As of Monday, Wichita’s trash is no longer being shipped to Oklahoma. It’s now going to Waste Connections’ new landfill in Harper County. So shouldn’t that mean that our high trash bills will come down some, because the new landfill is about 100 miles closer? You would think. But Waste Connections district manager Paul Schelstrate says the company won’t alter its rates. Another reason Sedgwick County needs to franchise its trash collections.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Registered?
Commenting on WE Blog now requires you to be a Kansas.com member. Use the links above to register, if you haven't already, or to log in.Contact us
Follow us
Daily Archives
-
Recent Comments
- Regular on ACORN stole election?
- thomaswitt on ACORN stole election?
- Daniel on Open thread 11/21
- Daniel on ACORN stole election?
- Phantom on Open thread 11/21
- Daniel on Open thread 11/21
- thomaswitt on ACORN stole election?
- Regular on Open thread 11/21
- Phantom on ACORN stole election?
- thomaswitt on ACORN stole election?
17 Comments
Many southern Kansas citizens including myself contributed to the legal battle to stop the Harper County landfill. It has the potential to poison one of the few remaining pristine spring-fed streams in Kansas, the wild meandering Chikaskia River. The Chikaskia arises a few miles south of Cunningham, Kansas and runs southeasterly about 50 or so miles south of Wichita. As I recall, it furnishes drinking water to Ponca City, Oklahoma, and eventually toTulsa, via the Arkansas River.
The landfill for Wichita trash should have been built at the Furley site in north part of Sedgwick County. This would have been a financial win-win for Sedgwick County. However, our city and county governments again chose the easiest do-nothing path.
“has the potential”…question, how significant is that potential? Is it an imminent threat to health or is it a remote possibilty that something bad might happen? The liners, design, and maintenance of landfills is a science and, while not perfect (nothing is) are quite safe and meet federal EPA standards.
Nobody, ever wants a landfill. They are ugly, smelly, and they have a negative impact on surrounding property values.
Solution? Quit throwing away so much ’stuff’. That doesn’t seem likely, either.
Although it is 100 miles closer, the time to get there will be about the same. K-42 to Harper isn’t exactly freeway speed. You have to slow down numorous times in certain areas that require reduction in speed and plus it’s a two laner, not even a super two. There is also a busy railroad track that can stop them too.
I prefer the small independent trash haulers. They’re a lot easier to deal with. Yet, every time I contract with one, one of the big haulers like BFI runs them out of business or buys them out, and I’m stuck with a big hauler until I can find another independent. Where are the rates and service going to be when all the small companies are gone, and we have one or two big ones owning the whole market?
“The landfill for Wichita trash should have been built at the Furley site in north part of Sedgwick County. ”
Great idea, unless you live in Furley.
Where is walker when you need him? I bet he has something to say on the water issue.
Kfg,
If I recall, every stream in Kansas failed to meet water quality standards. All due to farming, and the overuse of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. While farming is essential to this country, water is as essential, or more so.
The fact that water is so important to us, and the continued attempts to control it by big business, especially overseas ones, is something we should take notice of. We can survive without oil; we can’t live without water. Look up the history of American water company. I think the results should wake up some people.
But to get to landfills: Jed, it doesn’t matter who picks your trash. It will end up in the same place anyway. The landfills could serve a useful purpose if the corporations that run them wanted to put major cash into them. They should be state of the art recycling systems. The technology to do so exists today. What can’t be recycled as byproducts or infused with into new products, such as composite boards, can be turned over in time to replenish poor soil.
What we’re using landfills for now is ridiculous. They’re wasting space and money, and polluting the environment. Regardless of where they are put, as they are now, they’re nothing but a cancer waiting to spread.
I read about how passionate many of the bloggers here are about new energy, less oil, ad nausium, but what I’m not reading is what are we actually doing about it? The picture is a whole lot bigger than Halliburton, or where to put a landfill. How much do we actually know about what it will take to turn things around? What are the facts? How do we change what is wrong? Beating decision makers, and their decisions, into the ground sure can make one feel better, but it sure doesn’t correct anything. In fact, I’ll bet they love reading it because they know we’re so involved in moaning and groaning, that we are getting nothing done in the mean time.
Damn, where did that soap box come from? Sorry folks. Just gotta get it out sometimes.
J M Walker: In regard to my posting above, the reasons I favored the Furley site in northern Sedgwick County for the landfill is: 1) a Sedgwick County site would make money for Sedgwick Countians for dumping their own trash, and 2) engineers apparently agree the Furley site offered a good impervious soil in a geographical location that made sense.
The Harper County site loses on both of the above factors and will endanger the Chikaskia River watershed. I am not an expert on landfills but I presume it is normal to have some effluent down the stream bed regardless of the linings provided at the base of the landfill.
However, I agree with you the bigger picture is we need to protect all water sources in Kansas and do a lot better on recycling our trash.
