EPA to close Florida, Vega Baja and Santa Isabel landfills by Dec. 31
BY JOSE FERNANDEZ COLON
The federal Environmental Protection Agency will shut down another three solid-waste dumps by Dec. 31, forcing the municipalities of Florida, Vega Baja and Santa Isabel to send their trash to other landfills.
Carl Axel Soderberg, head of the EPA in Puerto Rico, said Friday that with the closure of the three dumps, some 2,880 pounds of trash a day will have to be taken to landfills in Arecibo, Toa Alta and Salinas.
The Florida dump is being shut down because it is located in the middle of the island’s karst zone, he said, noting that the liquid produced by the decomposition of the trash threatens to contaminate the area’s underground fresh water supplies. He said that many residents of this municipality consume this water.
The Vega Baja dump is not only in the karst zone, but there are also wetlands and flood plains nearby, and the island’s northern aquifer passes under the area, he said.
The karst zone — a limestone region marked by fissures, sinkholes, underground streams, and caverns — covers 27 percent of the island’s surface and supplies 35 percent of the drinking water used by some 827,000 people along an imaginary line running from Aguadilla to Toa Baja.
Soderberg said the Santa Isabel lacks the liners to protect the underground water from liquid contaminants percolating from the decaying trash to the southern aquifer.
The agency ordered the shutdown of landfills in Aguadilla and Guaynabo earlier this year.
The dump closings are set down in a consent order the mayors of these towns signed with the EPA two years ago.
After the Florida, Vega Baja and Santa Isabel dumps are closed, Puerto Rico will have a total of 27 landfills receiving 96,000 tons of trash a year, Soderberg said. Each of the island’s 78 municipalities used to have its own dump.
Soderberg said that the number of landfills should be reduced to 26 into next year.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency will shut down another three solid-waste dumps by Dec. 31, forcing the municipalities of Florida, Vega Baja and Santa Isabel to send their trash to other landfills.
Carl Axel Soderberg, head of the EPA in Puerto Rico, said Friday that with the closure of the three dumps, some 2,880 pounds of trash a day will have to be taken to landfills in Arecibo, Toa Alta and Salinas.
The Florida dump is being shut down because it is located in the middle of the island’s karst zone, he said, noting that the liquid produced by the decomposition of the trash threatens to contaminate the area’s underground fresh water supplies. He said that many residents of this municipality consume this water.
The Vega Baja dump is not only in the karst zone, but there are also wetlands and flood plains nearby, and the island’s northern aquifer passes under the area, he said.
The karst zone — a limestone region marked by fissures, sinkholes, underground streams, and caverns — covers 27 percent of the island’s surface and supplies 35 percent of the drinking water used by some 827,000 people along an imaginary line running from Aguadilla to Toa Baja.
Soderberg said the Santa Isabel lacks the liners to protect the underground water from liquid contaminants percolating from the decaying trash to the southern aquifer.
The agency ordered the shutdown of landfills in Aguadilla and Guaynabo earlier this year.
The dump closings are set down in a consent order the mayors of these towns signed with the EPA two years ago.
After the Florida, Vega Baja and Santa Isabel dumps are closed, Puerto Rico will have a total of 27 landfills receiving 96,000 tons of trash a year, Soderberg said. Each of the island’s 78 municipalities used to have its own dump.
Soderberg said that the number of landfills should be reduced to 26 into next year.
Comments for EPA to close Florida, Vega Baja and Santa Isabel landfills by Dec. 31 |