By: Lydia Crawley The Parsons Advocate
Leachate continues to be a problem at the Tucker County Landfill. The liquid produced by the landfill requires removal from the site and special treatment off site.
In the month of April, the Landfill trucked out 794,306 gallons of leachate to treatment facilities in Westernport and Moorefield. In total, 42 truck loads went to Moorefield and 85 loads went to Westernport in the month of April. However, there continues to be an increase in cost with transportation. Tucker County Solid Waste Authority Presiding Chair Mark Holstine said there was an increase of $300,000 on leachate transportation since he joined the board, going from $600,000 a year to over $900,000 this year.
The leachate amount was an increase due to mostly to rain, but also attributable to efforts by Landfill Director Jody Alderman to drain the facility of excess moisture, as well as an increase in the volume of material coming into the facility, Holstine said.
“Its obvious the tonnage is growing at this landfill which means there’s even more demand for the services provided here,” Holstine said. “If the tonnage continues as it is, we’re going to be the single largest publicly owned landfill in the state and we’re the only one that don’t have a pipe to take (leachate).”
The Tucker County Solid Waste Authority discussed the problems with piping leachate, as well as the proposed future Blackwater Public Service District Sewage Treatment Plant which is slated to be build next to the landfill.
Holstine said that while the location for the PSD’s plant was optimal, he had serious doubts as to whether it would ever be built given the $52 million price tag attributed to the facility. The new facility, if built, is designed to include a pipe for leachate from the Landfill. Thomas Mayor and Blackwater PSD Member Jody Flanagan also had his doubts about funding.
Holstine also had concerns about the future costs of treatment. He had concerns that given the cost of the facility, if it might not be cheaper for the Authority to continue to truck the leachate for treatment.
Holstine did make it clear that his statements were only assumptions.
Holstine said at the cost of the plant’s construction, the cost of treatment may very well equal what they are currently paying to truck the leachate to Westernport.
“But at that dollar figure, it is going to be eight and half, nine cents a gallon for treatment,” Holstine said. “We’re getting eight and half cents right now trucking to Westernport.”
Tucker County Commissioner and Tucker County Solid Waste Authority Board Member Fred Davis pointed out that it was very likely that the entire board would no longer be serving when decisions would have to be made concerning connection to the PSD.
“We’ll all be gone and there’ll be a whole new set of people here when that thing is done,” Davis said.
Holstine said that more than just the top of the mountain needed to join forces to make sure the new sewage treatment plant happens.
“It would help if everybody would get on the same page and agree that something needs to be done and not just on the backs of Thomas, Davis and the Landfill to get that thing built,” Holstine said. “Its a lifeline for the sustainability for the top of this mountain.”
The issues faced by communities such as Thomas, Holstine said, are unsustainable. The Towns lack the revenue to pay continued fines to the DEP for infractions and repairs.
“I don’t want to speak for Mayor Flanagan down there, but the issues that he has, all the time, dealing with infiltration and treatment and moving targets as far as water quality goes, its unsustainable by the Town,” Holstine said. “They don’t generate that much money in revenue.”
Flanagan said that most of the problem comes down to a lack of manpower. The lack of employees at the plant has led to the plant operating at an eighth of its capacity, Flanagan said. Flanagan also said the plant was designed to serve a community the size of Morgantown.
Flanagan and Davis said the initial plan for the Blackwater PSD was to put money into revamping the existing facilities in Thomas and Davis. Under the initial grant application, lines were to be ran to Thomas, Flanagan said.
However, Flanagan said that the plan was scrapped by engineers.
“Every time we mention something like that, we get shot down by the engineers,” Flanagan said.
Vice Chair Dennis Filler asked about the possibility of the use of a gas evaporator to elevate some of the leachate. Holstine said the equipment for that ran around $2.5 million. Discussion into the possibility of an economic analysis in the future was explored, however a more urgent financial expenditure in the form of the construction of a new cell loomed.
“We got another cell, that means more leachate,” Filler said. “This problem is not shrinking. It continues to grow.”
The problem is not going away, but for the meanwhile, Holstine says he and Landfill Director Jody Alderman have it well under control.
