[CPEO-MEF] Camp Pendleton (CA) landfill

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

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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