Local programming
- What Are the BiggestHealth Concerns?
- Groundwater Contamination: This is one of the biggest concerns in most communities. The fear is that contaminants from the landfill will sink down into the groundwater. Fortunately, in New Mexico, the dry climate helps keep leachate from forming in landfills. Also, the new requirement for landfill liners is helping allay this fear, although many raise concerns over how long the liners will last. However, the older, unlined landfills in New Mexico are potential problems. If groundwater is tainted, it can be very expensive to clean it up, by either treating it in the ground or pumping it out, treating it, and pumping it back in. One Albuquerque landfill will soon be remediating groundwater, and the city of Clovis faces a similar situation. Albuquerque officials say as the state's smaller towns start examining old landfills, they are likely to discover more problems. Here are the latest statistics from the state Environment Department on how New Mexico landfills are doing in connection with groundwater contamination:
- Albuquerque: Contamination in excess of one or more state groundwater standards has been detected at four of the ten closed landfills tested. Wells at the Coronado and South Yale landfills exceed standards for the solvent PCE. Several wells at the Los Angeles landfill exceed standards for PCE, TCE, DCE and other volatile organic compounds. One well at the San Antonio landfill exceeds the nitrate standard.
- Elsewhere: Five landfills outside Albuquerque are on the state environment department list requiring corrective action for groundwater. This means contamination of groundwater exceeds standards for at least one compound. Each site must determine the extent of the contamination and possibly submit a plan to correct the problem. The landfills on the list are:
- Clovis Landfill (closed section): The contamination is mainly nitrates, possibly caused by a wastewater treatment plant that formerly operated on the site. Only one household is said to be near the contamination. The state says Clovis may be required to come up with a plan to clean up the water, possibly pumping it out and spraying it on alfalfa fields, which would eat up the nitrates.
- Silver City Landfill (closed)
- Gallup Landfill (closed)
- Tucumcari Landfill
- Las Vegas Landfill (closed)
- One landfill, the Portales landfill, is on the state's “assessment monitoring” list which means contaminants have been detected. The landfill was required to close down this summer because it is too close to groundwater.
- Eight landfills in New Mexico are not required to test groundwater, usually because they have shown the depth to groundwater is unusually high.
- The following landfills are on a list stating they are “not in compliance,” meaning they are not turning in the required groundwater monitoring reports. Often, the state says they lack the money to complete the tests:
- Seay Brothers (closed - Bernalillo County)
- Lobo Canyon (closed - Cibola County)
- Santa Rosa (Guadalupe County)
- Cannon Air Force Base (Curry County)
- Carlsbad (closed)
- Dark Canyon (Closed - Eddy County)
- Farmington (Closed)
- Sweetmeats (closed - San Juan County)
- El Llano (closed - Santa Fe)
- Taos
- Tri-sect (Valencia County)
- Valencia County (closed)
- Seven small landfills (received less than 20 tons of garbage a day) are not required to monitor groundwater. Another 11 small landfills ARE required to do the monitoring. 54 small landfills MIGHT be required to test groundwater.
Methane: Methane gas is a common problem in landfills. It forms from rotting trash and can drift into the basements of neighboring buildings where it can be ignited and explode. It can also catch on fire within the landfill property. State regulators consider methane to be a minor problem in New Mexico, again due to the dry climate. However, Albuquerque is treating at least one serious methane problem. To get rid of methane, you can put in vents or, in the worst case scenario, be forced to install a million-dollar methane collection system which gathers the methane from a series of pipes, and takes it to a central area where it is flared. Here's the list of areas of concern:
- Albuquerque: The city is investigating nine closed landfills for methane gas; four have had some work performed on them.
- Los Angeles Landfill: It has a well-documented landfill gas migration problem. The city is currently operating the state's only landfill gas emission system to extract methane from the landfill and burn it off. The effort has kept methane from drifting into a nearby industrial park.
- Atrisco Landfill: Two of 22 measurements taken showed the presence of methane, but not at levels to pose a health risk. However, since there is a mobile home park on top of the landfill, more studies will be done.
- Yale Landfill: Methane is present in the monitoring wells, but given the land formation underneath the landfill, the tests are not conclusive and more will be undertaken.
- San Antonio Landfill: No methane gas has been detected so far.
- Elsewhere:
- Rio Rancho: Successfully vented methane that had drifted off site.
- Las Vegas: Has a serious methane problem that might require a methane emission system.
Note: Methane is also considered a greenhouse gas. Therefore, new Air Quality regulations (pdf) require larger landfills to possibly install landfill gas emission systems to cut down the amount of gas coming out the top of landfills and going into the atmosphere. Camino Real landfill in Sunland Park will be the first in the state to install this system in summer 2000.