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Waste disposal
THE BATTALION Page 7
WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 1980
Landfills a problem in themselves
by STARR MOORE
Battalion Reporter
Garbage is a problem for most
societies, but in Brazos County, dis
posing of it is particularly nasty.
Politicians have a problem main
taining sanitary landfills. Environ
mentalists have a problem deciding
whether a landfill is the best means
of disposing of solid waste. And rural
residents have a problem getting
their garbage to a landfill.
I A sanitary landfill is a piece of land
where solid wastes are dumped,
compacted and covered.
Brazos County has four of these
sites, one used by College Station,
one by Bryan, one by the county and
one by Texas A&M University.
The College Station landfill, two
miles south of the city limits, may
only be used by residents of the city
and those builders who have gener
ated their waste in College Station.
However, the builders must pay a
fee of $2 for a truck load of solid waste
and $5 for a load larger than truck
size.
Bryan’s landfill site on Sandy Point
Road off of FM 2818 may be used
free by residents of Bryan and for a
fee by all other residents of Brazos
County; $1 for a pickup truck load,
$2 for a trailer that is 8 feet and
under, $3.50 for a trailer 8 to 16 feet
long and $6.25 for a trailer over 16
feet.
The University’s landfill is off FM
2818 on the West Bypass beyond
A sanitary landfill is a piece of
land where solid wastes are
dumped, compacted and co
vered.
Cooley said the real problem in
establishing a landfill is getting a per
mit from the Texas Department of
Health to operate one.
The people within the immediate
area of the proposed site must be
notified by the Department of
Health and invited to attend a public
hearing concerning the matter.
He said the soil must be fairly im
permeable, the site must not be too
close to a river or underground water
supply, the site must be out of the
way to the flood plains and the site
must be far enough from airport run
ways so birds hovering over the site
won’t create a traffic problem for air
planes.
Cooley said it’s possible to satisfy
all these requirements and then find
the land is too expensive for the
county to purchase.
Cooley said proper maintenance is
almost as difficult as obtaining a
permit.
“I don’t care how well you run
them, how well you police them,
you’re going to have undesirable
traffic. You’re going to have odors,
rats, birds,’’ he said.
Cooley said that like sewer plants,
landfills are not glamorous, but are
needed.
He also said funds are needed to
maintain landfills properly, but
county government does not have
the power to assess fees.
“Landfill operation is a county
function and should be a tax-
supported function instead of a fee
supported function,” Cooley said.
He said the County Commission
ers’ Court used to set aside a fund of
$15,000 a year, which provided for
an employee to work a 40-hour week
to police the area.
Now Cooley has to use money
from his road and bridge fund to pay
for the maintenance of the present
landfill.
There is often no one there and
garbage cannot be properly sepa
rated, he said.
“Landfills are not a very popular
thing in this courthouse,” he said,
“I’m probably the only county com
missioner that favors county in
volvement in sanitary' landfills.”
He said he pioneered the site at
Millican, which is in his precinct and
services the whole county.
He said the south part of the coun
ty where Millican is situated is the
fastest growing part of the county,
County Commissioner Bill J.
Cooley said that like sewer
plants, landfills are not glamor
ous, but are needed.
and the people he represents de
mand an operating landfill. Sooner
or later, the other four commission
ers will have to face the fact more
landfills are needed, he said.
However, County Commissioner
Walter W. Wilcox said it’s hard to
help people in the rural areas if they
won’t help themselves. He said they
want a landfill, but not near their
homes.
Wilcox said the reason the landfill
fund, which came out of the county
commissioners’ expenditures, was
withdrawn was because the landfill
was not managed to its fullest. He
said the equipment was neglected
and torn up.
Wilcox said Cooley can “keep it up
however he can—it’s his problem ...
he can close it, charge for it or make
it pay for itself.”
Dr. Kirk Brown, associate profes
Easterwood Airport, and may be
used only by the University and
those builders working on the cam
pus who have a contract with the
University which allows them to
dump their waste for a fee.
The county landfill in Millican
may be used by all residents and
builders of Brazos County at no
charge.
! However, Millican is 16 miles one
way from the south end of Bryan.
“Millican is very, very inconve
nient,” former county commissioner
Randy Sims said.
He said if it were convenient it
would be too close to those who live
near the site. In other words, people
need landfills and want them to be
convenient, but don’t want them
near their homes.
Sims said a landfill site was to be
opened west of town off Jones Road
about five years ago, but was never
approved because the local land
owners objected.
Donald S. Foster, who owned 780
acres near Jones Road at that time,
said: “I’m glad we were able to block
it. ... Very few people want that by
their land.”
But, Sims said, the proposed site
was to have been leased from a man
.who was getting no use out of the
land at that time.
He said it was gully land that could
have been productive soil when the
life of the landfill was over, which
would have been in about five years.
Landfills fill in gully land and cov
er it with a new surface, allowing the
land to be used for a variety of pur
poses, often playgrounds, parks and
golf courses.
County Commissioner Bill J.
D. R. CAIN PROPERTIES
“YOU HAVE A CHOICE”
Preleasing For Summer and Fall Semesters
YELLOWHOGSE APARTMENTS AND 4-PLEXES
Comer of Southwest Parkway and Welsh
College Station
One and Two Bedrooms-Furnished and Unfurnished
Two Bedrooms Have Washer and Dryer Connections
4-plexes Have Fenced Back Yards
Laundry Room Facilities
SUMMER RATES: $205-$275
FALL RATES: $215- $315
iv .v/. t *('. mvivnipoo A v'.-'y;
LONGMIRE HOUSE APARTMENTS
2300 Longmire Drive —
Off FM 2818 in Southwood Valley
College Station
One and Two Bedrooms — Furnished and Unfurnished
Pool-Laundry Room Facilities
SUMMER RATES: $205-$270
FALL RATES: $215- $315
ON SHUTTLE BUS ROUTE
FOR SUMMER AND FALL
For appointment call, 693-8850
Evening and weekends call, 696-5437
D. R. Cain Company
3002 South Texas Avenue
College Station
sor of soil and crops sciences at Texas
A&M, said the problem does not
concern landfills — it is landfills.
“Landfills are an abomination, ” he
said. “We are building a time bomb
for future generations.”
He said all products of modern
society will end in a landfill where
they will slowly digest under anaero
bic conditions (absence of oxygen)
which produce the most mobile and
toxic substances.
Also, he said, no buildings should
be constructed on top of these sites
for fear of explosion if any harmful
gases have seeped to the surface.
Brown said two years ago in
Niagara Falls, N.Y., groundwaters
became polluted from a landfill and
seeped into the basements of homes
and the playgrounds of schools which
had been built over the site. It cre
ated a high level of disease, death
and birth defects.
“Sanitary landfills are not sanitary
at all,” Brown said.
Brown said that at the Millican
site, drainage water leaks into a
stream which eventually empties
into the Brazos River.
The two major alternatives to
landfills are incineration and recycl
ing of solid waste — both more ex
pensive than the landfill system.
When these landfills are full, new
sites will have to be found and
approved.
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