Herrington Property Surface Water Issue. Presented to BLLC on Thursday August 6 th, 2009

Transcription

1 Herrington Property Surface Water Issue Presented to BLLC on Thursday August 6 th, 2009

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4 BRIGHTON LANDFILL

5 SW10 SW1 BRIGHTON LANDFILL SW2 SW4 SW7 SW11 SW6 SW5 SW3

6 BRIGHTON LANDFILL

7 History of Surface Water Issue Brighton Landfill began operation as a landfill in 1975 Prior to 1975, the site had been used as a gravel pit It is unknown what the topography of the site was before it was a gravel pit (e.g. whether or not there was a natural hill or depression) In May of 1978, Esli Herrington registered a complaint with MOE that leachate from Brighton Landfill was the cause of ponding water on the Herrington Farm MOE investigated and determined that the landfill was not impacting the Herrington Farm at that time

8 History of Surface Water Issue Cont d In 1998, Esli Herrington reported crop losses in 1996 & 1997 totaling $2,024 resulting from flooding of his farm field County did soil and surface water testing and confirmed that leachate seeps on the side of the landfill had slightly impacted surface waters which flowed across and ponded on Esli Herrington s farm field.

9 History of Surface Water Issue Cont d County remediated leachate seeps and constructed storm water retention ponds on the landfill site Esli Herrington was reimbursed $2,024 for the loss of crops Payment was conditional upon County being allowed to make improvements to drainage on Esli Herrington s property to ensure that water drained through to the natural watercourse

10 Current Surface Water Issue In Summer of 2008, County staff were invited by current owner, Carman Herrington, to walk the property and discuss continued ponding problem From meeting it was apparent that ditching installed by County in 1998 had not fully alleviated ponding issue A natural berm at the NW corner of the farm field at the fence line was acting as a dam and retaining water to a certain depth, causing the water to pond further upstream on the field

11 Current Surface Water Issue Cont d County, in consultation with Carman Herrington and Dennis Herrington, agreed to re-grade a portion of the field to allow surface water to flow unimpeded d across the field Work consisted of pealing back the top soil, removing some sub-soil then replacing the top soil and re-grading Soil Material Removed Native Soil Material Profile Before Grading Ponded Water Profile After Grading

12 Current Surface Water Issue In Spring of 2009, concerns were raised about the quantity and quality of water which was flowing from the landfill property across the farm field As a result of these concerns, the County took the following actions: Instructed consultants to collect surface water samples Retained consultant to review the natural surface water sub-watersheds surrounding the landfill and Herrington property

13 Current Surface Water Issue Cont d In addition to the surface water sampling done during the run-off event, the routine spring surface water sampling program was also carried out in early June of 2009 Results of both 2009 sampling events, as well as past 5 years of sampling data indicate that run-off from the landfill is not negatively impacting the surface water quality on the adjacent property Given the concerns about quantity of water flow, County retained consultants to undertake surface water catchment area analysis

14 Current Surface Water Issue Cont d The County will be asking that the BLLC s peer review engineer work with CRA on the study Once the study is completed, the findings will be shared with the y p, g BLLC, their peer review engineer, and the adjacent land owners for their review and input

15 BLLC Investigation On June 9, 2009, Carman Herrington gave a tour of his property to two members of the BLLC, so that they could see first hand the run- off issues on his property Carman, and two of his brothers, Mark and Dennis noted the following concerns: Run-off water from the Brighton Landfill has damaged and continues to damage their agricultural land Surface water may be contaminated with landfill materials Deep sampling wells on property are not monitored frequently enough Municipal water wells may eventually become contaminated Current and planned development within the landfill site may result in even greater water flows onto their property

16 County s Findings CONCERN: Run-off water from the Brighton Landfill has damaged and continues to damage their agricultural l land RESPONSE: In the past, leachate impacted surface water from the landfill did flow onto the Herrington field. As a result, County compensated previous owner for financial losses. County remediated the leachate seeps responsible for the contamination of the surface water and since that time, (based on twice yearly sample results) there has not been any impacts from the landfill on the surface water quality on the Herrington property Given that the County does not know what the original surface water flow conditions were prior to man made alterations to the landfill site, it has erred on the side of caution and attempted to deal with the concerns by undertaking some ditching (1998) and re-grading g (2009) of the farm field

