Waste Board Awards $750,000 Matching Grant in L.A. County: Former landfill in Duarte to get new equipment for residents' safety

SACRAMENTO--The City of Duarte (Los Angeles County) got a much needed boost today when the California Integrated Waste Management Board approved a $750,000 matching grant to assist with repairs on the closed Canyon Park Landfill.

Duarte officials requested the grant to bring the Canyon Park Landfill site into compliance with current health and safety requirements.

"One of the Board's highest priorities is working with local agencies to protect Californians' health, safety, and the environment," said Board Chair Margo Reid Brown. "When closed landfills pose potentially harmful situations, it’s our duty to step in and provide help to mitigate landfill methane gas migration."

The Canyon Park Landfill operated from 1965 until 1971, and material continued to be deposited at the landfill until approximately 1975.

In 1979 a golf course was constructed on the site and homes were subsequently developed.

To protect residents from the potential migration of landfill gas, the city required the installation of membrane barriers beneath each home in the area immediately surrounding the landfill and the installation of an active gas collection system along the perimeter of the landfill.

In 2006 a monitoring network determined the landfill gas was migrating into adjacent soils and structures, particularly in the areas located north and northeast of the old landfill site. Later that year an Abatement Order was issued requiring various repairs to the gas collection systems.

In February 2007 investigators concluded that the lack of maintenance of the gas collection system during the last 15 years resulted in the serious deterioration of the system and recommended that a new system be installed.

The estimated total project cost is $1.5 million and will include existing system renovation, installation of new gas extraction wells, treatment systems and drainage improvements at and near the old landfill site.

The city of Duarte cited the urgency of this project due to the high levels of methane migrating offsite and the need to comply with pending requirements to develop a plan to replace the earlier gas collection system.

The CIWMB matching grant is available from the Board's Solid Waste Disposal and Co-disposal Site Cleanup Program. The program addresses cleanup of solid waste disposal and co-disposal sites where the responsible party either cannot be identified or is unable or unwilling to pay for a timely remediation and where cleanup is needed to protect public health and the environment.

Visit CIWMB's website for more information on this program or the CIWMB.

The California Integrated Waste Management Board is the state's leading authority on recycling and waste reduction. It promotes reducing waste whenever possible, managing all materials to their highest and best use and protecting public health and safety and the environment.

The California Integrated Waste Management Board is one of six boards, departments, and offices within the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA).

# # #

Zero Waste California
Visit us at www.ciwmb.ca.gov to learn more about reducing waste.