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Adams County staff report contained leachate incident; reverse-osmosis pilot shows promising results
Summary
Solid Waste staff told supervisors a power outage and pump failure prompted a DNR inspection after an anonymous tip; soil samples showed no detections and staff say they will tighten reporting procedures. A June 22 pilot of a reverse-osmosis (RO) unit produced visibly clearer permeate and will inform a full-scale RO system.
The Adams County Solid Waste Committee was told July 14 that a power outage over Memorial Day weekend led to leachate pump failures and a DNR on-site inspection after an anonymous tip.
Reuben, the landfill operator, said the facility restored pumps but later learned a tank overfilled briefly. "So failure on my part not getting full confirmation ... I should have made the call and should have recalled, just reported it to be safe," he said, adding staff later collected soil samples and received laboratory results showing "no detections".
Committee members asked whether the facility had a spill standard operating procedure and how incidents are documented when key staff are absent. Reuben said the DNR recently clarified that any spill that reaches soil must be reported and acknowledged that going forward he will require visual confirmation and photos or video if he is not on site.
As an interim safeguard, Reuben said pumps will be turned off when staff are away to avoid unmonitored overflows. He told supervisors the site currently lacks remote alarms or automated notifications for power failures, and that monitoring will be included in the planned RO installation.
The committee also heard a description of a June 22 pilot test by Rochem Technician Service. Reuben described the demonstration unit and said it separated raw leachate, a concentrate stream and a clear permeate; he said the clear sample lacked the odor of raw leachate. "They became and began to do the pilot test for our RO system ... when we go through the second pass ... that is how clean it came out," he said. He cautioned that chemical lab results are still pending and will be used to design the full system.
Staff said the RO project is proceeding under Resolution 22, 2026 and that engineers are using pilot results to size the full-scale system. Reuben said a proposed piping alignment and pump plan would keep project costs under the $7 million loan cap the county is tracking, though site soil conditions required selection of a drain-field location that meets DNR timelines.
The committee requested the vendor's laboratory results and design assumptions be added to future packets. The meeting packet will include the pilot testing documentation and the staff site report; formal DNR letters notifying the county of any noncompliance or return-to-compliance had not been received by the July 14 meeting.
