Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 25, 1993 TAG: 9309250121
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That's the way they used to close landfills. That's how they did it at Roanoke County's old landfill near Dixie Caverns.
In recent years, the county has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to clean up that landfill, which was closed in the mid-1970s.
Before environmentalists and scientists learned that old dumps could cause major health and environmental problems, no one worried much about them.
Now it's different.
Federal and state agencies require localities to follow detailed guidelines in closing landfills.
And it's expensive - quite expensive - to comply with the regulations.
Officials estimate it will cost $5.5 million to close the Roanoke Valley's regional landfill in southeast Roanoke County near the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The localities that own it also will create an escrow account with an additional $2 million to monitor the landfill and conduct tests for 30 years to make sure it does not pollute streams and ground water.
The landfill must be covered with several layers of dirt, clay and topsoil 3 1/2 feet deep, said John Hubbard, chief executive officer of the Roanoke Valley Resource Authority.
The first layer will be 6 inches of dirt, followed by 18 inches of compacted clay, 12 inches of uncompacted clay, then 6 inches of topsoil.
Hubbard said the covering must be graded so that rainwater will run off and not seep into the garbage. Nearly 100 acres will have to covered.
The landfill, which is near the Roanoke River, must be seeded with grass after it has been covered.
Monitoring wells will be used to determine whether the landfill causes any pollution.
The escrow account will pay for the monitoring and for repairing the covering if it begins to erode.
"Because of regulations covering post-closure responsibility if anything goes wrong, we need to set aside money to pay for it," said Kit Kiser, a member of the resource authority's board of directors.
Since the landfill opened in 1976, more than 2 million tons of garbage from Roanoke, Vinton and Roanoke County have been buried there.
The localities will stop using the landfill in December when the new landfill at Smith Gap in western Roanoke County is scheduled to open.
Fortunately for the localities, they won't have to come up with the $7.5 million needed for closing and monitoring the landfill.
Those funds will come from a $9.5 million reserve account which has been accumulated in 15 years by the Roanoke Valley Regional Solid Waste Management Board, the landfill's operator.
The money was set aside to pay for closing the landfill and to help pay the development costs at the new Smith Gap landfill.
Kiser said the remaining $2 million will be transferred to the resource authority to be spent on the new landfill.
The new landfill will cost about $30 million, but that includes a trash-transfer station and a railway spur. The garbage will be loaded onto a special train at the Hollins Road transfer station in Roanoke, then hauled to the landfill at Smith Gap.
With one exception, all equipment, employees and other assets of the old landfill will be transferred to the resource authority.
At least initially, the localities will retain ownership of the land, which is near Explore Park. Ultimately, the property may become part of Explore, but not all details have been worked out.
by CNB