Issue Updates, Fall 2006

Trash Trucks on Route 211: In the past, many trucks used Route 211 to haul trash to the Battle Creek Landfill (BCLF) in Page County, but it is rare to see one now. The reason? A few years ago, Virginia's Department of Environmental Quality cited the landfill with 171 alleged violations of its permit. Most egregious was taking in up to 1,500 tons of trash per day, much from out-of-state, on a permit that only allows 250 tons per day. Page County settled with the landfill's contractor, took over the landfill, and brought it up to DEQ specifications.

According to Henry Mikus, Page County Director of Public Works, BCLF now expects to be "a moderate-sized regional landfill that would service Page County and neighboring local governments to provide for their refuse disposal needs." A permit amendment is being reviewed by DEQ to increase the permit limit to 350 tons per day, which would allow Page County to break even on all of its solid-waste activities.

It is unlikely that trash trucks from the eastern side of the Blue Ridge will haul trash over the mountain to the Battle Creek Landfill. Distances are long; trash trucks get about nine miles per gallon; and other landfills are closer. According to John McCarthy, Rappahannock County Administrator, Rappahannock County has no plans to use the BCLF. Negotiations are underway to have the county's trash hauled to Culpeper County's transfer station along Route 522 west of the Town of Culpeper. What about the trash generated by the development at Clevenger's Corner? Paul Howard, Director of Environmental Services in Culpeper County, notes that this trash will also be taken to Culpeper County's transfer station. From there, all trash is taken to a private landfill near Richmond. Since the BCLF issue is unlikely to affect Rappahannock County in the near future, we will drop it from our updates for now but will continue to monitor the situation.

On a related issue, the DEQ's report Solid Waste Managed in Virginia During Calendar Year 2005 noted a 10-percent drop in out-of-state waste brought into Virginia, down to 7 million tons, with most of it coming from Maryland; New York; Washington, D.C.; North Carolina; and New Jersey. In-state solid waste also dropped by 10 percent, down to 17.5 million tons. Rappahannock County's Landfill in Amissville took in 6,204 tons of trash in 2005.

Town of Washington's Water and Sewer Issues: The new $467,500 reservoir holding 200,000 gallons for Washington's water system had been completed. On June 1, the State Water Control Board voted unanimously to issue the town a permit to discharge 60,000 gallons of treated effluent into the Rush River from its expected $4 million wastewater treatment plant. Since there was no appeal filed on the Board's decision, the design of the WWTP is proceeding. RLEP is interested in the WWTP design specifications regarding the cleanliness of the effluent to be discharged into the Rush River. After DEQ approval of the design specifications, construction is to begin. The Washington Town Council is examining sources for the financing of the reservoir and the WWTP.