The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation has issued a final pretreatment discharge permit to Casella Waste Systems for its landfill in Coventry. The permit allows the company to continue collecting and transporting leachate to the Montpelier Wastewater Treatment Plant, but requires a new pilot system to reduce per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the liquid.
Leachate forms when precipitation and decomposition liquids filter through buried waste, picking up chemicals including PFAS. The DEC said the permit followed a public comment period that drew significant input from residents and local groups.
“We had a significant community input during the public comment period for this permit,” DEC Commissioner John Beling said. “We sincerely appreciate the engagement from the Coventry, Orleans County, and Lake Memphremagog watershed communities.”
Under the permit, Casella must submit a design for a pilot PFAS treatment system. Once the design is received, the DEC will issue an amended permit that will again be subject to public comment. The department emphasized that this permit is separate from the solid waste certification for the landfill’s operation and expansion, and is not related to existing groundwater underdrain discharges at the site.
“Landfills and other systems of garbage disposal are a humbling consequence of our modern lives,” the DEC said in a statement, adding that the agency is “responsible for permitting and monitoring these systems to strike the balance between the necessity of waste management and the prevention and mitigation of negative environmental impacts.”
Originally reported by Newport Dispatch.
Photo: Tom Fisk via Pexels. Photo is illustrative and not from the scene.
Log in as a subscriber to comment, or become a member.