NCD980602163_19930515_Warren County PCB Landfill_SERB C_News and Observer - State planning to drain water from toxic landfill-OCR

6A NORTH CAROLlNA THE NEWS & OBSERVER
SATURDA'., MAY 15, 1993
ate plannin · · ,
r f tox
BY STUART LEAVENWORTH
STAFF WRITER
Ten years ~ it was built, a
toxic waste landfill in Warren
eounty is soaking in 13 feet of
water and state authorities said
Friday it will have to be drained
to keep from bursting.
So far, state records show that
no contaminants have leaked
from the landfill, which holds soil
tainted with hazardous PCBs and
which was the focus of bitter civil
rights protests during the early
1980s.
But without a proposed $D),000
draining project, state authorities
fear the water eventually could
burst the landfill's clay and plas-
tic liner and contaminate the
water table 14 feet below.
"We don't want to keep placing pressure on the landfill . liner,''
said Jonathan Howes, secretary
of the state Departmellt of Envi-
ronment, Health and Natural Re-
sources.
The state's announcement
comes after a decade of asi5Uranc-
es that the 2.5-acre landfill, ~ Warrenton, would remain dry and
relatively maintenance free. It
allO comes nearly two years after
. t . '" hnrit.iP.!11 fll'!'lt noticed the
Floating· dump
The state plans to spend $200,000 to remove water from a Warren County landfill containing PCB-tainted soil. ·
Here's why:
1. In 1983, the state
placed PCB-tainted
soil in a specially
lined landfill in
Warren County.
3. Pumps intended
to remove water
rnotfundioned.
~
2. Up to one million gallons of
rainwater that soaked into the
soil during disposal hove settled
on the bottom of the landfitl,
placing pressure on the liner.
------------__ ,. ------·--. water buildup, which apparently
went undetected because of a
faulty monitoring device. .
"Our. measuring device was
telling us the water was out of the
soil," said Bill Meyer, who heads
the :,tate's solid waste manage-
ment division. But the monitoring
system, he added, "didn't work
the way it was intended."
To correct the problem, engi-
neers plan to install a new pu,np,
draw out the accumulated water
-about 500,000 to 1 million
gallons -and filter out any
PCB-contaminated sediment. The
residues will then be shipped
either to an Alabama landfill or to
an Arkansas incinerator, he said.
Local opponents of the landfill
were not soothed by the state's assurances. Ken Ferrucio, a War-
ren County teacher who lives with
his family about three miles
away, called the state's action "a
stopgap measure" that eventually
would fail.
"This whole engineering tech-
nology is based on the presump-
tion that liners can keep wastes
from contaminating ~undwater,
but so many studies have contra-
dicted that premise," Ferrucio
said. "It is just a matter of time
before we have multimillion-dol-
lar cleanup costs here."
The Warren County saga start-
ed in the late 1970s when state
authorities learned that a trans-
former company bad illegally
sprayed polychlorinated biphe-
nyls -PCBs -over roads in 14
counties. PCBs, a family of chem-
icals once used to insulate trans-
formers, are highly toxic and a
possible cause of cancer.
In 1982, when Gov. Jim Hunt
designated Warren County as the
site to bold 40,000 cubic yards of
Source: N:C. Dept. of Environmental, Health and Natural Resources CHARLES APPLE/The News & Observer,
the PCB-tainted soil, local citizens
were outraged. They charged that
state authorities targeted the
county because it was 64 percent
black and perceived as being
powerless. More than 500 people
-including national civil rights
leaders -were arrested as pro-
testers lay down on the road in
·front of the waste trucks.
Since then, the site has experi-
enced occasional problems with
erosion and water pooling, but
state authorities have insisted
that it's safe.
Meyer said rainwater was
trapped in the landfill soils when
state engineers capped it in 1983.
Over the years, the water perco-
lated down and pooled on the
bottom. The water is now 12 to 13
feet deep, he said.
In response to a question, Meyer
acPowledged that he had re-
~~ed state funds last year f~r
the project, but was turned down.
The Department of Environment,
Health and Natural Resources -
which was then headed by Howes'
predecessor, William Cobey -
ranked the project 42nd out of 61
for legislative funding, he said.
Ted Outwater, an environmen-
talist who heads the N.C. Clean·
Water Fund, praised the new
administration for pursuing the
project. But Outwater questioned
whether the water is just 10-year-
old trapped water. He fears that
water is leaking in through the
landfUI's clay cap.
"We need some more studies of
this," Outwater said. "Right now
we have a bathtub of PCBs. Does
TheNews&ObcerM . .
this mean that in five years w~
will have another bathtub . of
PCBs?"
Meyer doubted that. Once the
water is drained• out, the landfill
and its protective liner will re.
main secure, "forever," he said.·
State authorities said they will
meet with Warren residents next
week to discuss the $3>0,000 Pr'Ch
ject. In addition, the state also
plans to test the water wells ot
about 50 families in the area, even
though current monitoring shows.
no polluted water under or ~
the landfill.
"Obviously, there is still some
concern in Warren County among
the leaders up there," Howes said.