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Commission puts off decision on landfill leachate acceptance amid PFAS testing concerns
Summary
After receiving a memo and presentations, commissioners agreed to delay any decision on accepting landfill leachate into the city treatment plant until after at least one year of PFAS effluent testing under the upcoming permit and further coordination with DNR and county officials.
The commission discussed a proposed leachate acceptance pilot with Marathon County’s landfill but declined to act Jan. 7, agreeing instead to defer further decisions while awaiting permit updates and additional state guidance.
Ben, a utility staff member who prepared a meeting memo, summarized recent discussions with Marathon County Solid Waste and their engineer Tetra Tech. He said a Dec. 11 meeting with the city, county and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) left staff expecting DNR involvement but did not yield specific solutions. "The conclusion from this meeting was that the DNR wasn't ready to offer us any solutions to accepting the leachate and that if we accepted it, we are liable for meeting compliance with our discharge permit, regardless," Ben said.
Ben described a recommended testing approach from the basin engineer, Nicholas Lindstrom: conduct the first year of PFAS testing without accepting landfill leachate, then introduce leachate in the second year and compare compiled data (a P99 study) to assess "reasonable potential" and any pollutant minimization obligations.
Commissioner Robinson asked to delay action another month to seek broader coordination with DNR management and to explore funding or pretreatment opportunities. Robinson said the issue is systemic — PFAS can appear in effluent and biosolids — and asked staff to pursue state‑level discussions and possible Clean Water Act or innovation fund funding.
Dave Hagenbusher, director of Marathon County Solid Waste, told the commission Marathon County currently hauls leachate to neighboring plants (four loads per day to Plover and two to Stevens Point) and is exploring whether sending leachate to Wausau is feasible. He said county and city staff have been collaborative and that the topic is receiving attention at the state level.
Commissioners agreed without formal motion to delay action until February to allow time for further DNR engagement, pending permit issuance (staff said a new discharge permit is expected around June and that required PFAS testing would be phased in during the first two years).
