Deadline set for landfill flood control plan

County and state agencies have issued orders this week to make the controversial, closed Sunrise Mountain landfill prevent its contents from spilling after severe storms.

The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection cited the landfill for discharging into the Las Vegas Wash without a permit. The Las Vegas Wash is the valley's drain for all runoff and flows into Lake Mead six miles from where Southern Nevada's intake pipe for drinking water is located.

The state has ordered Republic-Silver State Disposal Services Inc., to submit a plan re-evaluating the control of floodwaters at the 30-year-old landfill site.

The 720-acre site, 15 miles east of downtown Las Vegas at the base of Sunrise Mountain, spewed tons of debris, including asbestos, from a hole ripped into the cover by a severe thunderstorm Sept. 11.

The NDEP set a deadline of Oct. 19 for receiving a plan from Silver State to control floodwaters at the site, said David Emme, NDEP's manager for solid waste.

Although the state did not take water samples, Emme said that under Nevada's water-pollution control laws, no one can discharge into the Las Vegas Wash.

The floodwaters tore a black plastic liner from a channel installed by Republic-Silver State to route torrents away from the unlined dump itself. The channel was supposed to withstand a "100-year flood," meaning a flood so severe that it would occur only once every 100 years. Although the National Weather Service measured about 1.5 inches of rain that day in the Las Vegas Valley, Silver State's gauges on the mountain recorded nearly 2 inches in less than an hour.

Nel Laboratories, hired by Silver State, reported no volatile organic compounds, insecticides, pesticides or other contaminants in samples taken 11 days after the storm. Trace amounts of barium, mercury, molybdenum and vanadium -- all of which could occur naturally -- were found.

Chuck Jenner, who is in charge of the Sunrise project for the county, said the Public Works Department will ensure that Silver State completes its work on time.

The Clark County Health District's order calls for a complete review and redesign of the flood channel and better protection for disposal pits containing asbestos waste, said Ed Wojcik, the Health District's solid-waste supervisor.

"This is a disaster," Wojcik said of the September storm that created a tornado in Henderson. The storm exceeded the design of the flood-control channel, he said.

The asbestos debris in question does not pose a health threat unless it is crushed or cut, Wojcik said. But by law, it must be secured properly.

The reviews of the failure at the landfill and a correction plan must be turned in to the Health District by Nov. 6.

"We are addressing the issue from a public-health perspective and are concentrating on proper disposal and proper flood-control measures," Wojcik said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the NDEP have said the landfill was not properly capped in 1995.

A consultant for the Bureau of Land Management, which owns the site and leases it to Clark County for Silver State to manage, discovered cracks in the original cover in 1996. The cracks, one of which was 100 feet long, raised concerns over air pollution from methane gas and contamination of ground water.

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