HAMPDEN — Kathy Walker can see the “deep ditch” at the Sawyer Environmental Recovery Facility from the ground-floor windows of her home on Old Coldbrook Road. Her water well is 1,600 feet from the ditch, technically named Secure III.

Walker does not want to become a guinea pig. But she worries that if the Town Council grants SERF a license to use the ditch for the disposal of incinerator ash, she just might.

Moreover, Walker claims, the town has put a “for sale” sign on her home. She has lived there with her husband, Calvin, for 19 years — before the landfill was built.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has approved SERF’s applications for the proposed closure and expansion of the landfill. Hampden’s Landfill Oversight Committee (LOC) has recommended that the council license the expansion. For Walker, however, reservations about SERF’s project abound.

“My major concern has to be water. I still don’t understand why someone does not bite the bullet, alleviate worries, and provide town water to homes on the perimeter of the landfill,” Walker said in a four-page statement. She gave the statement to the council during a public hearing on the landfill Monday.

Walker also is concerned that the raucous noise created by SERF trucks going in and out of the landfill will increase. And what about the smell of the dump? “Disturbing the face of the conventional landfill may uncover an entirely new spectrum of odors and fumes,” she said.

The landfill plan proposed by SERF is twofold. The company wants to close the part of the landfill that had accepted conventional trash since the mid-1970s. Also, it wants to expand the landfill by opening Secure III, which covers three acres.

Ash from Penobscot Energy Recovery Co. would be dumped into Secure III. The site would be able to hold 450,000 tons of ash and would have a life expectancy of five years.

The council voted 4-3 Monday night to postpone a decision on whether to license the proposed expansion. The council could reach a decision at a meeting in early October.

Councilor Susan Tennant voted against tabling the decision. Tennant said Tuesday afternoon that she wanted to grant the license.

SERF has complied with the environmental and financial standards set by the DEP and by LOC. And by being able to expand its business by opening Secure III, SERF would provide a superior closure plan for the conventional landfill and for the deep ditch.

“The longer the conventional (landfill) is left open and uncovered, the more infiltration there is going to be naturally,” Tennant said.

Engineers testified Monday that drinking water near the landfill is “typical” of that found near other landfills in the state. More studies will be done.

If the council grants the license, SERF will offer $1.36 million in trust funds. Also, SERF will cut the price it charges the town to take trash to PERC and to dipose of demolition debris at the landfill.