Alabama
ADEM: Alabama landfill fire shows ‘no discernable impact’ on water quality
Alabama environmental officers say water samples taken close to a landfill hearth that’s been burning for greater than two months confirmed “no discernable impression” on water high quality within the space.
The Alabama Division of Environmental Administration says water samples taken from the Cahaba River and Large Black Creek close to the hearth — roughly 15 miles northeast of Birmingham — confirmed little to no impression.
“Some residents have expressed concern that runoff from the location might be having an adversarial impact on the water in close by streams,” Jeff Kitchens, chief of ADEM’s Water Division, stated in a information launch. “We began testing the water to see what impact, if any, the hearth was having, and to make that data accessible to the general public.
“Happily, what we have now seen thus far tells us the hearth is having little impression on water high quality.”
The division stated that to research potential impacts, they started sampling each upstream and downstream of the hearth on the Cahaba, and Large Black Creek. Large Black Creek flows into the Cahaba lower than a mile from the location of the landfill hearth.
The division says these outcomes, that are posted on ADEM’s Moody hearth updates web site, present “the underground hearth on the Moody vegetative waste disposal website doesn’t look like having any discernable impact presently on the water high quality of close by streams.”
Air sampling and monitoring from the location may be discovered on the EPA response website online.
EPA personnel on the scene informed AL.com Friday that the smoke from the hearth might proceed to be a problem for residents for one more three weeks or so.