NOTE TO EDITORS, NEWS DIRECTORS AND REPORTERS: Links to copies of the letters sent to the land fills can be accessed on the DNR website at: http://www.iowadnr.gov/letters.html

 

Iowa DNR News

Environmental Services Division

  


For immediate release                                                                          February 23, 2009


 

THREE IOWA LANDFILLS REQUIRED TO CLOSE UN-LINED PORTIONS OF THEIR OPERATIONS

 

DES MOINES - Three Iowa sanitary landfills are being notified by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources that they will be required to close portions of their landfills because of groundwater pollution caused by their operations.

 

Notices are going out to the Des Moines County Sanitary Landfill, the South Dallas County Sanitary Landfill and the Page County Sanitary Landfill that they will not be able to use the areas of their operations that don't have liners to prevent any further leaching of contamination into groundwater.

 

Approximately 92 percent of Iowa's population relies on groundwater for drinking water. Contamination in the groundwater has been found in monitoring wells that are within the property boundaries of the three landfills getting notice.

 

New rules require a liner to be placed over unlined areas prior to the placement of additional waste.  All three of the landfills receiving notice have filed suit against the Iowa DNR asking the court to allow them to continue using un-lined areas of their operation.  The landfills have argued that they should be allowed to continue using these areas unless they are causing groundwater pollution.  However, annual reports submitted to the department document that leachate - contaminated water from precipitation moving through waste in the landfill - is causing groundwater pollution at each site.

 

Landfills will also be required to do assessments to determine the appropriate response for preventing any further contamination, said Jon Tack, an attorney for the DNR's Legal Services Bureau. 

 

Regulations require an engineered liner be installed underneath waste going into a landfill to prevent the fluids that accumulate in the waste from leaching into groundwater.

 

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"This action does not close down their operations, it just prohibits them from using the portions of landfills that don't have the effective environmental practices in place to protect groundwater," said Tack.

 

The landfills are being given 180 days from March 30, 2009 to close the portions that don't have proper liners to protect groundwater. Closure involves placing a thick layer of compacted soil over the waste and seeding it with vegetation. This minimizes infiltration of precipitation and prevents soil erosion.

 

"We don't believe the steps that have been taken by these three landfills so far are enough to adequately protect groundwater. The samples we are getting from monitoring wells are proving that," said Richard Leopold, director of the DNR.

 

"The public rightfully expects us to act to protect groundwater. We needed to take the steps necessary to protect the environment and we are willing to work with any and all of these landfills to come up with the solutions that result in protecting the state's natural resources," Leopold said.

 

 

For more information, contact Jon Tack at 515-281-8889.

 


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