The hill on the right is complete and stands in contrast to the cell on the left, blending in with the scenery.
A potential silver lining to the issues surrounding the NABORS landfill and the DAMCO tire dump sites in northern Baxter County is evident as cleanup is making progress. The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) invited local media to the two areas Monday and the landscape has made significant changes. According to the ADEQ, not only will the improvements be more visually appealing, leachate production, liquids that have dissolved environmentally harmful substances, is likely to be decreased by 95 percent.
The landfill is divided into four areas called classes. A product called Closure Turf has been successfully installed in the Class 4 area of the landfill and blends in with the natural landscape. The closure focus now shifts to other areas of the landfill where there are overfill issues requiring waste to be moved among cells that have been prepared to receive it. Classes 1 and 2 started in October and Classes 1 through 3 are anticipated to close in early 2018.
ADEQ Project Engineer Weston Lee says the on-site contractor is ahead of schedule, however the project has faced some challenges.
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Lee says the project is currently $20,000 under the planned budget and the ADEQ is looking to save another $20,000 through other unspecified improvements and changes.
Another cost reduction could come from the amount of leachate the landfill produces. Leachate is currently transported to Springfield to be processed due to the high amount produced and the Springfield facility’s ability to handle the volume.
Melinda Caldwell, Ozark Mountain Solid Waste District Executive Director, says with the installation of the closure turf and completing the capping of all cells in the landfill, a 30-year monitoring and management process begins which will monitor leachate and methane production.
ADEQ signed a $12.9 million contract in May with KOLB Grading, LLC, of Weldon Spring, Missouri, to clean up the landfill. As part of being in receivership with the department, the Ozark Mountain Regional Solid Waste District is to reimburse the department for the cleanup and for another project to clean up the DAMCO site.
The DAMCO Water Impoundment Project was authorized by the ADEQ and construction began in 1995. Within one year, the project was cited as out of compliance by the state agency when the amount of waste tires being collected for the private dam project had already exceeded approved amounts. By 2010, ADEQ records indicate notification was made for the waste tire baling and processing project to be discontinued.
According to an ADEQ report in April 2016, 5.5 to 6 million tires had been buried, but approximately one million tires were either in bales or in loose piles above ground needing to be addressed.
Phase one of the closure project is underway and consists of the placement of tire bales, baling any loose tires and rebaling any tires that have been compromised. Lee says the estimated timetable for completion of the first phase will be January.
With the completion of phase one, Caldwell says ADEQ will seek bid specifications for phase two, which will involve covering the placed baled tires with topsoil and grass.
Lee says the cost to complete both phases will be approximately $2 million.
In the meantime ADEQ has been instructed by the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission to issue a written report on how the department’s multimillion-dollar takeover of the NABORS landfill in Baxter County could’ve been avoided.
ADEQ Public Information Coordinator Kelly Robinson says that letter is in the works.
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