A landfill is an obvious necessity, especially for multiple RMs and the city of Humboldt.
With the flooding at the Humboldt Landfill, REACT CEO, Wendy Yaworski, says that the Ministry of Environment wants the Humboldt landfill decommissioning started by the end of 2017.
Everyone agrees that a new landfill is needed.
REACT held an open information session on Apr. 6 and for some members of the Leroy RM, there are some concerns about where REACT wants to put the new landfill site.
Over 80 possible sites fit the criteria for a stable landfill, says Yaworski. When it came down to choosing a site, there were only two quarters that landowners were willing to sell.
In the end, the site that was chosen was a quarter on the RM of Leroy and the RM of Wolverine boundary, south of Muenster.
Farmers who work around the quarter shared their concerns for the drainage system that Water Mark Consulting put on the site.
Tom Senko farms land directly adjacent to the proposed site. He questions how the report says there is no naturally occurring drainage off the site. He says there is both man made and nature drainage off the site.
“That’s my main concern,” says Senko. “If they even chose a site 1000 metres on either side of this drainage channel, I can’t say I’d have a problem with it.”
Even with REACT’s assurance that they will keep the site enclosed and clean to keep garbage in the landfill, other concerns for farmers were things that are out of REACT’s control.
Senko has spoken to other farmers who live around landfills and they say it is near impossible to farm their land with the amount of garbage that is blown off site and by people dumping garbage illegally.
This problem is cleaned up easier on a primary weight highway when compared to a gravel road, says Senko.
Speaking with another farmer where the landfill is on a gravel road, he has 10 flat tractor tires a year from illegally dumped construction material, says Senko.
“It’s different when you’re out on a highway. They can go sweep it up and push it off to the side then have someone come along with a magnet and clean it up later. How are you going to clean up nails on 17 miles of gravel road?”
Although he applauds the consultants for their work on engineering the site, Senko says more has to be done when it comes to drainage. Holding pond concerns are inadequate for the amount of average waterfall in a year, said many farmers that farm that area.
David Tratch with Water Mark Consulting says that it is a fantastic site in terms of soil composition and that no water will be leaving the site.
When it comes to having a proper distance from a residence, Saskatchewan’s most recent landfill regulations have not been updated since 1986. For this landfill, Tratch announced that they were using Alberta regulations that dictate a 450 metre distance from any one resident.
For Dennis and Enid Siegel, they are very invested in the landfill site since they are the closest yard to the proposed quarter. Their farm is somewhere between 1200-1300 metres from the quarter where REACT wants to put the landfill but they do not feel this is enough of a distance.
Enid wrote in a letter to the editor prior to the meeting that the United States regulations should be considered, which dictates a 3200 metre distance from the residents, the equivalent of two miles, as a buffer zone for lose trash, smells, and pests.
Enid was also not happy about how the process took place. Especially being the closest resident to the landfill, they were not notified until after the land was purchased that there would be a landfill close to their farm.
Enid says that they would have liked more warning and more transparency on the issue.
Yaworski says, from REACT’s standpoint, proper process was followed but says there were reasons behind the timing of releasing the report to the public.
Testing on the site and releasing the report to the Ministry of the Environment took some time, says Yaworski. As soon as REACT got approval from the government on Mar. 10, they gave the go ahead for the RM of Leroy to call a public meeting.
“No one wants a landfill in their backyard. And to get everyone stirred up ahead of time before we would even know if we could put a landfill there, it didn’t make a whole lot of sense,” says Yaworski.
However, according to RM of Leroy documents, a meeting was not called until Mar. 23 which followed the municipal bylaw minimum of two weeks notice.
On Mar. 23, the Siegel’s were given a copy of the 25 page report featuring information on topography, engineering specifics, location plans, collection areas, and residential mapping.
Enid says that much of the information in the report is either old or incorrect. Enid says she just cannot trust the report if there were incorrect information in the distilled report that they saw.
Dennis was given the chance to speak at the session and said that his well was not even on the well water map.
The site can have a large impact on the Siegel family who are also one of only 20 families in Saskatchewan that provide at home dialysis for their daughter, Bridget who has kidney disease. Because of this, they cannot leave their home for more than two days at a time.
Enid does not want the stress of this to affect her daughter’s health, she says.
“I made our yard our sanctuary the best we can. Then REACT dumps this on us. “
The presentation did not make Enid feel any better on the issue since they presented information that was already distributed.
REACT should have been having information sessions long before a site was chosen.
“If they’d be more transparent, get everyone involved in it, I’m sure we could come to some kind of solution.”
Yaworski says that they did not purposefully mislead anyone involved but there was a process that was followed to the best of their abilities considering the delicate subject matter.
They want to resolve the matter peacefully, says Yaworski.
Leroy RM Reeve, Jerry McGrath, says this is just the beginning of the process and encouraged people to bring written concerns to the RM meeting and public hearing on Apr. 12.
From there, the RM will be looking for more information from Water Security, the province, and whom ever else to get more information.
“It won’t be passed until we get these people satisfied. Whether they disagree or agree with us, we’ll answer their questions,” says McGrath.
When it comes to the Siegel’s concerns, they are valid, says McGrath. When it comes to drainage concerns, the RM of Leroy will be talking with Sask Water to discuss trends in Attica Creek and drainage around the quarter.
UPDATE: At the public hearing on Apr. 12 at the RM council meeting, it was decided that more information is needed to address concerns brought forth by 11 individual presentations at the hearing. Application for the landfill will be delayed to further investigate these concerns.
