Environment

Environmental concerns associated with the Richmond Landfill:

• The contaminating lifespan of this landfill is hundreds of years.



• The Richmond landfill sits on fractured bedrock, making the groundwater susceptible to contamination. Numerous experts have questioned whether this is a suitable site for any landfill.



• The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario has recommended the immediate closure of the Richmond Landfill.





• In 2000, an independent site audit conducted for the Town of Greater Napanee concluded that leachate from the unlined cell "can enter the groundwater and be transported off-site", that "groundwater beneath the landfill has been impacted by leachate",
  and that the groundwater monitoring program is "outdated" and "insufficient".



• The residents' hydrogeologist has estimated that for every year that the site remains open and uncapped, an extra 6 million litres of leachate is being created due to infiltration by precipitation and snow melt.



• The residents' hydrogeologist concluded that recent surface water monitoring results "provide strong evidence that surface water contamination is occurring."



• There is no fixed date for the closure of the Richmond Landfill, and there is no updated closure plan in place, despite the ongoing environmental concerns.




More Information on Environmental Concerns:

Environmental Commissioner's Report - Richmond Landfill, 2009
Environmental Commissioner's Report Supplement- Richmond Landfill, 2009
Chronology of Environmental Concerns, Canadian Environmental Law Association 2008
Geologist Steve Medd's response to EA, 2006
Hydrogeologist Wilf Ruland on flawed "Certificate of Approval", 2009
Ontario Ministry of the Environment declines landfill expansion, 2006
Environment Canada, Groundwater Contamniation