Many recently read the excellent articles in “The ‘Ville”, April 2020 pgs. 16-18, documenting the importance of Johnson Creek to our community. Johnson Creek is the last cold water fish stream in Wayne County and if you enjoy visiting Fish Hatchery Park, hiking in Cold Water Spring Nature Area or visiting the banks of Johnson Creek at any of numerous locations in Northville, you will understand how this treasure must be protected.
The Conservancy Initiative (TCI) recently learned through a Freedom of Information Act request, that Advanced Disposal Services (ADS) has submitted two separate permit applications, requesting permission to perform on-site treatment and discharge a significant quantity of leachate to the Johnson Creek. Leachate is the contaminated water that has percolated through the landfill or compost material. The leachate is currently being disposed at off-site commercial disposal facilities and/or Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) like Great Lakes Water Authority (aka - Detroit Water and Sewerage Department) which discharge into huge bodies of water. The proposed changes are strictly cost savings initiatives and run contrary to sustainability efforts.
On-site treatment and discharge into a low-flow cold water fishing stream is not the proper disposal option for these leachate streams. The optimum disposal option is at a Public Owned Treatment Works (POTW) like Great Lakes Water Authority or Ypsilanti Community Utilities Authority. The residents of Northville Township should not suffer because the landfill’s host community, Salem Township does not have access to a POTW. How many times have Northville residents who live west of Beck Road heard “why did you buy near a landfill?” sometimes directly from the landfill. Maybe the question now is “what kind of landfill would locate in a community without access to a POTW?”
The permits being requested are known as National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) and are issued or denied by the Water Division of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). TCI believes these permits will require a public comment period and a public hearing before they can be issued.
TCI is currently reviewing the applications, but honestly, we are not well versed in these types of permits. If there is anyone in the community with NPDES experience that is willing to lend a hand please drop us an email at info@theconservancyinitiative.org.
Below is a very brief summary of the permit applications based on a preliminary review.
Permit Application 1 - Compost Facility Leachate
ADS collects leachate in a lined pond at the compost facility located north of Six Mile Road. Historically, the leachate collected in the pond has been used for dust suppression on the landfill. [TCI questions if this practice should even be allowed and will follow-up with EGLE].
ADS is proposing discharging up to 15,000 gal/day of leachate to Johnson Creek. ADS has concluded based on very limited sampling of the leachate pond that the leachate “…does not contain elevated concentrations of conventional, nonconventional or toxic pollutants and the water can be easily treated, if needed, to remove the pollutant by utilizing appropriate treatment technologies.” Although ADS has not designed a treatment system they propose using Aeration, Bioaugmentation, Carbon Filtration, and/or UV disinfection lights to treat the water (if necessary).
TCI believes much more engineering is needed to design a robust treatment system before even considering this permit. We suspect the compost leachate may be rich in nutrients (fertilizers) and heavy metals (historic landscaping materials) which could be harmful to Johnson Creek.
Permit Application No. 2 - East Arbor Hills Landfill Leachate
The leachate from the closed East Arbor Hills Landfill has historically contained PCBs and therefore is collected separately from the active West Arbor Hills Landfill leachate. This leachate is currently sent by tanker truck to an off-site commercial disposal facility (which apparently is expensive).
ADS has proposed installing equipment to treat up to 80,000 gallons per day of the leachate from the East Arbor Hills Landfill on-site and discharging the treated leachate to Johnson Creek. The treatment being proposed includes Dissolved Air Flotation to remove solids, Carbon Filtration, and Ion Exchange to removed PFAS and other contaminates.
Although the exact discharge points for the proposed operations may be slightly different both ultimate will result in approximately 100,000 gal/day (equivalent to a large fire hose) of treated leachate entering the Johnson Creek via a tributary running east from Napier Road to the Cold Water Spring Nature Area along the southern border of the Northville Ridge Community. A map showing the approximate location of this tributary is linked - click here.
TCI does not believe a low flow cold water fishery is the proper repository for the leachate from this landfill. Even if the treatment technology proves to be adequate, Advanced Disposal’s should not be entrusted with the health of this stream based on their recent operating record. The Conservancy Initiative will track these permit applications closely and will issue comments if draft permits are issued. TCI will keep the community informed of the permit status to ensure the public’s comments can be heard.
What Can You Do?
If you are outraged by the thought of “treated” Leachate being allowed to enter Johnson Creek and would like to help, please consider writing your legislators with respect to your opposition to Advanced Disposal’s permit applications and/or please consider making a donation to The Conservancy Initiative to help fund our efforts in opposing Advanced Disposal Services Permit requests. Donate Link