WARREN Council seeks EPA's advice

Two councilmen worry that harmful elements may get into the sewage system.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- City council members want the Environmental Protection Agency to recommend how to dispose of nonhazardous leachate.
The two methods are hauling it to a landfill or discharging it into the city's sewer system.
An ordinance before council would allow companies to choose either, and the city would charge a 3 cent treatment fee per gallon.
Warren Recycling Inc.'s construction and demolition debris landfill is likely to use the service, but Tom Angelo, director of the city's water pollution center, said other companies also may opt to use it.
Councilman Robert Holmes III, D-4th, said at a sewer committee meeting Tuesday he'd support the portion of the ordinance involving leachate, or the water runoff from a company such as WRI, being hauled from leachate ponds maintained by companies to the water pollution control center.
He opposes direct discharge.
Holmes and Councilman James A. "Doc" Pugh, D-6th, say they're concerned about what is contained in the landfill and that some elements could be harmful.
Angelo said the monitoring system for leachate coming into the treatment center from any companies using the service will let the city know within a couple of weeks if something harmful gets into the system so it can act quickly.
Asking EPA
Councilman Gary Fonce, D-at large, wants the EPA to make the call.
"We have a construction and debris landfill that we're stuck with, and we have to do something with the leachate," he said.
"I'd like to hear from the experts. What does EPA say?" he asked. "Frankly, the problems we've been having out here with Warren Recycling is because the federal and state agencies [dragged] their feet and waited to make a decision."
Fonce was referring to residents' complaints starting more than two years ago of a hydrogen sulfide odor that permeated the area near the landfill.
Ohio and U.S. EPAs recently concluded that the rotten-egg stench was emanating from the landfill.
Angelo said that at a recent meeting, an EPA official said discharging into the system is the recommended method to get leachate to the treatment center, but Susan E. Hartman, D-7th, said the official wasn't aware of the poor condition of the city's sewer system when he made that statement.
Angelo will try to set up either a meeting or a conference call between an EPA official and council members before the next council meeting, when the ordinance is set for a vote.