By Scott Voelker

When you throw something away, do you know where it goes? The short answer is to the Rockbridge County Landfill--located just outside the city limits of Buena Vista. But some, including the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), are worried that pollutants in the trash might end up in your water supply.

A regulation implemented in 1992 requires that every landfill be built with a synthetic lining and a leak collection system. These safeguards make sure that tainted water does not contaminate the area’s water supply. However, Rockbridge County’s landfill has operated without a lining since its start in 1971.

The county closed one part of the landfill in 1988 but reopened that unit after the 1992 regulation was implemented. The DEQ cried foul because the reopened unit did not comply with the liner regulation. In the case brought by the DEQ, a district judge determined that the statute at issue did not require a new permit to reopen a closed part of the site. This decision extended operation of the entire landfill for at least another four years, a move that will save the county between $8 million and $10 million, according to court documents. Still, in the DEQ’s opinion continuing to operate the landfill is a risky venture.

The agency’s main concern is contamination of groundwater. Without the protective lining, rain water can seep through the soil and into the ground water carrying waste (and waste products) with it, state experts argue. However, city and county officials, such as City Manager Jon Ellestad, argue that the layer of clay that lies beneath the landfill keeps this contamination from occurring.

Groundwater tests, which are performed by an independent agency every six months, have been inconclusive. These tests check samples from four groundwater monitoring wells for 15 different solids, according to Gary Nucklos, the director of the Rockbridge County landfill. According to Nucklos, “there has never been a problem with one of the tests.”

However, Graham Simmerman, the DEQ’s Waste Compliance Manager, points out that there have been instances of “garbage juice leaking into the drains.” Simmerman said that the recent clean tests are ambiguous, and said the current testing methods are inadequate and out of date. Rockbridge County has agreed to install two more groundwater monitoring wells to allow for more thorough tests.

Rockbridge County also tests four times a year for methane gas migration. Methane is a colorless, odorless gas that is produced by most household trash. According to Nucklos, it can be explosive and must be monitored to keep the landfill and surrounding areas safe.

These latest clean tests ensure that the 25.8 acres of the landfill still being used will be used until at least 2010. However, Nucklos and others plan to complete a partial closure of the site in the spring. According to Nucklos, the extension runs through the expected life of the site - he anticipates that the landfill will be full by 2010 or 2012. Nucklos said after that, the county will most likely build a new, lined landfill in a nearby area.

Ellestad is not quite as certain about what the future holds for Rockbridge County trash. He said that building a new landfill is an option, but trucking trash to a “mega-landfill” in another part of the state is also a plausible solution. The recent spike in gas prices reduces the chance that this will be the long-term solution, but it’s one option that officials are considering.

Recycling is another option to help curb the trash problem - and one that both DEQ and the county officials can agree on. Currently there is no easy way for residents to recycle their garbage. Residents must deliver recyclables to one of several sites around the county. This is likely one of the reasons that the county recycled under 17 percent of its garbage in 2004. DEQ’s goal is 25 percent.

According to Ellestad, the agency has not historically come down hard on those areas that miss this target, but “now [they] are getting more serious about it and are going to use [coming up short numbers] as a basis to put limitations on [the county’s] land use permit.”

Ellestad discussed several ideas that have been proposed to help increase this percentage, such as curbside pickup of recyclables. He said, however, that there are no plans to implement any of these strategies in the near future.


 

Produced by Washington and Lee journalism students.

Lead supervisor:      Prof. Claudette Artwick

Reporting supervisor: Prof. Doug Cumming

Editing supervisor:  Prof. Pamela Luecke

Technical supervisor:  Michael Todd