Midland landfill expansion to be used for contaminated water treatment

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The landfill's recently purchased property contains a warehouse, left behind by Fritz Enterprises, that will be used for maintenance on landfill equipment.

Property recently purchased by the Midland City Landfill will be used for maintenance and a leachate pre-treatment facility, removing contaminants from water before it goes to the Water Reclamation facility.

The City of Midland Municipal Landfill is planning to use an adjacent parcel of land to expand its maintenance space and pre-treat its leachate to reduce the amount of contaminants in the water.

The landfill purchased a 10-acre parcel of land at 4203 East Ashman Street, just west of the landfill driveway. The property is the former location of Fritz Enterprises, a scrap metal recycler, which left behind a large warehouse building.

The land was purchased for $875,000, including $462,500 from the landfill fund and $412,500 from the city General Fund.

The warehouse building will be used for office space, additional storage and as a workshop to provide maintenance on landfill equipment.

Scott O’Laughlin, the landfill superintendent, said before the city purchased this property, equipment was repaired in the wash bay, which is meant to be used for spraying off equipment that has been used in the garbage.

"So if that machine needs parts and it's parked in there for a week, I can't wash any equipment, we can't do maintenance on any other equipment," he said. "Now, we have some options and some additional space. It can be better outfitted as a maintenance facility, versus just a storage facility where we do maintenance."

O’Laughlin also called the purchase of the property a "significant investment" because it provides space to build a leachate pre-treatment facility. Leachate is liquid that comes from rain water trickling through the decomposing materials at the landfill and picking up various contaminants.

O’Laughlin said the leachate is sent to the Water Reclamation facility to be treated; however, once that facility receives a renewed permit, it will set restrictions on the amount of those contaminants that can be treated there. Once the permit is updated, the landfill will have to treat its leachate and remove some of those contaminants before it goes to the Water Reclamation Facility.

Not only does the newly purchased land provide the required space to build a leachate pretreatment facility, but it also runs parallel to the sanitary sewer line, making it the most convenient space for the water treatment.

The landfill has purchased adjacent property in the past as it has become available, in order to lessen complaints of odor, dust and noise.

"People don't really like to be the landfill's neighbor," O’Laughlin said.

O’Laughlin said the landfill is expected to continue in the same location for at least 40 more years.