The results of ongoing water testing indicates the underground fire at the Moody vegetative waste disposal site does not appear to be having any discernable effect at this time on the water quality of nearby streams, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management announced Friday.
ADEM said it conducted instream water quality sampling at four locations, both upstream and downstream of the fire, on Big Black Creek and the Cahaba River.
The testing was done to determine any possible impacts from runoff from the fire site, including the effort to put out the fire.
"We have definitely been using our water filter more, and I've actually started using it for my dog's water, he is like family," said Dustin Cox. "We don't know what's in the water, we're just trying to be healthy, and don't want to take any chances."
“Some residents have expressed concern that runoff from the site could be having an adverse effect on the water in nearby streams,” said Jeff Kitchens, chief of ADEM’s Water Division. “We started testing the water to see what effect, if any, the fire was having, and to make that information available to the public. Fortunately, what we have seen so far tells us the fire is having little impact on water quality.”
David Butler with the Cahaba Riverkeeper said the results from ADEM show little impact to the water quality because ADEM tested too far away from the landfill to detect substances.
"They didn't sample directly from the discharge from the landfill. It appeared to us their sampling sites were really irrelevant to tell the water quality coming from the landfill," said Butler. "They should have taken samples directly from the discharge of the landfill. If this were a regulated facility they would have been required to sample from the end of the pipe where the discharge, the water quality in a large stream is not relevant to tell the volume of chemicals coming off of the landfill. Downstream on Big Black Creek, creek gets much bigger, there's a lot more water, so whatever sample they take would have been diluted by the large volume of water."
The EPA found benzene and TCE in the air. Cahaba Riverkeeper tested for it in their samples, and Butler believes ADEM should have as well.
"We are a small non profit, we were able to cobble together enough money to do really pretty comprehensive sampling around the landfill 3 different times. Our state agency that tasks with doing this kind of work has only collected two sets of samples and they didn't sample for all the relevant parameters. That's inexcusable," said Butler.
You can view Cahaba Riverkeeper's water results here, tested from two seeps directly at the bottom of the landfill. Butler said they will continue to monitor and sample the water.
"We have concerns this could be a long term source of pollution," said Butler.
The results of ADEM’s water tests can be found online at www.moodyfireupdate.com, a website created by ADEM to provide timely information about the fire and the efforts to extinguish it.
ADEM will conduct additional water sampling and report those results to the public via the website.
At ADEM’s request, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency performed air testing at and near the site of the fire. Those results can also be found at www.moodyfireupdate.com.