I know we've promised to bring you a breaking news story and we will. However, this situation is much more serious than we had originally thought so we'll give you a beginning breakdown and come back at a later point with more details.
I have been working on this all day and quite frankly I'm being told one story after another, none of which are making any sense. In order to be fair I am going to take additional time and give you the full story at a later point tonight or tomorrow morning.
Here's the deal. We had received a call that the City and County have been dumping sludge into a drain on Citation Drive out in the County. We are trying to determine more details but we have confirmed the Wicomico County Landfill lagoons are full and "Garbage Juice" runoff directly from Trash Mountain is being pumped into these trucks and dumped into these drains.
The main questions are, why, is this a storm drain, is this a sewer drain, how much is this affecting the WWTP? We do know this is unfiltered material and we'll come back later and break down the details.
They key is, Citizens have not been made aware that this is happening and when we broke a story last year in February about the Landfill, we weren't given the straight scoop about what was going on.
The Landfill lagoons are full to capacity and the County can't either afford to build another one and or they don't have the room to build another one. It's one of the two. Now, that being said, whenever there's excessive rainfall, the trucker bringing 6,000 gallons per truck load, six times a day, seven days a week cannot completely take all the runoff overloading the Landfill and dump it down that drain, therefore much of it has to be making its way to the River.
More to come............
Stories from February of 2008.
IntoxicGate I
IntoxiGate II
Major Breaking Story
This Just In From Wicomico County.
The City and the County have had a long-standing agreement about the disposal of sludge cakes from the Sewage treatment Plant and leachate from the County Landfill.
CITY REMOVAL OF SLUDGE CAKES
The City trucks sludge cakes, which are solid, from the Treatment Plant to the Landfill. The cakes are put into the Landfill as solid waste. They are not removed. They are in the landfill with trash and other solid waste.
COUNTY REMOVAL OF LEACHATE
There are pipes under the landfill that collect water rundown. There is leachate in that water. Leachate is the material that drains off of the solid waste in the landfill as it is crushed.The water with leachate in it drains into two holding ponds. There is also storm water in the ponds. A county truck and driver pumps the liquid from the ponds as needed and transports it to a manhole near the airport. It is then dumped into the manhole and into the City sewage system. The site near the airport was chosen because it is the furthest point from the Treatment Plant. Dumping at this point provides maximum dilution.
It is not unusual for this operation to be done on a 7-days-a-week basis. The county driver is on-duty on weekends. No overtime is paid.
The County has been doing this for years.
The County and the City do not charge each other for the respective removal operations.
An official in County Public Works said that E.P.A. has been aware of this practice for "a long time" and that the County has a permit from MDE for this dumping.
Jim Fineran, County P.I.O.
40 comments:
OK let me get this straight. The chemical filled water that is run off from the landfill is being pumped untreated into a storm drain that runs right into the Wicomico River? That water is loaded with carcinogens and God only knows what else. Does the EPA or the MDE know about this yet?
This sounds more like "Hide the Cheese"
I'd like to see the permit, hear the EPA's/MDE's response, and see a chemical analysis of this "leachate". How does the city's WWTP deal with chemicals and petroleum products that are undoubtedly in that leachate? WWTP can't even process poop properly and that's done mostly with bacteria. There's a lot of dangerous stuff that goes up on that hill - even if it's not supposed to. They're killing our rivers and ultimately the bay. People want to blame the crabbers and the farmers for our bay problems. You'd better start looking at the way our local governments do business before you blame industries that have been here for hundreds of years.
Shoot go look at delmarva recycling .I use to work there the open dumping is just normal.Get a water sample after it rains
c.m. driver
5:33, you get a big AMEN!
6,000 gallons, 6 times a day, 7 days a week !! 252,000 Gallons per week !! In a year that is 91,980,000 Gallons !! Holy Turdjuice Batman !!
Holy Poop!!! One could say; "The shit has hit the fan."
Way to go Joe!
anonymous 5:56, That's just the County and that's just ONE truck. The City is involved too.
That's toxic waste.
I was just watching wmdt. They used your pictures and gave you credit Joe. Looks like Lucy's got some splainin to do. More trouble to Tilghman and Comegys. Remember to wear your knee high rubber boots when you go to vote on Tuesday.
WMDT had it on their show tonight.
Citation Drive..isn't that where the Humane Socity is located? Let's just hope it has not affected their water for the poor animals. And I figured this must have been pretty big for Joe to not have been here today! Keep up the great work Joe!
Sludge Cakes ,,. Yummmmmm. Can I get one with Turdjuice Icing ??
Removal of leachate from solid waste facilities to municipal sewage systems is standard practice. Placing it at the furthest distance from the plant for maximum dilution is also standard. Believe it or not, this is not the worse material to enter a WWTP. There is nothing wrong here. How would you have it handled? Just leave it in the lagoon and hope all the containments evaporate with the water?
By the way..I watched the debate between Gary and Jim this morning and the LAST thing I expected to do was to burst out laughing! But when Gary stated that he wanted to be our cheer leader I lost it! What a visual! Go Jim!
