With floodwaters threatening from Joe Lake, the Humboldt landfill site is once again in jeopardy of being lost. Workers with REACT Waste Management District are working hard to ensure that won't happen.
REACT held its annual general meeting on April 20 in Humboldt. Members were told that Mother Nature could have a big say in how long the current landfill site will last.
REACT CEO Wendy Yaworski said plans are to have a new landfill up and running within the next two to three years, but she's hoping to keep the current site operational for a fair bit longer. Without the current landfill operational, the City of Humboldt would be in a real pickle as to what to do with all its garbage.
"At this moment we're just struggling to try to save the site, and keep it open so there is a landfill for the community and surrounding area until a new one can be selected," Yaworski told the Humboldt Journal.
"It's going to be difficult until the water levels go down. You're working on a day-to-day basis to try to control it. And if it starts to rain, we're going to have real problems."
The current garbage cell on the west end of the landfill was put into use in the late fall of 2008, and reached full capacity as of this spring. A new cell has been excavated to the south of that cell. That cell was constructed when material was removed to further raise the dikes holding back Joe Lake. When it reaches full capacity, there is still room for two smaller cells.
Based on current and past garbage volumes received at the Humboldt site, Yaworski is confident the current landfill area on the top of the hill could last up to another five years - and with proper trash compaction, its life could be extended even longer.
But much depends on the weather.
If the site were to flood, that could be a real calamity, Yaworski said.
In addition to heavy snowfall during the winter of 2009-10, the landfill site received more than 120 centimetres of rain last year. Now again this spring, Joe Lake is seriously encroaching on the landfill road previously used to access the garbage cells on the hill. That road is no longer in use, except as a berm to hold back the lake.
The existing berm is now only about two to three feet above Joe Lake's water level, but consultants with Bar Engineering feel that will be enough to hold the water back.
Still, much depends on the rate of the spring thaw, and how much rainfall we get this spring and summer.
"The lake has come up, and we've probably got between two and three feet of leeway left," Yaworski said. "I think in a lot of places (it's) two feet. These winds aren't helping anything. They are causing some erosion."
A higher road at the north end of the property is now the only way to get to the garbage cells to the west. And it, in turn, is threatened by the spring runoff from the Kloppenberg Wildlife Refuge lands to the north.
In order to keep that road operational, on April 27 REACT workers cut a diversion ditch through the abandoned CP railbed to allow some water from the spring runoff area to be diverted to Humboldt Lake.
"That road was actually starting to flood," Yaworski said. "So we had to cut down through the railbed enough for some water to go over, because that would have taken the whole road berm out and the site would have flooded. If that happened, I don't know what we'd do."
Yaworski stressed that REACT is releasing only as much water through the diversion channel as is absolutely necessary.
"We went down just to the level of the water, so that it can spill extremely slowly," she said. "We've been trying to not let very much water out, because the water level is getting very high at Humboldt Lake and the cabin owners are having water issues. There's a lot of water coming in from the east, through Wolverine Creek, and it's coming in quite quickly, so they were concerned about their cabins flooding out. We didn't want to contribute to the problem. So we've been watching very carefully, and working with the RM and cabin owners to ensure their concerns are addressed first."
Yaworski said REACT will place a culvert in the railbed in the coming weeks, but they'll hold off on draining the spring runoff until Humboldt Lake levels are better under control.
"When we do release the water that's ponded there, we just want to make sure that we don't create any further hardship for the cabin owners," she stressed. "When the water levels do go down in the Lanigan-Delwood Creek system, and especially in Humboldt Lake, then we'll move forward on that."
On Easter weekend, Joe Lake spilled its banks to the south of the landfill and onto adjacent lands. That spelled some relief for the landfill, but it caused difficulties for others. The road to the gun club has now been flooded, and at present, the gun club's shooting ranges are out of commission. REACT actually owns that land, but rents it to the gun club.
"This year with the high runoff, it's affected everybody," Yaworski said.
Thankfully, however, the rains have held off - at least thus far.
"It's been nothing comparable to last year," Yaworski said. "We've been very thankful that it's been as dry as it's been so far."
Bar Engineering was hired by the Provincial Disaster Assistance Program to conduct an overall assessment of the Humboldt landfill. They will provide further recommendations on both short-term and long-term site management solutions.
REACT has also been working very closely with the Saskatchewan Watershed Authority (SWA) to monitor the situation.
"We were told to expect higher than normal runoff this year, and so we did consult with our engineers about those dikes to see if they were high enough, and they said they were," Yaworski noted. "So right now they are holding. And Joe Lake is spilling to the south, so the water level shouldn't come up much higher. But we are going to have to watch the dikes."
Yaworski noted dewatering of the flooded landfill portion would allow REACT to continue operations and access the garbage cells on the western hilltop until a new site can be established. But decommissioning the existing site is also dependent on dewatering.
One of the biggest concerns at the current site is with water contamination, should Joe Lake actually flood the landfill.
Last spring, REACT conducted water quality tests on the adjacent Pitzel slough and Humboldt Lake, with sample results sent to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment, SWA and Environment Canada.
Yaworski noted that at present there is no evidence of water contamination from the landfill, and she said that's very encouraging. Additional water quality tests will be conducted this spring, including E.coli and LC50 (lethal concentration) tests. Those tests will help to determine whether fish eggs and hatchlings in Joe Lake and Humboldt Lake could be affected by landfill contamination.
As for building a new landfill facility, Yaworski said REACT has received six offers for land available to purchase. She hopes REACT will have narrowed its selection to a single site by the end of this month.
An environmental assessment and complete site evaluation would then have to be completed, likely by the end of September. Talks with the provincial Ministry of the Environment, public meetings and an overall site plan would commence from there.