17 County s Findings Cont d CONCERN: Surface water may be contaminated with landfill materials RESPONSE: CONCERN: With the exception of the leachate seep incident in 1998, historic and current testing continues to indicate that off-site surface water is not being impacted by the landfill Deep sampling wells on property are not monitored frequently enough RESPONSE: Sampling of the three monitoring wells on the Herrington property is done twice yearly. Water quality has never shown any signs of being impacted by the landfill

18 County s Findings Cont d CONCERN: Municipal water wells may eventually become contaminated RESPONSE: The County s number one priority with this site is to ensure that the landfill does not impact the local or municipal groundwater supplies, as such, the County is committed to doing whatever is necessary to protect these groundwater supplies. Since no one can say with 100% certainty t that t the landfill will not impact these water supplies, the County s objective, through undertaking and Environmental Assessment, is to gain approval to line the entire site in order to mitigate the potential risk even further Historic and current groundwater elevation data from wells at the site suggest that the deep aquifer flows to the north in the vicinity of the landfill

19 County s Findings Cont d CONCERN: Current and planned development within the landfill site may result in even greater water flows onto their property RESPONSE: Right now approximately half of the storm water from the landfill is shed to the two western storm water retention ponds. Both of these ponds retain water from storm events and then slowly discharge to surface water to the catchment area which flows across the Herrington farm field The remainder of the surface water from the landfill is shed to the e e a de o t e su ace ate o t e a d s s ed to t e eastern storm water infiltration pond. This pond does not have an outlet. The water that enters this pond drains into the ground or evaporates

20 County s Findings Cont d RESPONSE Cont d: The landfill, based on preliminary review, makes up approximately 15 to 20% of the area of the sub-water shed which flows across the Herrington farm field There are may factors which effect the amount of surface water a given site will generate Factors which can be controlled by the County include: - Land surface type (e.g. asphalt, gravel, grassed, forest) -Topography (to a certain extent) Factors which cannot be controlled by the County include: -Quantity and form of precipitation - Intensity of precipitation p - Sub-surface soil type (gravel, sandy, silt, clay) - Surface area

21 County s Findings Cont d RESPONSE Cont d: Any future development of the site would be designed with considerations for surface water management. The design would be open to scrutiny by a peer review engineer and be subject to MOE approvals The County would do its utmost to ensure that it manages the factors under its control which can effect storm water generation rates, by: - vegetating all inactive or closed sections of the landfill - ensuring that drainage ditches and storm water retention ponds are cleaned regularly and are functioning properly - instituting additional control measures, as necessary

22 Ponding in Farm Field May 1998 May 1998 May 1998 April 2009 April 2009 April 2009

23 Western County Property June 2009 May 1998 April 2009

24 Brighton Landfill NW Storm Pond April 2009 SW 10 June 2009 SW 10 June 2009 SW 10

25 Ponding Else Where on Herrington Property May 1998 SW 7 April 2009 SW 7 May 1998 April 2009

26 Ponding Else Where on Herrington Property Cont d April 2009 SW 5 April 2009 April 2009

27 Flow Off of Herrington Property April 2009 April 2009

28 Re-Grading Of Farm Field July 2008 April 2009 July 2009 July 2008 April 2009 July 2009

29 Other Issues June 2009 Litter on Herrington field, most likely from landfill June 2009 OW 15-10, Protective well casing has sunken into ground June 2009 Litter in outlet pipe for SW-10

30 Photos Taken During BLLC Member Site Walk-over

31 Conclusions Prior to man made alterations (pre gravel pit and landfill), surface water from the site likely flowed onto and across the Herrington property Except for the one instance in 1998, surface water flowing across the Herrington property continues to show no signs of landfill impacts The natural dam at the fence line on the Herrington farm field has likely always limited surface water flow off of the field Now that the field has been re-graded, the potential for crop losses due to flooding should be significantly reduced

32 Conclusions Cont d Given that the County does not know what the original surface water flow conditions were like prior to man made alterations to the landfill site, the County feels that re-grading of Herrington s farm field was justified and prudent County will work with peer review consultant during the preparation of the storm water study and will report the findings of the study to the BLLC and adjacent property owners, once available

33 Conclusions Cont d County will ensure that inactive and closed sections of the landfill are vegetated to limit surface water run-off County will ensure that drainage ditches and storm water ponds are cleaned regularly and are functioning properly County will be more vigilant in its efforts to control on and off-site litter issues County will continue to closely monitor the surface water quality both on and off-site in the vicinity of the landfill and implement remedial measures, if necessary