Florida C&D landfill faces hazardous waste violation

A construction and demolition (C&D) landfill operator in Archer, Florida, has faced several violations from Alachua County, WUFT News reports. Its latest violation, reported in August, included oil leaks from a fuel storage container that could contaminate groundwater.

In the months before the August violation, Watson C&D applied for a five-year special use permit renewal, which would allow the company to operate in a specific zone. According to WUFT, the permit renewal was delayed until chromium found in water samples from the monitoring well had decreased.

Chromium is a type of metal that has been reported to leach from treated wood products and some cement and concrete composites.

At a county commission meeting in February, the county approved Watson’s five-year special use permit. County staff recommended adding an extra condition to the permit, requiring Watson to notify the county of leaks at the property within a timely manner to reduce potential water quality concerns.

As part of the permit, commissioners requested quarterly instead of semi-annual water quality reports. The commission also can suspend or revoke a permit if other issues are found at the facility.

Summer Waters, a senior planner for the county’s environmental protection department, tells WUFT that Watson resolved its violations from the inspection in August based on the department’s criteria. However, those criteria do not require Watson to resolve the water contamination issues.

Chris Gilbert, hazardous materials manager for the county’s environmental department, tells the North Central Florida news station that if there’s groundwater contamination, a monitoring well is to be installed. The site is monitored until it’s fixed under Florida statutes, and the site closes once there’s no sign of contamination, he adds.

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Watson, located west of Gainesville, collects about 60 percent of the county’s C&D waste.

During the issues related to its special use permit violations, Watson continued its operations with a new development plan application in May, the second step in the process to vertically expand its landfill.

Watson is in the development review stage of its expansion process, meaning it must resolve issues listed in insufficiency application reports provided by the county’s environmental department, which are separate from the special use permit violations. In its second report, the department requested water quality reports from nearby groundwater resources to understand the groundwater in the area.

Watson’s response to the request was that “it is not directly responsible for any additional testing or detailed analysis for those properties,” WUFT reports.

In the same report, Watson also rejected the department’s recommendation of an impenetrable sorting pad to prevent contaminants from leaking into the ground.

Watson general manager Jim Bacom tells WUFT that the company has fewer than three dozen people on staff.

“We starve for enough help to do the job we do,” he says. “Since COVID, it’s almost impossible to keep a full staff all the time.”

Bacom says Watson receives between 40 to 90 truckloads of C&D debris per day, with truck drivers completing around 50 to 60 routes.

“I don’t think we’ve ever seen construction in Gainesville be as rampant as it is right now,” he says. “We are building in every direction we can. We are growing faster than we can keep up.”