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6 020 <br /> sound idea. But two ongoing events are already eroding the <br /> stability of these short-term economics. <br /> First, the EPA and the State are now considering <br /> stringent new landfill regulations and/or reinterpretations <br /> of standing regulations. Should these considerations come <br /> to be reality, and in all probability they will, many <br /> operators of new landfills will be required to employ <br /> relatively expensive engineering devices to prevent the <br /> contamination of local ground and surface waters. In <br /> certain cases, these new state and federal measures will <br /> require landfill operators to install expensive liners and <br /> treat any liquids that leach down through the buried refuse. <br /> The pending regulations might also place tighter <br /> restrictions on landfill siting. The end result is that <br /> Orange County can expect solid waste disposal costs to rise <br /> drastically, possibly doubling or tripling. <br /> Second, as Orange County's population continues to grow, <br /> large undeveloped areas that might be considered as possible <br /> landfill sites will become scarce, the cost of land will <br /> continue to escalate, and county officials can expect <br /> fiercer opposition from residents opposing a landfill siting <br /> in their neighborhood. <br /> These trends are not unique to Orange County and are <br /> emerging in many counties across the United States. After <br /> reviewing available data and witnessing the struggles of <br /> more populous North Carolina counties, namely Mecklenburg, <br /> Durham and New Hanover, this task force is convinced that <br /> landfilling is not a particularly desirable method of waste <br /> disposal, and that possibly in the next ten years <br /> increasingly strict environmental regulations and changing <br /> county demographics will further diminish landfilling's <br /> popularity. Orange County must commit itself to exploring <br /> alternatives to landfilling and must be ready employ <br /> feasible technologies as early as possible. <br /> Incineration <br /> Managers of the New Hanover mass-burn facility claim <br /> that incineration allows them to reduce refuse to ten <br /> percent of its original volume. New Hanover, home county of <br /> rapidly growing Wilmington, has mainly sandy soils and high <br /> water tables. These two factors made landfill siting in <br /> that county especially difficult and forced New Hanover <br /> County officials to find a waste disposal method that would <br /> quickly reduce their need for additional landfill space. No <br /> solid waste disposal method yet devised can completely <br /> eliminate the need for a place to put some amount of refuse. <br /> New Hanover places the ash resulting from incineration in a <br /> lined landfill, and treats the leachate from that site. <br /> Task force members present at the April 28, 1986 meeting <br /> agreed that Orange County should communicate with <br /> neighboring counties and municipalities on the question of <br /> using incineration to help remedy solid waste disposal <br /> problems on a regional basis. Alamance County will run out <br /> of space this year at its current landfill and has failed so <br />