American Landfill seeks to construct injection well
SANDY TWP. – Rather than hauling wastewater away, the Waste Management American Landfill wants to install an injection well on site to dispose of nonhazardous liquid.
A public forum will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Indian Run Christian Church at 8368 Hill Church St. SE in Osnaburg Township to discuss details.
Landfill operators have filed an application with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for a permit to construct the Class 1 injection well on the property at 7916 Chapel St. SE.
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"This permit is for construction of the well," said Anthony Chenault, public relations officer for the Ohio EPA. "It has nothing to do with allowing them to put anything in the well. It will not allow them to dispose of anything in the well."
Disposing of the wastewater would require another permit.
Having a functioning Class 1 injection well would reduce the need to have trucks haul away wastewater to treatment plants.
"This is kind of a newer kind of treatment," said Erick Palmer, district manager for Waste Management American Landfill. "According to the federal EPA, this is the best way to manage it. It is completely gone. You are storing it in a place that is devoid of life. This well is going down almost 8,000 feet."
The wastewater is a byproduct of the refuse collection process.
"I would say we generate about 160,000 gallons a day," Palmer said. "It is a byproduct of your waste when your waste is breaking down. It has been a byproduct of landfills as long as landfills have existed."
Construction of the ejection well could begin in 2024.
"We are not in an extreme hurry," Palmer said. "We recognize this is something that could raise concern. It will be state-of-the-art technology. This whole thing has been about a four-year study."
One local official who plans to attend the public information forum is Sandy Township Trustee Robert Fallot.
Using trucks to haul away the liquid waste "is costly, I understand that," Fallot said. "It depends on who you talk to if it is nonhazardous. They did some seismic testing. If they don't find porous rock, they don't have a place to put the water."
Class 1 wells are used to inject waste into deep confined rock formations.
"It will allow them to take the leachate they generate at the landfill and send it into a deep injection well rather than taking it to a wastewater treatment plant or recycling it on the surface area of the landfill," said David Held, executive director of the Stark-Tuscarawas-Wayne Joint Solid Waste Management District. "It is the furthest separation from residents and from our underground aquifers."
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Waste Management American Landfill proposes injection well
