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WETLANDS
State and Federal
landfill siting regulations require that the existing soils beneath a
landfill footprint, (the area where the liner systems will be constructed
and waste will be placed), be clay-like in nature. These
type of soils restrict the flow of liquids through them which provide
a natural protection of the groundwater resources beneath a landfill site,
in addition to those protective measures that are provided by the landfill
liners and leachate collection systems.
These same types of
soils that are suitable for a landfill site also contribute to the formation
of wetlands, which have been identified at the proposed Ava landfill site.
PRESERVED WETLANDS
Every effort has been
made to minimize the amount of wetlands that will be impacted during the
62-year life of the landfill with special emphasis placed on avoiding,
to the greatest extent possible, the high quality wetlands such as open
water, beaver ponds and forested wetlands. These high quality wetlands,
as shown in the photo below, will not be impacted by the landfill
construction and will be preserved as part of the landfill buffer areas.
IMPACTED WETLANDS
The
wetlands that have been impacted by the construction of the landfill are
95% wet meadow and scrub shrub as shown in the photos below.
WETLAND MITIGATION
For
those wetlands that can't be avoided by construction, there will be mitigation
is as follows:
- Construction of
32.6 acres of new wetlands on the landfill site and buffer areas.
- To date nearly
20 acres have been constructed.
- Restoration of
off-site wetlands that have been impacted by farming or other practices.
- Preservation of
existing wetlands in the Rome Sand Plains which has been identified
as a unique ecological resource. In 2004 the Authority preserved
an 88 acre tract of wetlands in the Sand Plains.
These photos above show wetlands constructed in 2004 and 2005. This
above mitigation plan will result in a net gain of approximately
11 acres of state-regulated wetlands and no net loss of federal regulated
wetlands.
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