Wetland or swampy areas between the landfill and the river prevent pollution.
By Gail Geraghty
Staff Writer

PARIS – A contaminant plume under the closed Paris landfill behind the highway garage off High Street has remained essentially unchanged.

The latest monitoring results from fall sampling of wells surrounding the capped landfill show the plume continues to flow away from the municipal water supply, said John Barlow, manager of the Paris Utility District.

The municipal wells, which draw water from the Little Androscoggin River watershed, are upriver from the landfill, he said.

The volatile organic compounds in the plume, measured in parts per billion, are flowing toward the river, which is about three-tenths of a mile away, but not reaching it, he added.

That’s because a wetland or swampy area exists between the landfill and the river, said Barlow. Monitoring wells located beyond the wetland and nearer to the river do not show contamination except in times of really high water, he said.

The volatile organic compounds detected in the sampling remain localized to a “toe,” an area designed to drain ground and surface water when the landfill was capped six or seven years ago, Barlow said.

“The closure design was based on the knowledge that there was a contaminant plume there,” he said.

Monitoring for contaminants at the landfill has been going on for nearly 20 years. It began when the plume was first identified, said Barlow. The state Department of Environmental Protection, which oversaw the clay-overlay closure, requires the sampling twice a year. The results are sent to a hydrologist who analyzes the data and writes an updated report for the state.

The volatile organic compounds in the plume are “at very low levels,” he said. “There’s no great big slug of stuff there.”

ggeraghty@sunjournal.com

Copy the Story Link