Man digging swimming pool discovers home was built on landfill

Brian Dyer of Lakeland, Florida, was tired of taking his wife and kids to water parks in Orlando . He thought it would be much easier to dig a pool in his backyard. He was wrong. When the pool company started excavating, it began bringing up load after load of trash. Pulling out tyres, lawn mowers, even a washing machine.



The more they dug, the more they found. It turns out that somewhere along the line someone had used their lot as an illegal dump site. "As they started digging a little more, it was just a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach to see what they were bringing up with each scoop," Dyer said. At one time, the land was an orange grove. Polk County has no record of it ever be used as a landfill.

It is unclear how big the problem is. The junk could be buried under the Dyer's home in the Oak Run subdivision in North Lakeland. It may even extend to other parts of their neighbourhood. One of the biggest issues is: who is going to pay to clean up the mess? The company that developed the land is out of business. The builder and Polk County say they are not liable.


YouTube link.

That leaves Dyer holding the trash bag. Until they figure out the extent of situation, it is impossible to even guess how much the clean up will cost. The price could go even higher if the Department of Environmental Protection determines that the trash is contaminating the soil or water.