SUFFOLK, Va. (AP) - Officials in southeastern Virginia are scrambling to deal with 10 million gallons (37,854,117 liters) of garbage-tainted water at a landfill.
The Virginian-Pilot reports (https://bit.ly/2nccER0) that the regional trash authority has planned a special meeting next week to discuss solutions. The dump is located in Suffolk.
The accumulation of the water, known as leachate, was discovered in late January. An estimated 30 feet of liquid had built up in spots. State regulations limit accumulation to a foot.
The city manager of Virginia Beach said “mismanagement or malfeasance or neglect” caused the problem. Southeastern Public Service Authority operates the landfill.
One solution could be trucking the leachate to a wastewater treatment plant in Newport News. The process could last a year and cost more than $6 million.
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