Firm Meets Resistance in 2nd Try to Expand Azusa Dump

The Azusa Land Reclamation Co., whose bid to expand its dump was rejected by a regional water board last March, has reapplied to the board for a new permit, promising extra measures to keep contaminants from leaking into ground water.

But the new plan, tentatively scheduled to be heard by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board on Oct. 24, is encountering the same opposition that killed the earlier proposal.

Robert G. Berlien, an official with the agency that regulates pumping of ground water, said the promised safeguards, including the installation of a synthetic liner under the trash-disposal area, do not remove the threat to drinking water.

“We think any landfill will leak and that adding a plastic liner isn’t going to add anything,” said Berlien, assistant secretary of the Main San Gabriel Basin Watermaster. “I don’t care if they line it with concrete.”

Berlien said water producers believe that the Azusa landfill is in the wrong place, atop porous soil over an underground water basin. The watermaster and other San Gabriel Valley water agencies have urged that landfills be restricted to canyon areas where the geology makes it more difficult for contaminants to seep into the drinking water supply.

Several industrial solvents, including trichloroethylene (TCE) and perchloroethylene (PCE), have contaminated pockets of ground water throughout the San Gabriel Valley, and some of the heaviest pollution is near the Azusa dump. But authorities have never established a link between the dump and the pollution.

Ric Spencer, manager of the Azusa landfill, said the fact that wells north of the dump are contaminated shows that ground water is polluted from other sources before it flows south under the landfill.

He said the protective measures proposed for the new disposal area would keep contaminants from seeping into ground water. He said the plan is “environmentally sound and safe. It meets and exceeds the established criteria.”

The dump is on a 302-acre parcel that includes a quarry. The trash is unloaded and buried in pits created by the mining of sand and gravel.

Dumping is restricted to an 80-acre area, which is rapidly filling up with trash. Spencer said the disposal area will be full “in a couple of years.” Exactly when the dump will run out of space is uncertain because it depends on the rate at which trash is received.

Spencer said the dump takes 1,000 to 1,200 tons of trash a day but was receiving 2,000 tons daily before a dump-fee increase last July prompted some trash haulers to find other disposal sites.

In addition to filing a new application with the regional water board, Azusa Land Reclamation Co. also has filed an appeal with the state water board seeking to overturn the regional board’s earlier denial. The state board is the parent agency of the regional board.

The appeal is based on the argument that the regional board does not have a legal right to deny a permit if an applicant meets all of the established requirements.

A spokeswoman said the state board has not decided whether to consider the appeal.

Meanwhile, Spencer said, his company will try to win regional board approval of an application that modifies the original proposal. Both proposals would allow Azusa Land Reclamation Co. to shift disposal operations to a new 25-acre area and eventually expand to the remainder of the property.

Layer of Clay

The original plan included the installation of a foot-thick layer of clay and a system to collect and remove liquids to prevent leaks into ground water. The modified plan adds a synthetic liner between the layer of clay and the trash.

The staff of the regional board recommended approval of the original application in March, but the board rejected it. A majority of the members declared that they could not approve any plan that would offer even the slightest chance of contaminating the Main San Gabriel Basin, which supplies drinking water to 1 million people.

Raymond K. Delacourt, unit chief in charge of the water board’s landfill section, said that in light of the March decision, the staff will probably submit its report on the new application without a recommendation.

But, Delacourt said, the plan to install both a foot-thick layer of clay and a polyethylene liner in the disposal area is technically superior to the previous plan. “It’s probably the best combination there is,” Delacourt said.

Deeper Pits Proposed

Azusa Land Reclamation Co. is proposing to bury trash in pits that are deeper, and thus closer to ground water, than the current disposal area. The company investigated the possibility of importing dirt to raise the elevation before burying trash, but said it found that the cost for just a 20-acre portion of the dump would be $7 million.

In addition, the company earlier this year offered to create a $400,000 trust fund to pay for any unforeseen ground-water problems, but water producers rejected the offer.

Spencer said the new proposal does not provide for a trust fund since the company believes that the synthetic liner, clay barrier and other measures can keep pollutants from reaching ground water.

Delacourt said that whether pollutants have leaked out of the dump into ground water is unknown. He said ground water is polluted before it comes near the dump, and is polluted when it leaves, making it difficult to determine whether the dump has added to the pollution.