Article taken from the
Santa Barbara News Press
Published with permission
Officials OK landfill expansion
By MELINDA
BURNS
NEWS-PRESS SENIOR WRITER
3/25/03
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The South Coast landfill, located in Canada de la Pila, just west of the seaside community of Arroyo Quemada, was expected to run out of space in 2005. Environmentalists had opposed the expansion plan, saying that a "lake" of water in the trash might be seeping out and contaminating the ocean.
At a meeting Friday night in San Luis Obispo, the California Regional Water Quality Control board unanimously approved a permit allowing the county to pile on another 120 vertical feet of trash at Tajiguas. Ten years from now, the board said, the county could build a landfill on 40 acres at the back of the canyon.
"This has been a long process and a lot of good study has taken place," said Mark Schleich, deputy director of the county Public Works Department. "The board came to the conclusion that the project is a good one."
Next month, the county will seek a permit from the state Integrated Waste Management Board, the final hurdle for the expansion plan.
State and county officials have long disputed the idea that there is a lot of water in the trash at Tajiguas, but they concede that some water may be trickling in from the sides of the canyon or during heavy rains.
On Friday, setting a new standard for all the older dumps in California, the board required the county to pump out the water in the trash at Tajiguas "to the maximum extent feasible."
Michael LeBrun, a senior board engineer, said that trying to figure out where water is traveling inside these landfills is like "working on a puzzle that's literally a couple hundred feet underground."
"I expect the county to be more aggressive," Mr. LeBrun said. "They have publicly stated their goal to de-water that landfill."
In addition, the regional board required the county to install additional wells at Tajiguas to test the underground water quality and direction of flow -- a measure sought by Heal the Ocean, the Environmental Defense Center and the Gaviota Coast Conservancy. These groups also want the county to regularly sample the water in Pila Creek, which has been diverted around the landfill to accommodate 30 years of trash.
Tests performed by the county and Heal the Ocean at the mouth of Pila Creek during last month's heavy rains showed high levels of fecal and enterococcus bacteria, or bacteria that is found in the intestines of warm-blooded animals.
"We appreciate the fact that we've at least taken the steps to deal with groundwater in the trash," said Hillary Hauser, a founder of Heal the Ocean. "But there are other, more environmentally sane, more economical ways to dispose of trash. Once those monitoring wells are in, the county is going to be stuck with more cleanup, more headaches and more expense."
Mr. Schleich and Mr. LeBrun say that all 24 of the South Coast creeks show high levels of bacteria during heavy rains. Pila Creek, they say, ranks as one of the least contaminated.
Mr. Schleich said bacteria in Pila Creek are likely coming from animals living in the canyon. At Arroyo Quemado beach, a quarter-mile away, the county performed a DNA study two years ago to determine the cause of persistent high bacterial levels in the surf. Seagulls turned out to be the main culprit.
A falconer is now on duty full time at Tajiguas, shooing the seagulls away; the bacterial levels at Arroyo Quemado have dropped to insignificant levels. On Friday, the board required the county to retain the falconer indefinitely or use some other method to keep the beach clean.
In a final nod to environmentalists' concerns, the board also agreed to review conflicting studies on the threat of an earthquake at Tajiguas. The county has concluded that a magnitude 5.5 quake is possible, centered on the Santa Ynez fault onshore. A report paid for by Heal the Ocean places the magnitude at 7.0, based on the history of the North Slope fault offshore.
No active fault runs beneath the Tajiguas landfill, and Mr. LeBrun said no major changes in the expansion plan would likely be needed after the studies are reviewed.
But Bob Hazard of the Gaviota Coast Conservancy said that if the environmentalists are correct, the county may have to scale back its plans by as much as half. A major earthquake at Tajiguas, Mr. Hazard said, would plug the canyon, rip out the gas extraction and drainage systems and send a slug of contaminated water into the ocean.
"I don't even know how you would fix it," he said. "You can't build on top of the existing landfill if it is unstable."
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