Earlier this evening I talked to friends who live in western Kansas who actually fear their town might soon run out of water from the underground acquifer that is getting deeper and deeper so much harder to reach.
Regarding the Arkansas River out in western Kansas from the Kansas/Colorado state line easterly to at least Dodge City, the river bed runs NO WATER and hasn’t for several years because its stopped on the Colorado side.
I also read some information about Kansas water quality recently. I was surprised to learn that both the Arkansas River in the Hutchinson – Wichita area and the Ninnescah River (which furnishes water to the Cheney Reservoir) contains a fairly high amount of salt. This is understandable because of the salt layer but it hadn’t occured to me that this is affecting our rivers.
Back in the 1940’s and 50’s, western Kansas was an oasis, growing tons of sugar beets, out around Garden City. In the summer, the fields were alive with showers of water from irrigation and the sweet clover smell of sugar beet plants. No more of course. Kansas has now essentially returned to a dry farming economy.
Incidentally, did the State of Kansas ever acquire that ranch near Kinsley (??) with the water rights?
Franchised waste collections?
Will that guarantee lower rates and better service, or just add bureaucracy and higher costs to the equation?
I looked back in these posts and don’t see a suggestion for franchised waste collections.
I see “franchising trash services” was mentioned in the Eagle’s editorial. However, in my opinion, franchising trash collection services would make as much sense as franchising grocery store services or church services. This would save on traffic on the streets if everyone were required to go to the grocery store nearest their house or the church nearest their house — but do you want to be told which grocery store to go to or which church to attend.
More comments on landfills. The Harper County landfill is poorly sited on sandy soil that would not provide a barrier to leakage of the landfill. And its on a tributary that feeds into the pristine Chickaskia River southwest of Wichita.
The Furley site in north part of Sedgwick County would be a much superior site and Sedgwick County would have made the money for handling its own trash.
NOW, today, a new breaking development on the Harper County landfill. According to an article in today’s Hutchinson newspaper, dynamite blasting at the Harper County landfill site in November created some 60 holes in the liner that was installed to prevent leakage into the soil under the landfill. The landfill operator supposedly patched the holes and covered them over with dirt.
So much for the vaunted protection by a vinyl liner in these landfills. Just another spin by the money changers to try to appear they are taking care of our water system and environment.
I’m a financial conservative and long-time Kansas Republican precinct committeeman but I also want to be able to drink the water for a few more years.
Lets hope we have water, JWink.Below is a link to what’s happening to our water, and who’s doing it. Very interesting.
http://www.citizen.org/documents/RWEProfile.pdf
J.M. Walker: Do you know about western Kansas? I wonder about the economics of the meat packing industry in relation to the amount of water being taken out of the Ogalala underground reservoir. I suspect literature exists on this subject. However, if you are knowledgable on this, could you (or anyone else) comment?
My questions are:
1) Does this industry clean the water they use? Is it returned to the acquifer?
2) Is the water used worth more than the industry’s contribution to the western Kansas economy?
3) Is the time coming when the acquifer won’t support the meat packing industry? Or won’t even be able to continue providing drinking water to western Kansas communities out there?
4) Is the meat packing industry THE major component of the western Kansas economy?
5) Is the time approaching to establish a “Buffalo Commons” region in western Kansas?
1. According to EPA regs, yes, they have to clean the water to EPA specs prior to putting it back in the system. Do they? I certainly hope so.2. Water is more important than anything. Industry can move, water is stuck where it is, unless communities are willing to spend buckets of money to have it piped in from someplace else. You can’t survive without water.3. If abuse of it continues, yes.4. No. They are a part of it, but not a great part. Think about water waste, though less so now, growing crops, watering lawns, filling swimming pools, all the other industries that rely on water. It adds up. But much of it is used as it should be5. The question should be: Why hasn’t it been established yet?
Water resources need to be monitored for usage, cleanliness and collection. The aquifiers can be replenished, but it will take some serious politicing to make it happen, And it will take honest politicians. Good luck.
It’s been over a year and like everything else, the hoop-la dies. I understand everyone’s concern about the environmental issues with the landfill. What I don’t understand is why everyone listens to rumors and speculation of a few instead of a proven science. The are state and federal guidelines that landfills must adhere. Grant it, we don’t live in a perfect world but the farming and meat-packing industries do TONS more damage to the water ways than a landfill would ever do. Because of all the protesting, one good thing has happened. Yes…the landfill will be monitored more. The risk of an accident from this (or any other landfill) is so low from the over engineering of these landfill that you’ll sleep better at night. You now half a half of a half of a percent chance of contamination. Way to go protestors…You just wasted valuable time and money that could have gone to a better cause. Do you all feel better now? You got to say the hippie lifestyle lives and you made a stand.
Learn what goes into designing these landfills instead of wasting your (and others) time trying to stand on a soap box. You’d be AMAZED with science.
BUNCHA AZZHAT WHINERS. STICK UR HEADS IN THE SAND AND COUNT TO 1000