MANITOWANING—While it has not yet accepted a report from its engineer, or the definite route it will take concerning the remaining lifetime of the Assiginack landfill, it appears that council is leaning towards support of a natural attenuation and expansion of the site.
At a meeting last week, John Smith of EXP services Inc. recommended council look at acquiring property or enter a groundwater use agreement with adjacent properties.
“I think we are going to run into a ‘not in my backyard’ situation, but I don’t think we’re going to get approval from the province if we start from scratch (looking at a brand new landfill site),” said Alton Hobbs, CAO for the Township of Assiginack.
Mayor Brenda Reid agreed the township is lucky to have a landfill. “A lot of municipalities don’t,” she said.
“This is a very serious situation,” Councillor Jennifer Hooper added. “Either way, it is going to cost the township a lot of money.”
The township has been working on a proposal since 2012. Mr. Smith pointed out this is not unusual. “You have a landfill that is a very small piece of property. Typically, a landfill will only take up 10 to 20 percent of a property.”
There are two routes for expansion of a landfill under the Environmental Assessment Act (EAA) and Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP) regulatory guidelines. One is an environmental screening process for landfill expansion up to 100,000 cubic metres, which is the category Assiginack falls under. The other is an individual environmental assessment for landfill expansions over 100,000 cubic metres.
As part of this screening process, the township issued a notice of commencement in the fall of 2012. After initial consultations, there were a number of environmental studies conducted from 2012 to 2013, including geotechnical, hydro-geotechnical, natural environment, natural heritage, archaeological, environmental impact assessment and identification and evaluation of alternatives.
As a result of these, EXP has come up with a number of design options. “We came up with three designs,” Mr. Smith said. “Option one is to expand the current landfill cell to the west (attenuation cell). That would provide for 35,000 cubic metres of disposal capacity and a 28-year site life, not including final cover. Option two is for a new cell to the west of the existing landfill cell (attenuation cell) which would provide for 17,700 cubic metres of disposal capacity and a 14-year site life, not including final cover. The third option would be a new HDPE-lined cell to the west of the existing landfill for 35,000 cubic metres of disposal capacity and a 28-year site life, not including final cover.”
Council at that time chose option one to keep the natural attenuation site, Mr. Smith said. “We then held consultations with the public, First Nations and regulatory agencies from spring through summer 2014, including two public meetings. There were no major concerns raised.”
The EAA screening document was drafted and submitted in the fall of 2014. The MECP review was completed in the fall of 2015. Once the Ministry signs off on the screening process, the township can apply for an expansion of the landfill site, he explained. “Then they have to apply for environmental compliance approval.”
“We came up with a design for the site based on option number one, which is a natural attenuation site expanding west 30 metres of the property boundary,” Mr. Smith told council. “To expand, we have to have amended approval.”
The design is for a natural attenuation site on level ground, expanding west to create a 30-metre buffer zone. The groundwater flows toward the highway. This would give the site a 28-year life with 35,000 cubic metres of disposal capacity. The estimated construction cost is $160,000.
The ECA application for landfill expansion was submitted in July 2016. The ministry responded in November of that year, commenting that some things at the current site were out of compliance and would need to be dealt with before looking at expansion. The ministry also wanted the township to install additional monitoring wells and more sampling.
The application was resubmitted in September 2018. “In December 2019, the ministry got back to us,” said Mr. Smith. “They have concerns about our modeling parameters because of constraints with the property being so small.”
At that time, the ministry amended the original ECA for the current site to allow for three more years of disposal, he said. “They recommend approval based on either a lined landfill site or expansion of the current site through land acquisition or a groundwater use agreement for the adjacent property. One of the ministry concerns is that in 15 to 20 years, the current site will not be able to contain the leachate on the site.”
A lined site could increase the size to 40,000 cubic metres but it would cost $1.5 million to construct the site, with a “good majority” of this needed upfront. A lined site would be better for longevity, but the $1.5 million cost does not include hauling waste.
“To maintain the landfill site as a natural attenuation site, the township has to acquire the property adjacent or have a groundwater agreement,” he said. Mr. Smith could not estimate the costs involved for this.
“We could get a 28-year lifespan with a lined site and then the process would start all over again?” asked Councillor Hooper.
“The other option would be to close the current site,” Mr. Smith responded. “However, I don’t recommend this.” He noted the cost would be about $4 million and costs for exporting garbage are “astronomical.”
“They come in, take your garbage. Waste diversion is a big business. It’s big bucks so the more that we can keep out of the site the better,” said Mr. Hobbs.
Councillor Rob Maguire asked if the adjacent landowners had been approached about selling their property to the township.
“They haven’t been approached but I think it would cost a lot less than the $1.5 million,” said Mr. Hobbs, who added, “we can’t say what the best option is without investigation.”
Mr. Hobbs noted that most municipalities prefer going with the natural attenuation option. “Once we reach capacity, we have to monitor but close the site,” he said. “With an engineered site we’re left constantly monitoring the site (and leachate into it), so it’s not just capital costs that would be involved.”
The costs of a lined site could be twice the costs of a natural attenuation zone.
“Landfills are a major issue with every municipality,” said Mayor Reid.
“Do we (municipality) own any vacant land that we could move the dump to?” asked Councillor Janice Bowerman.
“We’re going to run into ‘not in my backyard’,” Mr. Hobbs replied. “It’s taken this long, it’s a process. Someone has to sign off on that going forward. We have land but everything under the sun comes into play. It would be a tough sell.”
Confirming the preferred option for the landfill site was on the agenda for a special council meeting scheduled for January 24.
