Dirtwork has begun at county landfill
Staff reporter
The much anticipated closing of the former Marion County Landfill has begun.
Employees of Unruh Excavating of Moundridge have been busy this past week in removing dirt from a "borrow site" north of the landfill, and filling and compacting it in the landfill trench.
David Brazil, county sanitarian, is overseeing the project. Engineer Jack Chapelle designed the closure. GSI Laboratories is conducting random soil testing while crews add the protective layer.
During the first step of the process workers removed a layer of grass from a portion of land at the borrow site. This past week soil was scraped and hauled by four tractors and seven scrapers from the borrow pit to the landfill.
Brown soil is used for fill and daily cover. Red, clay soil also is scraped and used for the cap.
As the eight-wheeled tractors spread dirt, tires from the heavy equipment compact the top layer. Occasionally a sheep shoe machine is used for additional compacting.
The cover will be a minimum of four feet with adequate slopes to allow run-off.
"Essentially, they're picking up 20 acres of clay and dirt, moving it to the landfill site, and putting it back down," said Brazil.
Paul Graves of Kansas Department of Health & Environment, recently visited the site and reported to Brazil that the project was progressing well.
Some issues such as additional cover materials, and the number of water and gas wells that will be monitored, will not be determined until a later date.
The county has been told its post-closure responsibilities will include quarterly gas monitoring and annual water well monitoring.
Future use of the area has not been determined.
"I'd like to see it used for some sort of low-impact purpose," Brazil said.
At the present time, the site is not open to the public. Permanent gates will be erected when the project has been completed.
Anticipated completion of the project is Aug. 25.
