(WSBT) After a delay of 30 years, the cleanup at an EPA Superfund site in Elkhart may finally get under way.

The EPA says the old Himco dump site has caused pollution and water contamination since it closed in the mid 1970s.

Now the companies that dumped there and the EPA are wrapping up an agreement to clean up the site.

The old dump site has been the source of complaints by neighbors for years. The EPA says in some cases hazardous chemical and medical waste was buried there. It says that waste and other debris dumped there caused long standing problems with water pollution.

“Since I was in high school this site has been a problem for the community where all sorts of things have been dumped before they were concerned about environmental contamination,” explained Elkhart’s Mayor Dave Miller.

The EPA has been in talks with companies that dumped there.

After years of such talks it’s reached a settlement for cleanup with 30 such companies.

"So we finally have resolution in sight, partnerships built, and they are anteing up something over $12 million to clean this site and put it back in to good use for the community,” said Miller.

That money would be used to put in a fence around the entire 60-acre dump site, hook up 39 nearby homes into city water and cover the entire site with top soil after all the garbage, trash and debris that’s buried there has been removed.

Pat Rumfelt, who lives on the edge of the dump site, was hooked into city water several years ago. She didn't think cleanup of the site would ever happen.

"I was praying to God that this would happen before I die and I just about gave up,” Rumfelt said. “I just can't talk about this subject without getting very angry.”

A community meeting later this year will explain the cleanup plans and a time table for the work.