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Committee advances leachate-management planning as PFAS constraints reduce offsite treatment options
Summary
Marathon County Solid Waste Department staff told the Environmental Resources Committee on July 1 that emerging contaminants — specifically PFAS — are increasingly limiting municipal wastewater-treatment plants’ ability to accept landfill leachate and that the county needs a plan to maintain compliant landfill operations.
Marathon County Solid Waste Department staff told the Environmental Resources Committee on July 1 that emerging contaminants — specifically PFAS — are increasingly limiting municipal wastewater-treatment plants’ ability to accept landfill leachate. Solid Waste Director Dave Heggen said the county needs a plan so it can continue compliant landfill operations if off-site treatment options are curtailed.
The committee voted to move the environmental management plan forward to the County Board so the county can submit a Clean Water Fund application and pursue designs and funding. Heggen said staff identified full on-site treatment using reverse osmosis as the best-value technical approach in the plan under current assumptions, and that state funding mechanisms could include principal forgiveness that would significantly reduce the county’s capital costs (staff cited potential principal forgiveness of up to $3.5 million as part of Clean Water Fund eligibility for PFAS-focused projects).
Why it matters: If treatment plants decline to accept landfill leachate because of PFAS, the county could face a regulatory compliance problem and higher costs to treat or store leachate. Planning now preserves grant eligibility and scheduling flexibility, the Solid Waste director said.
Board discussion and next steps: Supervisors encouraged exploring multi-county partnerships for a facility sized to serve Marathon County and neighboring counties. Several supervisors urged exploring joint-venture agreements so partner counties would share capital and operating responsibilities. The committee approved a motion to proceed with planning and information gathering and to move the environmental management plan on to the County Board for adoption necessary for final grant submittal.
Ending: Staff will pursue grant and funding avenues and return with a grant-ready plan and county-board adoption as required by the Clean Water Fund application process.
