Early maps of SaddleBrooke Ranch Planned Area Development (PAD) referred to the Page-Trowbridge radioactive/toxic waste landfill as an "experimental ranch". 

Current maps of the planned community do not mention the radioactive/toxic waste landfill at all. The web page containing the map by Robson Communities showing proposed land use for SaddleBrooke Ranch may be viewed by clicking HERE.

Outline of SaddleBrooke Ranch

Most of the boundary lines delimiting SaddleBrooke Ranch do not appear unusual -- they follow  straight lines or the lines of existing washes. 

However, on the top right edge of the property there is a notch, which seems slightly unusual --- why doesn't this boundary merely go in a straight line?

SaddleBrooke Ranch & It's Surroundings (click on the map for larger view -- 172 kb)

If a composite of couple of these images are made, we can obtain an aerial view of the area around SaddleBrooke Ranch and overlay our drawn copy of the SaddleBrook Ranch outline on that view. 

Inspection of the aerial view reveals:

• The northern boundary of SaddleBrooke Ranch abuts the property containing the Page-Trowbridge radioactive/toxic waste landfill.

• The notch is an area of land directly south of the Page-Trowbridge radioactive/toxic waste landfill. 

The image below shows a larger version of the area around the notch.  Both units of the Page-Trowbridge radioactive/toxic waste landfill are visible in this image. 

The Terraserver image of the Page-Trowbridge radioactive/toxic waste landfill was taken on July 25^th, 1995 before the caps were installed over Unit A and Unit B.

The pox like lesions of raw land visible in both units are probably places where the vegetation had not yet grown over the holes dug  into the earth and used to contain the radioactive and toxic waste that was poured into them several years earlier. 

In 1988, tests on the unsaturated zone above the water table, showed high concentrations of hazardous compounds throughout the study area (click on image for larger view)

From the official report¹ of these tests, we learn that a soil gas surveys are an excellent, cost effective and commonly accepted means of detecting contaminants in groundwater and/or soil (emphasis supplied):
 

Soil gas surveys consist of the sampling  and analysis of the soil gases that resides in the pore space of the unsaturated zone above the water table.  Because many of the common organic compounds and industrial solvents  exhibit significant vapor pressures and are relatively insoluble in water, their introduction into subsurface soils results in vapor phase permeation and transport.  Should these chemicals reach the water table and travel with the groundwater, vapors will continue to emanate from the contaminated groundwater into overlying soil.  Thus, organic contamination of the subsurface or groundwater can be detected by measuring the concentration of volatile organics in the soil gas.

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In any case, soil gas can be an excellent relative indicator of soil and/or groundwater contamination.  The technique is now commonly accepted by state and federal agencies as a cost-effective reconnaissance tool to discover contamination or provide a measure of its distribution².

The report also contains graphical figures showing the distribution of some of the compounds³: 

Several figures were prepared showing the distribution of those environmentally important compounds found at high concentrations throughout the study area.  Figure 3 presents soil gas data for chloroform, found in the greatest abundance in samples collected around Unit A.  Figure 4 shows the distribution of chloroform detected in high amounts in and around disposal Unit B.

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Figure 4. Chloroform concentrations in Area B (click on the image for larger view)

The outer rectangle represents the size of the charting area used, the inner rectangle represents the boundary of Unit (Area) B, and the topographical-like lines represent concentrations of chloroform as indicted by the soil gas tests.

As can be seen by looking at the chart, the hazardous compound chloroform was found 200 feet south of the southern boundary of Area (Unit) B 12 years ago, in July of 1988).

Figure 4. Chloroform concentrations in Area B with color coding (click on the image for larger view)

Aerial Image of Page-Trowbridge radioactive/ toxic waste landfill, July 25, 1995 (click on the image for larger view)

Aerial Image of Page-Trowbridge radioactive/ toxic showing chloroform concentration as of 12 years ago (click on the image for larger view)

SUMMARY OF RESULTS

       A soil gas survey was performed at the Page-Trowbridge Ranch Landfill site to evaluate the extent of organic contamination on site.  Analytes included total hydrocarbons, aromatic species, and chlorinated hydrocarbons.

       Two freons, trichlorotrifluoroethane (Freon TF) and fluorotrichloromethane (Freon12) were detected in the highest abundance around disposal Area A.  Freon TF ranged from 0.28 ug/l to 536 u/l.

       The highest-concentration, generally distributed, environmentally hazardous compounds around Area A included chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, TCE and PCE.

In Area B the predominant compound was chloroform which was found in concentrations ranging from 7.21 ug/l to 277 ug/l.  Also found, but at lower levels, were carbon tetrachloride, trichlorotrifluorethane, fluorotrichlorome- thane, and TCE.