Wednesday, January 31, 2007

 

EPA official: Don't worry about water

By ZACH LINT
The Times-Reporter

EAST SPARTA – Residents concerned about drinking water coming from the underground aquifers surrounding Countywide Recycling & Disposal Facility at East Sparta shouldn’t worry, according to Jeff Rizzo, an Ohio Environmental Protection Agency hydrogeologist.

The Akron Beacon Journal published a story last Wednesday accompanied by a photo diagram of a sample landfill cell – not Countywide – provided by the California Integrated Waste Management Board. In it, ground water appeared to run directly beneath the landfill cell.

“The generic landfill schematic in the Beacon Journal article is misleading in that it illustrates the liner system constructed within the uppermost aquifer system,” Rizzo told The Times-Reporter Monday. “I understand what the diagram was used for, but it can be easily misinterpreted.”

Rizzo said liner systems for landfills do not extend into the groundwater supply level as the diagram portrays. Countywide would not have been built if, even in a worst-case scenario, contaminated landfill water could penetrate the Tuscarawas Valley’s underground aquifer system.

Rizzo said he wouldn’t use the word “marginal” to describe any chance of the underground aquifer system ever being affected by Countywide.

“The landfill is downgradient of Bolivar and Canton’s water supply,” he said. “To suggest an impact to Canton or Bolivar’s water supply is impossible.”

As for those downstream, Rizzo said the geological composition of the layers of rock and clay below the landfill are nearly impermeable.

In an Environmental Appeals Commission appeal to Countywide’s request for expansion it has been suggested that a portion of the current landfill may be unstable because it was built on a former underground coal mine and that water contamination could happen through fractured bedrock.

Rizzo said he’s testified against that theory.

“There was strip mining on the section where the landfill would expand. That is above the surface,” he said. “There was underground mining beneath one of the older waste cells, but as a requirement when the cell was built they had to dig down deeper than the mining operation to take out any chance of instability.”

OEPA spokesman Mike Settles said Monday that residents near Countywide have enough concerns with the landfill without worrying about drinking water.

“There is no reason to cause undo alarm about drinking water at this point,” he said.

Settles said Todd Thalhamer, the underground fire expert called in from the California EPA last week, should be in Columbus for most of this week.

“He’ll be collecting data to see what exactly he is up against once he gets up to Countywide,” Settles said. “We’re not going to know right away what’s going on out there. It’s going to take some time for him to make a determination.”

Thalhamer said last week he expects to find an underground fire, though he hasn’t ruled out a chemical reaction as the source of the odors and heat being produced underneath a 30-acre tarp at the landfill.

Over the weekend, some area residents received letters from Countywide officials denying that there is a fire under the landfill and stating that any conjecture about a problem with the landfill’s liner or contaminated water is irresponsible and unfounded.

Meanwhile, Countywide’s 2007 operating license remains up in the air as the EPA prepares to install a new director, who will ultimately make a recommendation to the Stark County Board of Health.

“If our new director comes out with a proposed denial of that permit, there are a number of other issues the surrounding communities would have to think about,” Settles said. “It’s not a simple thing to make this type of decision. We’d have to look at impacts on American and other landfills in area.”

According to the Akron Beacon Journal, state Sen. Kirk Schuring, R-Jackson Township, proposed last Wednesday that the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency delay its recommendation on a 2007 operating permit for Countywide until the agency determines exactly what is happening underneath the landfill. Schuring said he’s for suspending Countywide’s license, which could halt operations and get the attention of its parent company, Republic Waste Services of Ohio.

Tuscarawas County commissioners said Monday that they’re waiting to see what Thalhamer finds in his investigation into the possible fire, though they believe Countywide should be shut down until all issues are addressed.