I understand your concern. In a residential situation it's doubtful there is enough volume of toxic stuff down there to be an environmental disaster.

Probably best to clean it out with machinery - get someone with a small backhoe to scoop it out. Rent a rolloff dumpster and put the stuff in it. It will cost you a few hundred but it'll be done.

There might be some paint residue or whatever in there, but landfilling that kind of stuff is only controlled for businesses. Residences get a pass, although of course it's best to take known hazardous stuff to a haz waste dropoff or recycler.

If anything obvious is found like whole car batteries, pull them out and dispose properly. All the rest of the trash and dirt can go to the landfill. It's lined, and believe me it gets plenty of this crap from everyone else. Not ideal, but it's reality.

Now, if it comes out glowing green and reeking of Love Canal, you might have a different problem, but I doubt it will.

Fill it with sand and cement the thing closed.
You can close it up after you put the cat in it.

actually, if it's mostly metal like you seem to be saying it is, take the contents to your local scrap yard. If you don't know what *kind* of metals it is, or don't feel like sorting, tin is still going for 9cents a pound. Car batteries are worth about 20 cents a pound, working or not

Do you have well water or city water? Drinking water contamination is something to think about.

Is this a cistern...or an old cesspool? That alone might dictate which way to go. The other is whether there is city or well water in the neighborhood - and whether there are any close neighbors.

As a real estate appraiser who has valued several "superfund" sites, environmental issues can and do affect value - big time. I've seen situations so bad that the land - a prime, corner retail site in one case - had a *negative* value about double what the land was worth if free and clear, the cost of mitigation being so high.

As the recipient of such a dubious 'gift' from the previous owners, you may be able to employ the "innocent landowner" defense if things go bad - legal-wise. You might even be able to get the prior owner to pay for the cleanup - but you have to be able to prove the knuckleheads knew about/caused it. I've seen other cases where parties two or more owners back in the chain of title were held legally responsible, but this was with big corporate entities with deep pockets.

You may want to contact an environmental firm and ask for "Phase One" report.

Good luck

The innocent landowner defense to CERCLA only applies if the owner did a Phase 1 *prior* to purchasing and was therefore aware of contamination that was there before they took ownership. But I think this is getting way too far down the road with our poster. It is much more likely it's an old cistern, etc. that they threw trash into. Let's not worry about it becoming a Superfund site just yet!

A Phase 1 will give you property history and ownership, but with a rural residence that's not going to tell you anything about who put what into this thing. The cost of a Phase 1 is a couple thousand dollars, which is enough to pay someone to bring in a backhoe, dig out the trash and haul it to the landfill.

I wonder if our poster will come back and check in...