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Last Thursday, February 28, 2008 I broke
THIS STORY as BREAKING NEWS. Yesterday I received a reply from Jim Finneran in Rick Pollitt's Office stating the following:
Joe:
We are looking into this. For now, I am excerpting some comments from a response we received from a consultant after forwarding your questions.
When I say “looking” I mean that acting PW Director John Redden is “on it” in concert with MDE.
“One comment that is specific is about the Salisbury Paleochannel – the answer to that one we know very well, the landfill is not near the Paleochannel; we had to check that out during the Phase II and III work that we did in the early 1990’s, and I can pull that information together early next week if you’d like. As for the other comments about illegal dumping, landfill fires, and springs at the ponds near the landfill, they are harder to evaluate of course. But we do know that there is a very long record of environmental monitoring around the landfill that has characterized the quality of groundwater and surface water, and that the data has been reviewed by MDE. The email from Alberobutzo@wmconnect.com seems to recount many of the issues and concerns that we were dealing with back in the early 19990’s, when MDE raised serious concerns about the operation of the landfill and when Wicomico County entered into a consent agreement with MDE to construct substantial environmental upgrades to the site; a lot of money was spent then to address MDE’s concerns . As the data shows, the efforts over the past 10 years or so have resulted in substantial improvements to the quality of the environment at the landfill site.
The issues raised by Alberobutzo@wmconnect.com are, of course, valid questions and concerns. I believe that the best way to address them is to first look at the environmental monitoring data for Mr. Shea and Mr. Pollitt and explain to them how the data shows that the landfill is being appropriately managed to protect the environment, and then develop an approach for discussing the results with others (including, if you would like, Alberobutzo@wmconnect.com).
I will send you a more detailed email on Monday that replies to both of the messages from Alberobutzo@wmconnect.com. I assume that you will pass this information on to the appropriate parties within the County, if needed.”
I am VERY pleased to see the County is taking this situation VERY seriously as there have been issues in the past but are obviously willing to face it head on, openly and honestly.
If you'll notice the photos in this Post as well as the following Post, you can see where things start and ultimately end. I can assure you, 99.9% of the County and City residents would have never believed this could have been possible. How do you take a Lake inside the Landfill and have it end up dumping into the Wicomico River?
I'll start with the very first photo. Notice the erosion on the side of that hill. Also notice a black pipe coming into that area where an obvious heavy flow of water races down the mountain in the Landfill, into that pipe and then into that Lake. I don't care if they have rubber liners under that mountain, the run off is making it into a Lake and then it is pumped out from the lowest level into a series of man made ponds. The first pond clearly shows the lime green color of the water. Now is that normal this time of year?
The water then flows out of the Landfill and underneath Brick Kiln Road and heads east. When you get down to the recycling center, the water is then piped underneath that property and then travels on the south side, (into the woods) along Brick Kiln Road. It travels about a half a mile until it then crosses underneath the road again to the north side of the road. They claim there's something called Owens Creek till it hits Mitchell Pond. Well, let me assure you of one thing, there's nothing natural about it.
There's such a flow from the Landfill Lift Station that each pond overflows and ultimately finds its way to Mitchell Pond. It then flows through a series of drain pipes that go straight down, creating a natural flow to the next pond. Mitchell Pond is actually a series of 4 ponds where it looks to end at Fitzwater Street, just across from the Wicomico River and the Ship Yard there. The third photo from the last in the next Post shows where the water from the last pond near Fitzwater flows down into yet another drain area because it is then rushed out to the Wicomico River where it ends INTO THE RIVER shown in the last photo.
Now I know Mr. Pollitt's Office will do a complete investigation and as I was traveling the pathway again today one of the Public Works guys stopped and seemed very upset and wanted to know what I was doing and who I was. I told him my name was Joe and I was with Salisbury News, even though it's plastered all over my truck. He was rude, he refused to answer any of my questions, even though I fully cooperated with him 100% and gave him every answer to every question he asked.
There's a serious problem with this water Ladies & Gentlemen. Any time you're taking nasty, stinky water from a Landfill and pumping it all the way to the Wicomico River, (as unbelievable as that may be) these photos, (and I have many more) prove this is the case, there's a problem. There's NO FILTRATION whatsoever.
I have a call into the MDE on this matter and they have yet to respond. I called them 6 days ago too. Hopefully they see this Post and choose to get back with me?
Again, I exposed this a week ago and have brought it to everyone's attention again today and NOTHING in The Daily Times. Oh, that's right, many of you pay for that rag. Help me out here, besides the Obituaries and Classified, what's that paper worth again?