip Smith and Albert Moran, are dead, and the property was passed to their estates.

The EPA declined to specify who might be held responsible for the pollution.

"We're still conducting research into determining who the potential responsible parties could be," Seneca said. "We're focused on the cleanup."

Heather Stevenson, an attorney with McGuire Woods in Richmond who represents the Moran estate, declined to comment.