Officials Seek Extension of Landfill Until 2005

The Ventura Regional Sanitation District has proposed keeping Bailard Landfill in Oxnard open until the year 2005, despite evidence that trash there is polluting an underground water source.

“Our continuing monitoring program shows a general degradation of water quality underneath the landfill,” said John Conaway, the district’s solid-waste manager.

The district wants to extend its 5-year permit for Bailard to buy time to search for a new county landfill site. It calls the pollution of a shallow aquifer underneath the Bailard landfill at Victoria Avenue and Gonzales Road an “insignificant impact.”

“Our feeling is it’s useless water and no one is using it. I don’t think anyone has a really serious concern about it,” Conaway said.

Not Used for Drinking

The water, which already bears traces of agricultural chemicals, has never been used for drinking. But the California Regional Water Quality Control Board and environmentalists say the aquifer should be protected from further pollution in case a drought forces Ventura County to seek secondary water sources.

“That’s a problem,” said Russ Baggerly of the Ventura County Environmental Coalition, when told about the worsening water quality below Bailard Landfill. “Any water source in California should be precious.”

The proposal to extend the life of Bailard Landfill comes less than a year after the sanitation district won a hard-fought battle to reopen the long-closed Oxnard dump for a maximum of five years. At the time, the Regional Water Quality Control Board stressed that the permit was a temporary one, granted only on the condition that the county take stringent measures to protect the environment and look for a new, permanent site.

A Skeptical Look

On Tuesday, a water board staff engineer said he would look skeptically on Ventura County’s request for an extension.

“We wouldn’t think that was the best thing in the world unless they came up with some real strict mitigation measures,” said Rod Nelson, an associate engineering geologist for the board.

Nelson said the district is installing a methane gas and liquid collection system to minimize further leakage into the shallow aquifer that lies under Bailard.

“We’ll continue to monitor water quality,” he said.

Earlier this year the county told the water board it would pick a new site, complete the environmental review process and open a landfill, possibly at Weldon Canyon near the mouth of the Ojai Valley, by 1993, when the current landfill permit expires.

May Need More Time

But sanitation district officials say they might need more time.

“There are forces out there that have sworn they’re going to stop Weldon Canyon,” Conaway said. “If they are successful, or if Weldon isn’t permitted by 1992, we’re in a very serious problem because there is no other significant landfill.”

In an unusual twist, the district may find an ally among environmentalists. Baggerly of the Environmental Coalition called expanding Bailard the lesser of two evils.

“If the water quality problem could be mitigated, I would prefer the Bailard site to opening a new one,” said Baggerly, who lives in Ojai.

The proposal may raise some hackles in Oxnard, where the city’s general plan calls for building $500,000 homes within 500 feet of the landfill.

However, Dick Maggio, Oxnard’s community development director, said: “We don’t have a position on it yet.”