Orange County NC Website
4. "No downhole distribution of the hydrologic parameters were obtained - no flowmeter. " <br />f.. __:. '... <br />See #3 above. The potential risk associated with C&D landfills does not warrant such expense at the <br />siting stage. It would take numerous of these flowmeter tests to be able to know much more about <br />groundwater flow at the site than is already known on the basis of existing information. <br />S. "Only one temporal snapshot of the water table was obtained during the dry season. Implications of <br />seasonal water table fluctuations and variability of groundwater flow direction as well as their <br />.implications for leaching contaminants from the landfill have not been investigated. " <br />Additional wet season water level measurements will be taken at the site before completion of the <br />second part of the application, the Design Study Application. The Solid Waste Section does not issue <br />landfill permits unless wet season water level information has been collected at a site. In addition, the <br />applicant must submit and analyze sufficient archival meteorological data and regional recording well <br />hydrograph data to support a conservative estimate of future long-term seasonal high water levels <br />beneath a site. Design base grade elevations are required. to be a minimum- of four feet above these <br />conservatively estimated long term high elevations, to prevent the interaction of waste and groundwater <br />and minimize leaching of contaminants. <br />6. "Wetlands within the landfill indicate groundwater-surface water interactions, yet their implications <br />for contaminant transport have not been investigated. Groundwater level map seems to be rather <br />inaccurate. For example, it does not indicate any influence of the wetlands. " <br />A properly constructed groundwater level map based on July conditions at the site should not reflect any <br />influence of the wetlands. At the time represented by the water level map (July) the areas classified as <br />wetlands on the site, each smaller than one-third acre, were dry. During July hand auger investigations <br />within the delineated wetland areas, we did not .locate any confining layer that would indicate. perching <br />of groundwater, nor did we encounter moist soils indicating discharge of deeper water. Water levels in <br />our wells near the wetland were well below ground surface. Our water level. maps and cross sections do, <br />however indicate. the influence of the pond on the site. The groundwater level map required for the <br />Design Study will be based on wet season data, and may reflect some influence of the wetlands at that <br />time of year. <br />7. "A number of hypotheses were posed in the report and accepted without proof. Also, a number of <br />unsupported statements were included and accepted. " <br />• Our statements concerning the effectiveness of the nearby stream as a downgradient discharge point <br />are based not only on our measurement of vertical gradients in the well pair. The vertical foliation <br />of the subsurface rock units, and the high density of vertically oriented fractures in core samples and <br />site outcrop indicate high transmissivities in the vertical dimension.. No shallow confining layer was <br />encountered in the area near this stream. <br />• Our statement that slug test values should be assumed to represent maximum values was meant to <br />reflect our interpretation of results for those wells screened near the transition from regolith to <br />bedrock. Most of the wells in our study were screened in this horizon, as it is a critical horizon, <br />Response to Comments of Dr. Z.J. Kabala <br />C&D Landfill Siting <br />Joyce Engineering, Inc <br />September 27, 1999 <br />Orange County, North Carolina <br />