Years ago, University of North Carolina (UNC) Hospitals and Department of Chemistry disposed of benzene, chloroform, methylene chloride and trichloroethylene by burying them underground in containers near Horace Williams Airport. Over time the contaminants leaked into the surrounding soil and groundwater. Now, UNC is taking steps to clean things up.

The University first committed to cleaning the area in 2003, when it signed a voluntary agreement with the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The cleanup is expected to cost about $4.5 million and should be finished by the end of the summer. It will not affect the airport's operation, said Larry Daw, an environmental specialist for UNC's Department of Environment, Health and Safety.

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UNC used the site from 1973 to 1979 to dispose of lab chemical waste generated by the campus and what was then N.C. Memorial Hospital. Although it has since been outlawed, burying waste was permissible under state laws at the time.

"It was a common practice in those days to dispose of waste in that manner," Daw said. "After that time period, there were some new laws coming into effect."

Read the full story in The Daily Tar Heel (NC).