News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
White County is in the process of an environmental study to open its next 10 acre cell for the county’s landfill.
County Executive Denny Wayne Robinson said the study is meant to find the water table under the landfill to protect the groundwater from pollution.
“When you start that process of moving to another cell, TDEC has requirements that you must meet,” Robinson said. “One of those requirements is being so far above the water table. We have to determine where the water table is in that particular cell.”
Robinson said the current cell is not at risk of overfilling but needs to be covered in the near future. Opening the new cell will take at least 6 months.
“Drilling holes in the ground. That is basically where we are at and what we are doing now,” Robinson said. “You basically drill until you hit water and do a bunch of those holes and determine what the average is.”
A ten acre landfill cell can hold 15 to 20 years worth of garbage. The White County Landfill has about 70 acres available for new cells in the future.
