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Faraday considers waste site actions


By Tony Pearson



Last week, Faraday township council heard from its engineer, Wayne Ingham of BluMetric Environmental, about what it could cost to renovate its waste site. Ingham laid out the range of expense for closing the existing active pilot cell at the dump, and opening up a new one through a reclamation process.


According to Ingham's figures, it would cost between $193,000 and $340,000 to close the active pilot cell, depending on (a) whether the work was done by the township itself, or contracted out, and (b) whether the closure used the present reserves of cover material or not.
These costs would be split 50/50 with the Town of Bancroft, which used this site until it developed its own in Dungannon about seven years ago.


The active pilot cell is currently estimated to have over three and a half years of use left. Ingham then projected the cost of closing all five cells at the landfill. The range was between $1- and $2-million – again, depending on who did the work, and what cover was used.


Of course, the township can extend the life of the landfill by “reclaiming” all cells. Again, the cost varies, depending on whether the township does the work, or it's carried out by a contracting firm. Per cell, the expense for township work is $450,000, while contracting-out is estimated at $540,000. Looking at the cost of reclaiming all remaining cells, the difference is about $400,000. Ingham also estimated that handling the project internally would make the process quicker.


A number of councillors were somewhat uncomfortable about the township taking responsibility and doing the work itself. They wondered if the township had all the expertise necessary, and worried about liability. The “tolerance for risk” was not high.


The schedule proposed is to close the active pilot cell this year, and to reclaim a cell the following year. The entire process still has to go to the Joint Faraday-Bancroft Waste Management Board for approval.


As for current operations, BluMetric's measurements indicate that the existing landfill presents no environmental hazards. Leachate is now collected and piped to the Bancroft wastewater treatment plant. In addition, there are two lined collection ponds serving as back-up in case of overflow.


Ingham reported that no leachate had been detected beyond the set limits, and the volume had dropped by about 10 per cent compared to the year before. As well, there was no change in the quality of area surface water, and although minerals were detected in groundwater, the levels were not high enough to trigger any alarms.
Post date: 2016-04-14 14:20:43
Post date GMT: 2016-04-14 18:20:43
Post modified date: 2016-04-12 14:21:54
Post modified date GMT: 2016-04-12 18:21:54
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