What is next for the Dunbar community?

The smell is gone. The sludge is gone.

Since 2017, WINK News has been sharing the story of people in the Dunbar community living at a site where the city dumped toxic waste for decades. Now, neighbors are breathing easier. But, the fight is not over yet.

Annie Freeman likes the view from her house a lot better now. Over the past couple of months, 1,200 hundred trucks were removing the 30,000 tons of materials in Dunbar.

“The smell isn’t as bad as it used to be,” said Theresa Cannady, who lives in the area.

Neighbors were not worried about the overgrown brush. The sludge from a water treatment facility was dumped for years in the 1960s without their knowledge. Test show arsenic levels are above the standard drinking level.

“It do worry us, but we can’t do anything about that,” Freeman said. “I’m glad that they’re working on it.”

While the Department of Environmental Protection deemed the area non-hazardous, it said groundwater is not a drinking option. But, neighbors played in the sludge and drank from the well waters during the dumping. More than 200 of them filed a lawsuit against the city last year.

“I should have been warned before I build my house over here,” Cannady said, “because if I had known, I wouldn’t have built my house over here.”

Now, they want to see the site planted in the middle of their neighborhood put to good use. Neighbors should be getting a survey in the mail about the city’s options for a green space next week.

“Something for the kids to play,” Cannady said. “Basketball court, tennis court, recreation center.”