JOHNSTON – Nearly four weeks after being ordered to clean up an unauthorized landfill located in a wooded area just behind Johnston-Edgefield-Trenton Middle School, the Edgefield County School District is almost finished with the job.

The district was not allowed to remove the tons of debris and trash which had filled the pit initially as officials with the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control swooped in to conduct an investigation and take numerous soil samples in the area.

District director of facilities and maintenance, Mr. James Courtney, said Tuesday they have been able to proceed with the project, which was estimated to cost the district around $3,500.

By Thursday of last week, the agency had done enough testing to allow the district to proceed with the cleanup, which included the removal of the debris in and around the pit and having the pit itself refilled. All that remains now of the former site – which reportedly was filled to between 15 and 18 feet with debris (only around four to five feet of debris was evident on the surface before the cleanup effort began – is a small pile of debris which includes tires, some shingles and general trash and waste material.   

In addition to a pair of warnings signs which had been placed around the entrance to the area, a heavy wire now crosses the driveway to prevent vehicles from entering the site.

Department of Health and Environmental Control spokesman Thom Berry said the cleanup did not put an end to the agency’s entire investigation.

Before that can happen, more lab work and test results must be completed.

“They have dug out the pit and removed everything in the pit itself and they are supposed to come out and remove all of the items that were around the area as well,” Berry said Tuesday. “They hired someone to come in and remove the material, but that does not necessarily conclude things. It concludes things for that part of it, but not for the investigation.

“For that part, we need to have our tests back from the samples taken from inside the trench itself,” Berry added. “We’re waiting for those samples to come back now. And depending upon what the samples say there may be some additional work that is required (of the district). We’ll just have to wait on that and see what it tells us.”