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The Lucknow Sentinel, 1988-03-02, Page 3Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday, March 2, 1988—Page 3 Professor says close Holmesville Landfill site By Ted Spooner "If you can smell it (the landfill site), it is injuring you in a measurable way. It is not going to cause you to drop dead tomor- row, but it injures you," Joseph E. Cum- mins, Associate Professor of Genetics at the University of Western Ontario told a public meeting concerning the Holmesville Landfill Site. An area of Cummins study has been the impact of of landfill sites on human beings, and he has worked with several communi- ty groups who have expressed concern over area dumps. He began in 1980 by visiting a group of people who live near a dump in Stouffville and is currently with a group in Essex County. He was invited to address the Feb. 16 meeting by the Ratepayers Against the Holmesville Landfill Site group. "My suggestion is to cap it (Holmesville landfill site), close it, put in a leachate system and look for a suitable alternate site," said Cummins. Cummins quoted research texts, in- cluding one by the Environmental Protec- tion Agency in the U.S., that said, "gravel pits are well known to be the worst place to put a dump." Cummins said gravel pits are below the ground water level. "Once the ground water is polluted, it is polluted for good," said Cummins. He ex- plained ground water is not like a flowing river, there are no natural elements such as oxygen and micro-organisms to break down the pollution. The Holmesville Landfill Site Commit- tee is looking to close the existing dump — built in a gravel pit — and open a new dump on the same property. The proposed site is ' not gravel. The committee has retained the engineering firm of Conestoga Rovers as consultants. Philip Bye, of the Ministry of the En- vironment said the current users of the site are looking to take over sole responsiblity of the dump from the operators, Lavis Con- struction. Goderich, Goderich Township, Clinton, Colborne Township, Bayfield, Lucknow and to some extent Seaforth and Tuckersmith Township are all using the site. The original certificate of approval named only Goderich, Goderich Township and Clinton as users of the site. The cer- tificate also -called for 55 acres and cur- rently 10 are being used. Bye expects the committee to make a formal application to close the existing dump and open another on the site, by the end of next month. Cummins said open garbage at the site is a clear violation of the Environmental Protection Act and expressed concern over the management of the dump. He also said if the garbage had been compacted and covered -up, the open fire that was burning at the site last August would never have started. While the open fire has been extinguished, the garbage is still burning. Bye describes the situation as a "burning" rather than a fire. Cummins describes the situation as "in- credible" and said the Holmesville dump is "about as hot a site as you will find." A low-temperature, anaerobic (in the absence of oxygen) fire produces harmful by-products said Cummins. The heavy smoke contains toxic chemicals. "Even after they put out the bloody fire there are still problems with trapped methane," he said. Bye is not sure how to put out the burn- ing, but he has heard of two methods, either digging up the dump or using dynamite. Tony Crutcher of Conestoga Rovers was unavailable for comment about how the burning will be extingushed. Cummins recommended air quality tests be conducted while the site is still burning. "We have never caught one of these dump fires in the act," he said. The open garbage has also attracted rodents and wild dogs. Bye said the ministry will recommend professional ex- terminators be brought in to deal with the problem. He is also satisfied the exposed gargage on the North arid West slopes have been compacted and covered. Bye said he was not completely satisfied with the current management of the site. George Lavis, site operator, was unavailable for comment. Cummins was concerned' about Holmesville being an open dump — with no check to see who is using it — because in- dustrial waste may have been dumped there. In a letter to Brigitte Charron, of the ratepayers group, Cummins states, "the landfill leachate was observed to be highly polluted with chromium and lead. This evidence indicates that the dump contains toxic liquid industrial waste." He recommended testing in the area for a wide range of chemical pollutants in- cluding: PCBs, polyaromatic hydrocar- bons (PAHs), volatile organic chemicals and a much wider range of metals. To conclude his letter, Cummins said, "it is safest to assume the Holmesville site contains liquid industrial waste, because the site was not controlled for a number of years." Cummins also mentioned reports from I. D. Wilson Engineers from 1981 and 1984, showing clear evidence that the landfill site had impaired Hopkins Creek. Cummins said the 1981 report showed very high levels ( about 230 parts per. billion) of lead in the' leachate runoff to the creek. "I am not familiar with those numbers, but I am going to find out," said Bye. High lead levels cause mental retarda- tion in children and a reduced sex drive in adult males, said Cummins. He also recommended that the ratepayers have any additional testing done by the Ministry of the Environment rather than accept the results obtained by engineering consultants retained by the site committee. There was general agreement among the audience that because the engineers CO OP were retained by the committee their results would favour' those Who hired them. "There is no reason to suspect the pro- fessional integrity of consulting engineer- ing firms," said Bye. Often, said Bye, ministry laboratories are used by engineers to conduct their tests. Bye said some ground water testing has been done that show lead and chromium levels within acceptable limits. "There is no reason to believe area wells have been contaminated at this point," said Bye. Bye has been in contact with quality con- trol people and will scan for volatile organics and airborne contaminants. "Our technical people are aware of what kind of contaminants come off a waste fire and there is no reason to believe (there is risk of) personal injury," he said. The committee may seek exemption from environmental assessment when they make their application to close the site and open a new landfill, because it is an existing landfill site. Bye said the Ministry of the Environment will still have to be satisfied they are moving to an ade- quate landfill site and public hearings will be held. Goderich Township Reeve and chairman of the site selection committee, Grant Stirling, stood up at the meeting and an- nounced the date of the public meeting would be advertised in the local papers: Goderich Signal -Star, Clinton News - Record and Lucknow Sentinal. To close a landfill site it must be capped and contoured — to promote run-off — and a leachate system installed, said Bye. The leachate system includes an in- terceptor trench that collects the leachate, which will then be taken to the Goderich water treatment plant for treatment. Bye said Conestoga Rovers would know more about the system. • In a statement circulated at the meeting, the ratepayers group said results of their efforts can be seen: they are covering the garbage daily; they are going to impli- ment a rat and animal control program; the refuse on the Western face has been covered up; consultants will be called in to estimate the cost of putting out the fire and how to go about it. A ratepayer questioned Cummins con- cerning seagulls and if they could carry disease from the dump. Cummins agreed they could. He was then asked if the dump could pollute as far a Goderich. Cummins replied, he was not sure but indicated Goderich harbour showed an unusually high amount of pollution. All through the meeting Cummins stressed it is best to assume the leachate contains hazardous and toxic chemicals until it is proven otherwise. Advertising cansave shopping time. CANADIAN. ADVERTISING FOUNDATION •/ SOYBEANS Order Your Seed Now To Avoir! 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