Chicken and Agricultural farmers need to grab on to this one. 92 million gallons a year in just this one spot. Multiply that by all the other communities around the bay contribute in the same manner. This changes the whole picture of waterway pollution. Heck, this just adds to the dumping at the wwtp that is happening because it doesn't work yet. Farmers are the least of our problem in this light!
I am suddenly glad I have a private well and reverse osmosis system. Ewww. Yes, this IS probably common practice, but this is how many communities end up with high levels of pharmaceutical and petrolium residue in their water.
Thinking it doesn't matter because you drink bottled water? Remember, you brush your teeth, bathe your babies, and wash your dishes in that stuff.
Stay on it Joe!
When ALL of Delmarva starts to worry about their water, people will pay attention. I'd say serve them up a NICE tall glass from the home closest to the dumping site that has a well.
See if THEY drink it.
It sure does explain why the GOB orders in BOTTLED WATER! They know more than the taxpayers do, that's for sure.
joealbero said...
It sure does explain why the GOB orders in BOTTLED WATER! They know more than the taxpayers do, that's for sure.
7:13 PM
Excellent point Joe. Don't ever let anyone tell you that you are dumb. Keep up the good work.
I take full responsiblility for this one.
Look everyone, ever wonder why the cancer rate on Delmarva is so HIGH?
Not just Delmarva but any city, state that does this and they cant figure out why?
They know why but dont care, or cant do anything about it.
WHY DO WE SEND Astronauts to the MOON, and now MARS when we cant fix things here, save the money put it towards defense and forget the moon and fix our country....
GET RID OF OBAMA!
The leachate is not being dumped in the ground, or a storm drain going to the river. You only get speculation and everyone goes off half cocked with out the truth. Salisbury may be having problems with it`s WWTP,but there are others in the area that are discharging water with less nutretns than found in nature.What would you have them do with the leachate, let the lagoons over flow,or have it properly treated at a WWTP before discharge?
6:20 ANON..excellent observation! I wonder if PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) might be interested in this? If not, I'll bet you 20-to-1 they'll know what organization(s) ARE. I just happen to be a member of PETA.
Looks like it's time for me to send some email.
This is disgusting and all the more reason to become a "leavin' here" ugh...
i live all the way across the county from the landfill,but thanks to this they are bringing it to me...wtf?
anonymous 7:38,
Let me make something perfectly clear to you, you wet pants liberal, NO ONE IN THE UNITED STATES "in the area that are discharging water with less nutretns" AFTER spending $84,000,000.00, Idiot! Thank You for all your help and support Bubba Comegys. You have proven you know how to spend money well, just like that Idiot Barrie Tilghman. Some CHEERLEADER you are Gary Comegys.
I worked at the airport for 20 years drank the water in one form or the other 5-6 days a week. The thought of what may be in the wells suppling the airport is disgusting, I hope anyone that works or has worked in the vicinity of the airport and has or will have any health problems looks at this report.
No Dinglebarrie I take some responsibility for this myself.
7:54 PM
Are all people in peta as stupid as you? That pipe goes underground all the way to the WWTP. It is not leaking into the groundwater at this location. I am not saying I agree or disagree with this practice, but if you are going to comment, at least understand what you are writing about. BTW, Peta and Humane Society of America are terrorist organizations. The humane society of america is not about dogs and cats, it is pretty much just an anti-hunting organization.
Get off the PETA stuff or I'll reject your comments. PETA has absolutely nothing to do with this Post. Gat back on track or expect your comment to be rejected.
anyone that says the county can't afford to do something needs to look at how much money is in the budget for new CARPETING, it's just a stupid amount of money.
7:54 anon..Could you please attempt to express your opinions without resorting to calling people stupid? Joe is right...this isn't about PETA, but even if it was you could show some civility.
Just watched WMDT's 11 p.m. report. Good for them. Now, is it going into a storm drain or a sewer drain? Don't storm drains go to the river untreated and sewer drains go the WWTP?
If it's going to the river and MDE says "everybody does it, why not?" then we need a new MDE.
If it's going to the WWTP, that's a worry because what about capacity? What transfer station does it go through?
Gosh, Joe. I wouldn't even be able to ask these questions if it weren't for all the stuff you post.
Now that I can ask, I sure would like some answers!
What local chemists are willing to look into this? Scary, scary, scary.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leachate
What government official is willing to lie now knowing that this is all about to come to a head?
I thought the county was going to convert that leachate into a fuel bi-product? What happened to that?
When the city checks our water supply, do they get a sample right straight from the source, the Paleo channel? Right out of the ground, or do they take a sample after it has traveled the hundreds of miles of old decaying waterpipes? I want a true sample that comes out of our water spigots at home. Will SSU test these samples?
,or have it properly treated at a WWTP before discharge?
7:38 Pm
How the heck is it "properly treated" when the wwtp hasnt been working properly, if at all! Not to mention that plant is not capable of treating those types of toxins, so YES it is going into the river!
WHy do you think the city and Comegys pushed so hard to retrofit those 6 foot diameter storm runoff pipes down Waverly? A loophole allowed it to happen, to "correct" the problem created by Route 13 runoff. Just another way to alleviate the overflow at the WWTP caused by issuing permits to developers when it was already overcapacity.
Being in the regulator, I know this is not going to fly with MDE, EPA etc. Looks like this should be taken to a higher level. (410) 901-4020
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