Landfill gas leakage to Batavia stopped

It appears Waste Management has successfully stopped methane gas leaking out of Midway Landfill from traveling into Batavia.

Officials Thursday announced none of the gas, created by the decomposition of garbage, has been detected in the last four weeks at monitoring probes south of Fabyan Parkway.

“It appears the (gas collection) system is functioning. We’re delighted with the results,” said Rod Stipe, the district manager for Waste Management’s Closed Site Management Group.

Methane gas was first detected in 2009 in an abandoned water well near the Campbell House, just northwest of the Kane County Events Center in Geneva. As Waste Management started probing around the Settler’s Hill and Midway landfills in December 2011 it discovered gas leaking south of Fabyan, near an industrial park and the Batavia Highlands housing subdivision. Waste Management announced the results to Geneva, Batavia and Kane County officials, and gas monitors were installed in 12 homes and six other buildings. None of the gas was ever detected in those buildings, Stipe said.

Midway Landfill opened in 1968 and closed in 1982. It was built under less stringent environmental regulations than Settler’s Hill, which opened in 1982 and is now closed.

Midway does not have a clay liner, unlike Settler’s Hill. Since Midway is closer to the Fox River, it sits on river wash made of sand and gravel and is more permeable than the clay Settler’s Hill sits on. Gas leaked through the river wash and into bedrock that has become dewatered over the years, allowing the gas to spread.

Waste Management installed 12 soil-gas extraction wells on the south side of Midway to pull the gas out and send it to a gas-burning electrical generation plant at Settler’s Hill. The last well was put in mid-February. Soil-gas extraction will probably last at least another year and may go on indefinitely, Stipe said, noting the whole problem isn’t solved.

A soil-gas extraction system is being installed on the north side of Midway and should be operating in about 10 days. Waste Management has also added a second flare to burn off excess gas.

Waste Management will examine the gas collection system in Midway to see if it needs maintenance or replacement. That system has landfill-gas extraction wells that go down as far as 60 feet into the garbage. One difficulty it faces is that in the 1970s Midway deposited garbage in trenches that were separated by clay. There are no surveys or maps specifying exactly where the trenches are.

Waste Management also has to restore Settler’s Hill Golf Course, parts of which were torn up for well and monitor installation. There are nine playable holes, and all 18 should be accessible in May, Stipe said.

While declining to give a specific amount, Stipe said the gas remediation work has cost Waste Management “more than seven digits.”