Most of us know what surrounds our homes: the schools, parks, shopping centers, and roads. But many Wake County residents may not know what lies beneath some of them.

North Carolina’s official inventory identifies 34 pre-regulatory landfills and dumps in Wake County. These are not simply the large, modern landfills most of us picture. The list includes old municipal dumps and private disposal sites in Raleigh, Cary, Apex, Garner, Holly Springs, Fuquay-Varina, Morrisville, Knightdale, Wake Forest, Rolesville, Wendell and Zebulon. Recorded locations include Wade Avenue, Capital Boulevard, Dorothea Dix, Bass Lake Road, Newspaper Way, and residential or commercial properties.

That does not mean every site is dangerous. It does mean we should know which sites have been thoroughly investigated, what was found, and whether monitoring or protective measures remain necessary.

The timing could not be more urgent. A July 2026 performance audit by the North Carolina Office of the State Auditor found that 534 of the state’s 688 known pre-regulatory landfill sites, 78%, had never entered the formal investigation phase as of June 30, 2025. In that phase, environmental professionals seek access, collect samples, and determine the extent of contamination. Sites still classified as “Activity Pending” are awaiting that work and are not actively monitored, according to the audit.

The audit also reported that approximately 84% of the state’s old landfill sites are within 1,000 feet of at least one residence, school, day care, church, or drinking-water well. Of the 97 sites that had reached the investigation stage, 23 recorded methane above its lower explosive limit. Those statewide findings do not prove similar hazards at every Wake County site. They show why testing matters, and why an address on a government list is not the same as an assurance of safety.

Why monitor dumps that closed half a century ago? Because many pre-regulation sites had no engineered liner, leachate collection, or modern controls over what could be discarded.

Rainwater can move through buried waste and carry contaminants into groundwater or nearby streams. Methane can accumulate or migrate, creating fire and explosion hazards. Other chemical vapors can move through soil and enter buildings—a pathway known as vapor intrusion. Construction or erosion can expose contaminated soil, medical waste, or asbestos- containing material. These risks may cross property lines, and a clean-looking surface tells us little about conditions underground.

Wake County provides striking examples. The East Wake County Landfill in Knightdale is ranked first on the state’s April 2025 risk-priority list. It has advanced to remedial planning, but the audit says further progress has been impeded by property conditions and owner access issues. Old Raleigh Landfill No. 8 is also in remedial action planning, with additional investigation and vapor intrusion work needed. The Cary Dump and Old Raleigh Landfill No. 1 have had their active investigations delayed due to access issues.

At Gill Street Park in Zebulon, a former dump that operated at least during the 1960s, lead was discovered near the surface during redevelopment-related testing. The park’s closure and follow-up work demonstrate an uncomfortable truth: sometimes an old dump receives serious attention only when redevelopment, construction, or another outside event forces the question.

Consider Elwood Pines Dump, listed at 180 Newspaper Way in Holly Springs. Records indicate that it operated from about 1953 to 1973. 

A preliminary assessment documented visible debris, including drum remnants, metal, glass, tires, appliances, and construction materials. Today, the reference address is occupied by a self-storage business, with homes nearby. Yet publicly available state records do not show that this site has completed the comprehensive investigation needed to establish the full waste boundary and characterize possible contamination. That is not proof of present danger; it is a consequential unanswered question.

There has been progress. Three Wake County sites, Walton’s Sanitation Service Dump in Morrisville, the Rolesville Dump, and the N.C. Department of Agriculture Landfill in Raleigh, have reached “No Further Action” status. But that designation does not always mean every piece of buried waste was removed. It means identified risks were controlled to the level required by the state through removal, containment, land-use restrictions or other measures.

Wake County and its municipalities should now create one clear, public-facing dashboard that shows every known old landfill, its mapped waste boundary, investigation status, sampling results, land-use restrictions, and next scheduled action. State lawmakers should provide DEQ with enough investigators and cleanup funding to address high-priority sites within years, not generations. Local governments should also require an environmental-record review before approving redevelopment on or beside a known disposal site.

We should neither frighten residents with claims unsupported by testing nor reassure them without evidence. The responsible answer is transparency, investigation and follow-through.

Wake County’s growth is transforming yesterday’s outskirts into today’s neighborhoods. We cannot change what previous generations buried. But we can insist that what lies beneath our communities no longer remains buried in government files.

Karee White is a veteran, author, and longtime Wake County journalist whose investigation into the county’s pre-regulatory landfills began with reporting she conducted approximately 15 years ago on one of the county’s old dump sites. Her inquiry brought greater regulatory attention to the property, and she has now widened that lens to examine all 34 known pre-regulatory landfill sites in Wake County. She is married to Jim White, a 2026 candidate for Wake County Soil and Water District Supervisor.