I work at Anne Arundel Community College, in Arnold, MD. The campus was a farm about 50 years ago. I heard from a local historian that the owner allowed people to dump on certain parts of his property for a fee. This info was confirmed when I found a county document from five years ago detailing the locations of 'private' dumps and proposing cleanup solutions.
The interesting thing is that I believe I found the dumpsite, but this whole hill behind the school (the parking lot) has clusters of these pipe caps all over the place. Could these possibly be caps for pipes that vent methane? Or are they all monitor wells? If so, why would they be clustered?
If my theory is correct, does it mean that the entire hillside parking lot is built on top of a landfill?
Thanks for your help! I think you've all confirmed what I was thinking.