Heather Wright/The Independent

Warwick Township politicians are voicing concerns about a plan by Waste Management to dig up, rebuild and reuse the former Watford dump land.

Wayne Jenkin, the landfill engineering manager, talked to council Monday about three construction projects planned at the Twin Creeks Landfill including the first of a three-year project to reuse the acreage which was the original Watford dump. It was filled with contaminated soil between 2002 and 2010.

“It has always been part of the plan of the current landfill expansion that the area will be excavated and realigned to new standards and have new waste put it in its place,” he said.

“The mounded contaminated soil that was placed now 15 years ago will be excavated down to grade this year. Next year, we will excavate the below grade and the native fill below that down to the elevations for the new cell eight.” That cell will cover three former cells of the old landfill.

Jenkin admitted the redevelopment of the old site bordering on Zion Line is something new for WM. 

“We’ve built roads before. We’ve built flares before. We have not excavated old contaminated soil cells before” he said.

And the company expects there will some odour and dust as they work on the project, beginning in May. “We will manage this in a progressive way. We will manage this slowly over the course of the summer,” he added. 

The soil removed from the old site will be reused as cover in other cells. 

“We have a level of comfort. This is a weak-strength contaminated soil, but we do not have a history with doing this project. We have some unknowns. We will be cautious,” Jenkin tried to assure councillors.

The plan sparked concerns with Peter Pickfield, the lawyer who monitors Twin Creeks for Warwick Township. 

“How much information or data do you have about this contaminated soil area of the quality of the soil, the content of the soil in that area at this point?” he asked.

Jenkin says there was “strict analytical acceptance requirements” for the soil when it was brought in 15 years ago. “So we’re talking a quite weak-strength contaminated soil was what was landfilled in these cells.”

Pickfield also wanted to know if WM would be testing the soil once it was excavated. 

“There is no plan for additional testing. The material was all tested upon original acceptance, so we are aware that the material meets requirements for use as …alternative daily cover in the landfill expansion, and that is our plan is to excavate and utilize,” Jenkin says.

Councillor Joe Manning wanted soil testing to make sure the area around the old landfill had been “remediated fully.” And he wondered if the excavated soil would be spread around the site and possibly onto the roads. “Are you going to guarantee us that this soil is going to be put into safe storage and not just kind of passed around?”

Jenkin says the material has less risk potentially to it than any soil brought to the site today. “There is no intent to find out if there’s anything outside of the limits of what we excavate.”

Councillor Wayne Morris also called for testing before the plan moved forward. 

“I have never seen an operation like this happen that I can recall without you doing core samples,” Morris said. “I would love to see core samples taken to find out exactly what you have in there (from) today’s technology. But there might be chemicals there that you didn’t analyze for in 2005 that were there that we will pick up on monitoring today.”

Jenkin says under the rules, WM doesn’t need to test the soil if it is staying on the property.

“We are simply moving a low risk contaminated soil from one spot on site to another,” he said.

“I would still be a lot more comfortable for the community if you did core samples to prove that what you’re digging up is what is there before you start just digging a hole.”

Councillor Jerry Westgate, the longest serving councillor in the township, said the soil was tested when it first arrived at the Watford site.

“Waste Management was supposed to test it when it got to the site, so the soil should be fine.”

Normally WM officials meet with the mayor and staff on a regular basis to discuss what they’re doing, according to Mayor Todd Case. But when this year’s construction plans were discussed, he and staff felt the entire council should hear the plan.

During the presentation, Jenkin acknowledged the process could produce extra odour. The township’s lawyer wanted to ensure that was monitored. 

“One of our peer reviews concern has been the need for continuous monitoring at this landfill of air quality. And I know there’s no plan to put in continuous monitoring. But would this be something that might trigger consideration of that idea of continuous monitoring at the landfill of air quality?” Pickfield asked.

“No plan for continuous air quality monitoring, and specifically that recommendation is about dust monitoring, not the full air quality program,” Jenkin said, noting there are air quality monitoring devices near the former Watford landfill.

Construction on the former site is slated to begin in May.