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Thursday, 11 September 2014 05:42

Oxford County Council approved a decision that could affect the proposed landfill in Zorra township.

OXFORD COUNTY- After nearly two hours of discussion and a presentation from the local group OPAL (Oxford People Against the Landfill), council approved a decision to create a formal policy that would determine whether or not to accept leachate from private landfills/dumps and process it at municipal water treatment facilities.

Staff expects the policy to be ready for council approval in the spring of 2015.

OPAL had brought the council attention to the absence of a policy governing liquid waste discharges into Oxford County wastewater collection and treatment systems back in June.

Since then council approved Public Works to investigate any current bylaws enforced that would apply to liquid waste processing at Oxford County wastewater treatment facilities. The Public Works report found that there was a 'gap that existed in our operating policy.' The policy that will be created will take into consider:

-Origin of liquid waste
-Waste strength
-Hauled or sewer connection/discharge
-A formal agreement between large waste generators/haulers on volume limits
-County Council approval requirements

While the creation of a future policy is a step forward in assuaging concerns about the transportation of liquid wastes and the processing, it will take time before it will be implemented. This created discussion from some councillors about what will happen in the mean time.

"One of the concerns expressed by a couple of county councillors whether we should put an interim ban on it while we consider the policy my response to that was that I don't really see that as an issue because there is no request from the actual proponents of any private landfills to haul leachate to us," said Walton.

The proactive approach to preparing for any future requests for leachate processing from private landfills/dumps is keeping in line with the county's strategic plan 'A county that thinks ahead and wisely shapes the future.' In particular taking a social, financial and environmental sustainability lenses to decisions.

OPAL presented several concerns including; the impact that trucks or tanks would have carrying leachate, the health impact and should the county take on the liability of processing private landfills and dumps leachate liquid waste.

"I think we need to be concerned about everything that they (OPAL) address, they are doing very in-depth looks at everything and so I think they bring a lot of things to the forefront that you may not think about," said Talbot.

Currently wastewater is hauled by tanker trucks or by connecting to the wastewater collection systems and delivered to County wastewater treatment plants. The Public Works report found that there is a risk that new discharge may exceed current environmental compliance approval limits. However Public Works sewer use by-law enforcement staffs regularly monitor existing industrial, commercial and institutional facilities discharges into the county wastewater system.

"Just going forward we are trying to address as many issues that might come from having a proposed dump in our area and address those concerns," said Talbot.

A number of questions were raised about why the county should be responsible for treating leachate from private waste facilities. However several councillors made the point that if the county were to put up roadblocks the private facility could build their own facility that would not be monitored by the county.

Once the policy is created and approved, council will revist OPAL's request to ban leachate from privately owned and operated landfills/dumps.