Seneca Meadows Program Sheds Light on Landfill Issues

Ask someone in Ithaca what Seneca Meadows is, and they will likely not be able to tell you. Our neighbors in the northwest region of the watershed however, will probably be able to tell you that Seneca Meadows is a landfill site located in the town of Waterloo. Seneca Meadows is a landfill site, but it is also a lot more. Over fifty people attended a Cayuga Lake Watershed Network event in Seneca Falls on the evening of March 20, 2001 to find out more about what Seneca Meadows is, what goes on there and what its potential environmental impacts are.

"Seneca Meadows and the Local Watersheds: Questions and Answers" was designed by Judy Pipher (NETWORK Outreach Committee Member) and Mary Catt (NETWORK volunteer) to be an educational and informational forum on the environmental issues surrounding Seneca Meadows. A wealth of information was indeed presented by a diversity of speakers at the forum. True to the title of the forum, the speakers also fielded a wide range of questions from the audience.

As one of the issues surrounding the Seneca Meadows site is its relationship to water resources, the program began with a presentation by Edith Davey, a conservation educator with the Ontario County Soil and Water Conservation District. Davey explained the nature of groundwater and its connection to surface water, and discussed major groundwater pollution sources. Jim Daigler, Manager of Engineering Services at Seneca Meadows, Inc., then gave a detailed overview of the facility and its operation. Seneca Meadows employs 70-80 people (more in the summer than in the winter) and has been in operation since 1983.In addition to the landfill, Seneca Meadows recycles tires and composts yard wastes. Other activities at Seneca Meadows include collection of gases generated by the landfill from which energy is recovered. Daigler explained that facilities like Seneca Meadows are essential to New Yorkers. Although the amount of solid waste going to landfills in New York State has decreased in recent decades, approximately 8.9 million tons of NY waste were still disposed of in landfills in 1999. Daigler pointed out that the Seneca Meadows landfill requires permits at the federal, state and local levels, and that these permits are only granted when regulatory bodies are satisfied with the facility's pollution containment, removal, and treatment systems.

One of the main focuses of the evening was the fate of the leachate from the landfill. Leachate is comprised of rainwater that has percolated through the landfill, liquids in the waste itself, and groundwater that has infiltrated the landfill from below. Seneca Meadows generates 70,000-80,000 gallons of leachate a day which has to be handled and treated appropriately to protect the surrounding environment. Don Gentilcore, an environmental engineer at Seneca Meadows, and Jeff Warrick, Superintendent of Water and Sewer in the village of Seneca Falls, explained that the leachate from Seneca Meadows is not hazardous, because hazardous wastes are not accepted at the landfill.

The leachate is monitored intensively on site to ensure that its components are known and that their levels do not exceed regulatory standards. Currently, all leachate from Seneca Meadows is loaded onto trucks and taken to waste water treatment plants in the area including those in Ithaca and in Geneva. However, the village of Seneca Falls has entered into a leachate acceptance agreement with Seneca Meadows. A sewer line will be extended to connect the landfill site with the Seneca Falls wastewater treatment plant. This will carry leachate directly to the treatment plant where its contaminants will be handled appropriately. Warrick and Gentilcore explained that the Seneca Falls plant currently has the capacity to accept and properly treat the leachate from Seneca Meadows. Sludge generated in the treatment process will be returned to the landfill.

The last speaker was Thomas Pearson, a water engineer with the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Pearson stated that the landfill industry in NY is tightly regulated and continuously monitored by the DEC. In fact, the DEC has one full-time employee permanently stationed at Seneca Meadows. Pearson stated that environmental and regulatory efforts have led to a dramatic increase in New York State's water quality in recent decades.

After the presentations, Sharon Anderson, Cayuga's watershed steward, moderated a lively question and answer session. Members of the audience had many questions for the speakers on a variety of topics related to the landfill. Questions and comments were voiced that included concerns about the efficacy of the pollution prevention strategy at Seneca Meadows, the nature of its leachate, and its regulatory environment. As the speakers addressed the questions and comments it was pointed out that Seneca Meadows employees as well as the employees at the Seneca Falls wastewater treatment plant live in the local area and drink the water too. Thus environmental protection is one of their personal priorities.

Close to the end of the event a round of applause showed the audience's appreciation to the organizers of the event. Thank you to all who attended this informative meeting.

Niamh O' Leary, Chair, NETWORK Outreach Committee