A pile of junk and debris township officials excavated in the Daytona Avenue junkyard.

Tom Perkins | For AnnArbor.com

The Environmental Protection Agency is testing soil in an illegal junkyard discovered buried near Ford Lake in Ypsilanti Township.

An EPA representative said it’s too early to speculate on what is in the ground or what kind of cleanup might be necessary, but said it's unlikely Ford Lake has been contaminated.

P.C. Lall, an on-scene coordinator with the EPA's Grosse Ille office, said the agency began inspecting the site on June 3, using ground-penetrating radar. Of particular interest are any kind of containers that could be filled with oil or other pollutants.

The test works by checking the ground for “anomalies," or objects that shouldn’t be there. Lall said officials have already found anomalies, but declined to discuss what could be buried or how deep until results are available later this week.

The lot is owned by Ypsilanti Township resident George Madison and located on Daytona Avenue, some 1,685 feet from Ford Lake and above aquifers that possibly feed into the lake.

Lall said the site is far enough from Ford Lake that even if containers with pollutants are buried there, they likely wouldn’t have had time to affect the lake yet. He said contaminants seep through groundwater slowly, and it would likely take several years for contaminants to leak from containers and move to the lake. Officials suspect the junk was buried in March.

Lall also said officials are unsure what direction the groundwater is moving and still must determine if it flows south toward the lake.

“We don’t have any reason to believe Ford Lake will be impacted,” he said.

Regardless of whether or not the lake is affected, the EPA could still find the need for a major cleanup. In that case, officials would excavate the contaminated soil, remove it and repack the land with fresh soil. Lall said junk only appears to be buried in small pockets on the land, so the entire site likely won’t require excavation.

Preliminary tests conducted by interim Ypsilanti Township Fire Marshal Vic Chevrette, who is on the Washtenaw County hazardous materials team, found petroleum and high acid levels in groundwater on the site.

The EPA is testing soil at the site of an illegal junkyard in Ypsilanti Township.

Tom Perkins | For AnnArbor.com

To pay for a cleanup, the EPA would first seek funds from the responsible party or property owner. If that person cannot pay, then federal “superfund” dollars would be utilized. The superfund is a pot of money set aside for major environmental cleanups when responsible parties cannot pay. Officials could seek repayment if the fund were used, Lall said.

Township officials discovered Madison’s lot in April. A one-acre paved portion was filled with cars, trucks, dump trucks, car parts, boats, an engine hoist, garbage cans, debris and canisters full of chemicals.

The site was declared a public nuisance in August, and Washtenaw County Circuit Court Judge Timothy Connors ordered Madison to clear the property and return it to its natural state. Madison told the township the property was cleared and ready for inspection over the winter, and building inspectors went to evaluate the yard in March.

Suspecting some items were buried, officials used a backhoe to dig several test holes approximately 10 feet in diameter and 10 feet deep. In the holes, they found a variety of items including gas cans, tires, metal pieces, a bowling ball, car parts, various chemical containers and other items. Once the hole got about two feet deep, Township Building Director Ron Fulton said, officials found groundwater.

Madison denied any wrongdoing at a recent hearing and told township officials that a hired company managed the cleanup. A new hearing is set for June 23 while officials and the court await the results of the EPA testing.

“It seems obvious that somebody buried garbage back there,” Fulton said. “There’s scrap, and a combination of tires, metal and old containers. That much is obvious, but as far as knowing who did it, so far, that’s up in the air.”