Landfills take great measures to protect groundwater but do they do enough to stop surface run off, especially when they are built approximately 2,000 ft from a river and it’s headwater?
The West Volusia Beacon Online tells its readers that The Tomoka Landfill has "good surfaces to drain rainwater. And, the rainwater becomes leachate as it filters through the trash, and it must be collected and processed before it is allowed back into the environment."
What types of chemicals are associated with surface water runoff? What types of chemicals are associated with leachate holding ponds and contaminated groundwater near landfills?
According to Cornell University they do define known contaminants as having "a high biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and high concentrations of organic carbon, nitrogen, chloride, iron, manganese, and phenols. Many other chemicals may be present, including pesticides, solvents, and heavy metals" (Cornell Waste Management Institute). Using well known groundwater contaminants as a example is not a good idea because Cornell explains that there are other local variables to be taken into consideration therefor the local landfill can not be held at fault.
Does the Tomoka Landfill lie within a Flood Plain or Watershed?
From Google maps one can tell that this landfill is within approximately 2000 ft. from what is the starting point of the Tomoka River, does something like this matter?
According to the EPA "Headwater streams are the smallest parts of river and stream networks, but make up the majority of river miles in the United States. They are the part of rivers furthest from the river's endpoint or confluence with another stream. Many headwater streams have been lost or altered due to human activities such as urbanization and agriculture, and this can impact species and water quality downstream.
Watershed managers have had little guidance to help protect headwaters or assess their condition. Because there are so many headwater streams, monitoring all of them for health and permanence is impractical. Therefore, other methods are needed".
How will I know if this landfill lies with in sensitive areas?
I will use GIS to show the "Natural Floodplain and Wetlands" from a existing shape file data.
Todd--please remember that the general public will be reading your blog and may not know some of your terminology. Example, leachate--please bold this term the first time you use it and provide the public with a general definition.
ReplyDeleteYour post--you really address many issues (leachate, contaminants, headwaters, treatment, surface runoff, etc.) and it's a bit difficult to identify your focus. Maybe you tried to accomplish too much with this one(?). Although I'm still a bit unclear on where you are going, the fact that the landfill is in a 'sensitive' area doesn't = problems in the Tomoka River. With your next blog post, please take a smaller step so that the reader can determine where you are taking them.
Also--please include a caption on your pictures and ID what the picture actually is.
ReplyDeleteAlright, allow me to clarify. Concerning terminology, this is intended to be an oceanographic topic based blog so the expectation of some science vocabulary should not be unreasonable. Any of these terms can easily be looked up and several have their definitions within in the paragraph or have links provided as they come up. For example:
ReplyDelete"According to the EPA "Headwater streams are the smallest parts of river and stream networks, but make up the majority of river miles in the United States. They are the part of rivers furthest from the river's endpoint or confluence with another stream...."
Concerning my focus; "leachate, contaminants, headwaters, treatment, surface runoff, etc." these are merely pieces of the same issue. It is true that the fact the landfill is in a 'sensitive' area doesn't necessarily = problems in the Tomoka, but that is precisely what I intend to determine with my project. I'll conduct a literature review to find what studies have been done both at Tomoka and other sites for comparison, collect my own data, and if the results are negative for contaminates that does not = a pointless exercise.
Todd--I'm trying to guide you here. This is a science blog (not necessarily oceanography topics since some students are in environmental science)--but as with all communication in science--you must 'know you audience'--and your audience might be a grandmother who has never been introduced to these sorts of things--don't make them do the work of looking it up themselves-take the time to teach them. If your goal is to make awareness of your concerns in hope of action--how are you going to do this if the populous can't even understand it? The goal here is to learn how to communicate science--a challenge in itself!
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