Update Given on Former Mar-Tee Landfill

ERMA – Freeholders got an update on the 50-acre county-owned former Mar-Tee landfill Feb.10 from a trio of environmental engineers contracted in 2012 to do site assessment.
Trenton-based Sadat Associates, Inc. was hired to study what remediation might be needed to comply with state regulations to ultimately close the unused landfill. About 22 acres of the site was actively used as a landfill. It had previously been used to mine sand and gravel in 1971.
Emery A. Coppola Jr., senior hydrologist, summed it up, “We have worked on many landfills. Very simply, if we could wish a landfill on a client, this is the one I would give you.”
Sadat’s report was delivered at the afternoon caucus. County Engineer Dale Foster said the firm studied the landfill on Fulling Mill Road opposite the Cape May County Airport. It was purchased to secure a clear path for runways to the airport. The site is adjacent to a golf course and near Wildwood Water property where wells are located that supply. That was part of the concern to learn possibly groundwater contamination.
Freeholder Director Gerald Thornton noted that he was “odd man out,” opposed to purchasing the tract, concerned over environmental liabilities. “I said it could cost us a billion dollars,” Thornton said. However, the majority prevailed at that time, and the county assumed ownership Jan. 2, 1985.
The landfill received mostly what is considered municipal waste or construction debris.
“We were in the field in 2014 on two occasions,” said Dr. Marwan Sadat, CEO of the firm. He said that sampling was done to evaluate the impact on groundwater, if any. “At the same time we tried to delineate the extent of waste in conformance with DEP (Department of Environmental Protection) solid waste rules,” Sadat said.
Randy S. Kertes, vice president and a hydrologist, showed a PowerPoint presentation that detailed layers of soil that help to protect the deeper well areas from seepage from the surface. That thick clay layer, he noted, offers protection as evidenced by soil borings.
Kertes said the study found “water quality in the landfill is of very good quality.”
There are about 20 monitor wells that “almost ring the landfill,” said Coppola. He added that the DEP installed three deep wells in 2004. Those were double-cased, and went through a clay layer into estuarine sand, to assess impacts of any contamination.
Coppola said four compounds were found in water samples including aluminum, iron, manganese and arsenic. But, he said, those “are not reflective of any contamination.” He said a DEP memo noted the same substances were found at the site, as was a “low concentration of vinyl chloride.”
“Arsenic sounds scary, but it’s naturally occurring,” said Thornton.
In summation, the study urged the county cover the site with a foot of soil, place additional landfill gas sample wells and install perimeter fencing to prevent illegal dumping. At present, there is only a sign warning of fines for such activity. Methane is a gas produced by decomposing material, and is present in all landfills.
Asked by Freeholder E. Marie Hayes for an approximate amount of fill that might be needed to blanket the site, Sadat replied, “We are not talking millions of cubic yards, but a reasonable number. We don’t know exactly what it is.”