Landfills, Liners and Leachate
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New York State has moved aggressively to promulgate and enforce regulations requiring landfill managers and operators to use the new "doubled liner" system to reduce the potential for dispersion of toxic wastes into groundwater and soil (Phaneuf & Vana, 2000). However, older landfills, including those at Port Washington, New York, and Staten Island's Fresh Kills, either lack the double liner or (in both cases) have a double liner installed in small portions of the entire landfill mass. A search of the literature on New York State landfills failed to reveal any in-depth information about newer landfills constructed with the double liner, though some data regarding double liner sectors at Port Washington and Fresh Kills can be employed herein to describe the ways in which such liners function to inhibit off-flow of toxic and other undesirable materials generated by landfills. Double-lined landfills are described by Zero Waste America (2001) as landfills that have one or more layers of lining material, which may consist of clay or a flexible synthetic membrane, or a combination of both. The liner effectively creates a virtual bathtub in the ground. In a double-lined landfill, if the bottom liner fails, wastes mill migrate into the environment via groundwater or soil. For this reason, most environmentalists and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommend and in some instances require double lining, with one of three types of liners: clay
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sand and gravel banks on the west side of the site.
Both liners ultimately appear to have failed. From 1979 through July 1983 when disposal operations at the L-4 landfill ceased, various toxins were found to be omnipresent in groundwater, soil, and air (New York State Department of Health, 2001).
Disposal activities shifted at the Port Washington Landfill to the adjacent L-5 portion. This cell (Field 3 of the L-5 section) received baled municipal wastes, raw sewage sludge, uncompacted commercial and municipal wastes, and processed construction and demolition debris containing gypsum products. The cell was closed by the order of the Nassau County Board of Health in 1991.
Currently, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (2001), there is continued evidence of organic chemical contamination in the area served by the landfill. Groundwater and leachate alike are contaminated with various VOCs and people are at risk because of contaminated groundwater. The nearest public water supply well (Southport) was taken out of service as a precaution against possible contamination despite the fact that no contaminants have ever been found in this well.
ATSDR (2001) and the EPA (2001) have confirmed that the Town im
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Approximate Word count = 2526
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)
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