Florence city council to discuss ground water testing | News

FLORENCE, AL (WAFF)- The landfill is back on the agenda at the Florence city council meeting.

The council will decide on whether or not to approve funding to continue ground water testing.

The landfill is closed, but the testing continues.

Landfill officials say the contract up for discussion is just to renew services that have been in effect for several years now. They say they won't go into further study of the ground water flow until after the first of the year.

David Koonce with the city's solid waste department said they are in the process of hiring someone to come in and test the area further to help officials establish what they call an upgradient well on the property.

Officials say because of the layout of the land they are having a tough time determining exactly where the ground water originates in the landfill and exactly where any possible pollution begins.

Testing in the past has shown because of the layout the landfill is contaminating nearby Cypress Creek.

"We've put a lot of time and effort into studying all the aspects of the groundwater at the landfill and that's still going on. It's been a very difficult issue to resolve and to understand, and so we are continuing our monitoring program and what we'll do next is have a firm come in and oversee what we've done," said Koonce.

Officials said the contract being up for discussion is routine.

They say additional testing for leachate and other containments will begin after the first of the year.

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