JOHNSTON, S.C. --- Cleanup work should begin soon on an unauthorized landfill on Edgefield County School District property near Johnston-Edgefield-Trenton Middle School, officials say.

The health department is conducting tests at the site, and school district officials say they're waiting for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control to tell them when to proceed. Signs have also been placed to keep people from using the site.

"As soon as they get the results and everything is OK, then we can start," said James Courtney, the district's director of facilities and maintenance. "That's what we're waiting on right now."

He said he expects the testing results today or Thursday.

Mr. Courtney said he has already placed the job up for bid because the district does not own the equipment necessary to do it.

"We stayed as local as we could," he said. "We contacted some companies in Georgia, and most of them said (the site) was too small for them to even crank up their equipment."

Mr. Courtney estimated the cost of the cleanup effort between $3,000 and $3,500.

Jody Hamm, South Carolina DHEC director, said Tuesday that the investigation is open.

"We are investigating, and we will have to wait to see what direction the investigation takes regarding an outcome," he said.

Earlier this month DHEC investigators were sent to the site, where they documented and photographed a variety of waste in a large, excavated pit that contained construction debris, domestic garbage, roofing materials, old appliances, aerosol cans, chemical sprayers and some tires.

Mr. Courtney said that the school district used the site for burning wood debris but that area residents were suspected of dumping more dangerous materials there.