2006 CPEO Military List Archive

From: Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>
Date: 31 Mar 2006 05:13:09 -0000
Reply: cpeo-military
Subject: [CPEO-MEF] Camp Pendleton (CA) landfill
 
Water quality board orders Marines to fix landfill problems

By Rick Rogers
SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
March 30, 2006

Late last year, water regulators suggested that Las Pulgas Landfill at Camp Pendleton was leaking high levels of pollutants due to shoddy construction.

Now the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board has ordered the base to fix what one of the board's inspectors calls the worst landfill failure of its kind in county history.

While repair costs for the dump are unknown, taxpayers likely will pay for what appear to be engineering errors that have forced the $3.2 million landfill to close.

“There has never been a cleanup order in this county that has dealt with construction deficiencies like what we've seen at Las Pulgas,” said John Odermatt, a senior engineering geologist for the water board. “I have never seen an engineering-related problem this large at another landfill.”

The most serious troubles have been the failure of a synthetic liner and the release of hundreds of thousands of gallons of contaminated leachate, the liquid that filters through garbage.

The Marines are storing about 280,000 gallons of leachate in large bladders and a metal tank at the dump. Some of that liquid has concentrations of zinc and nickel high enough to qualify it as hazardous waste.

Much of the leachate is also laced with tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen. Base officials have not pinpointed the origin of the tritium, but have listed road signs and smoke detectors dumped at Las Pulgas as possible sources.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is working with Camp Pendleton on ways to dispose of the tritium, which is also produced by nuclear reactors and atomic detonations.

Camp Pendleton commanders acknowledge that cracks in the exposed slopes of the liner have allowed leaks to occur. But they believe the sides are sound now and hold out hope that the rest of the liner is intact.

A split bottom could force the Marines to remove 40,000 tons of garbage before they can fix the problem. Pending tests will determine if the liner's bottom is ruptured.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20060330-9999-1mc30landfil.html

--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org

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