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Conservation commission continues enforcement order for sludge landfill after watershed council raises contamination concerns
Summary
The Gardner Conservation Commission left an enforcement order open after the Mills River Watershed Council urged continued oversight, citing ponding, failed mitigation measures and lack of inspection logs at the sludge landfill.
At a recent Gardner Conservation Commission meeting, members left an enforcement order concerning the city’s sludge landfill open and continued consideration of the matter to the 24th.
The move followed public comments submitted by Ivan Musak, director of the Mills River Watershed Council, who urged the commission to keep the enforcement order active until erosion, siltation and leachate issues are fully mitigated. Musak said ponding of liquid continues atop the landfill, an earthen dam installed to check the ponding has failed, and liquid from the site flows into the landfill’s perimeter stormwater collection system and into “outfall pipe 2,” which leads to nearby wetlands and streams.
“The erosion and siltation issues that are the subject of the current enforcement order at the sludge landfill have not been mitigated and a condition of ponding of liquid continues atop the landfill,” Musak said in remarks submitted for the record and read aloud to the commission. He added that inspection and maintenance logs for outfall pipe 2 were not available to the watershed council and that satellite photos shared with the commission suggest the quantity of discharge increased after a vertical expansion of the landfill in 2016.
The council’s agent and commission members discussed the item but took no final remedial action at the meeting. The record shows the enforcement order has been open since 2024; the commission’s next step is to continue oversight and to revisit mitigation evidence at a future session. Commission staff did not provide additional details on any new remedial timeline at the meeting.
The Mills River Watershed Council requested the commission modify and continue the enforcement order “as needed until these problems have been properly mitigated,” language Musak included in his submitted comments.
The discussion included references to earlier testimony from a Mr. Arnold about the earthen dam failure and to satellite images shared by Paul DeMeo with the commission, but no new inspection logs or testing results were presented during the meeting. The commission recorded Musak’s submission for the public record and left the enforcement order open for continuing review.
