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An Assessment of Impacts of Rolling Knoll Landfill on Nearby Yater Resources Project Proposal

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An Assessment of Impacts of Rolling Knoll Landfill on Nearby Yater Resources Project Proposal An Assessment of Impacts of Rolling Knoll Landfill on Nearby Yater Resources Project Proposal By Mark A. Hardy and Jean C. Lewis SUMMARY The Rolling Knoll Landfill operated in the northeastern part of the Great · -Swamp in Morris County, NJ from the 1930' s to 1968. Materials dumped at the landfill included domestic wastes, pharmaceuticals, and possibly some industrial wastes. Approximately 30 acres of the 140-acre landfill are currently within the Great Swamp Wildlife Refuge, managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The USFWS is legally required to monitor ground­ water quality around the landfill by a New Jersey Pollutant Discharge Elimination (NJPDES) permit. However, the USFWS is also interested in determining how the landfill might impact the wetland that they manage. This project will obtain data to help define the general geohydrology of :the Great Swamp around the landfill, install observation wells in appropriate locations on USFWS managed land, monitor ground-water and (or) surface-water quality, and generally examine surface-water quality and ground-water interaction with Loantaka Brook. Work will be accomplished by (1) performing a reconnaissance of water quality and water levels for surface water and shallow ground water around the landfill and in Loantaka Brook; (2) evaluating the chemistry of stream-bottom material in Loantaka Brook; (3) surveying electromagnetic conductivity variation around the landfill; (4) drilling and logging boreholes at several locations around the landfill and installing wells at selected boreholes; ant (5) collecting and evaluating chemical data and water-level data from observation wells and (or) surface water around the landfill. A major benefit will be that the study will begin to define how the landfill interacts hydrologically and chemically with shallow ground water and water in the wetland. BACKGROUND The Rolling Knoll Landfill (also known as Miele Landfill) is approximately 140 acres in size and is located in the northeastern part of the Great Swamp in Morris County, New Jersey (figure 1). A site inspection (NUS, 1985) indicates that the landfill was in operation'from the 1930's to 1968. In addition to domestic wastes, wastes produced from the manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and, possibly, dioxin were deposited in the landfill. A 1986 investigation indicates the presence of several man-made organic compounds, but no dioxin, in samples of solid-phase material collected from the landfill (Diane Trube, NUS Corporation, Edison, NJ, 1986, written commun.). Approximately 30 acr~s of the landfill are currently within the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, a federal landholding managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) has issued a Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NJPDES) permit requiring that the USFWS and other landowners install observation wells and monitor ground-water quality around the landfill. 1 WW ~ 40•0·,,---,....---.,-...;.:...,.-,,-1,,y-*--,.....:--"7"-.-,--,:---,.-,r--rr-r,;;:.,..,..;~.... _,.,,-..:.;~--,-+ .............. i.-.......... ...,,-...:.;:!/--:.:;::;;:.::;;;:.:,.:.;~ ..... ,,_...i,.::...-,-:,:-.:;:.,:.;,;;.~,;,.;...;;;.~.,.;.:<"C'"e,;Ne-J~-,-,,...;;~~~~i:'-~~~ ' \, l./ •;J . 1A EXPLANATION ')).:.c" --;I/ ~ Approximate location of landfill Boundary, of Great: Swamp Nati~nal :. "- -- Wildlife Refuge N 0 I Mill 1000 0 l<'OJ 1000 )OC)'J uo, «at 1000 nu m::ECa ==,rPP55FI """ -= 1 0 110 , ~-u=1nc:url::i;-.c:i:;;;;1dn1animm11ua,-a,e.,r,r,mr=,...,""';;i;llJi:l...,j ""' " I- COtH0\111 IMlfnVIIL 20 fEEI ~ NAIIOflAl GlOotllC ~U111CAL OMUM Of UH ; • --:W//1.At-":"' '•"\ ,:,. \ __ q,r,::: ·t-·.lrzf·1 ~ : i:rI ; f1·Y ::r-?:,1. :.: •• u"~.;~'\".',)!J: Figure 1,-- Location of.Rolling Knoll Municipal Landfill, Green Village, New Jersey. L_ Genetal Geohydrology The Great Swamp lies in the southwestern part of the bed of former glacial Lake Passaic. Glacial Lake Passaic was bounded by Yatchung Mountains to the north, east and south; and by the Ramapo f~ult escarpment to the west. The swamp acts as a detention basin during periods of excessive runoff from the surrounding region. This is true both when the water level in the swamp is low and the excess water seeps into the upper swamp deposits, and -when the water level is high and the throughwater-flow rate is slowed by the .. winding channels and low gradienos (Vecchioli and others, 1962). Figure 2 shows the general geohydrologic framework for the swamp. The sand and gravel aquifer underlying the lakebed clay and silt receives recharge at its edges, where it is exposed to the surface. Because the recharge area is higher than the surface level of the swamp, an artesian head is created in the part of the aquifer which lies beneath the thick confining layer of the lakebed. Numerous wells screened in the confined aquifer indicate that the artesian head in the aquifer averages about 5 feet above land surface (Vecchioli and others, 1962). As a result, water from the aquifer flows upward through the confining layer into the swamp, to be dissipated by evapotranspiration or carried off by streamflow (Minard, 1967). However, because the confining layer has low permeability relative to the aquifer, the amount of water discharged from the confined aquifer to the swamp is probably small. Geohydrplogy of the Landfill No records of deep boreholes have been found for the landfill area. However, lithologic logs of several boreholes near the landfill are available from the State of New Jersey Office of Yater Allocation, U.S.G.S. well files, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The locations of these boreholes are shown on figure 3, and table 1 lists reported thicknesses of the lakebed clay and silt at those sites. These data suggest that the lakebed clay and silt are thick enough to prevent the landfill from significantly impacting the underlying aquifer even if ground-water flow in the silt and clay was not upward. Information on sedimentary deposits overlying the lakebed clay at the landfill were obtained from a geologic map that predates the landfill (Salisbury and Peet, 1896), a soil survey of Morris County (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1976), and shallow boreholes augered at the landfill in 1986 (Diane Trube, NUS Corporation, Edison, N.J., 1986, written communication). Generally, the data suggest that organic deposits directly underlie the eastern part of the landfill, while stratified drift composed of sand, gravel, silt, and clay directly underlies the western part. Figure 4 shows a hypothetical schematic of the stratigraphy for the landfill. The landfill thickness ranges from approxima,tely 5 to 25 feet. The thickness of the stratified drift and organic deposits is not knoN-n, but there may be areas where neither exist. The thickness of lakebed clay.and silt ranges from approximately 60 to 125 feet. A dredged segment of Loantaka Brook is the closest stream to the landfill having a well-defined channel (see figure 1). It may drain a significant part of the wetland near the landfill. 3 I I . r-1 SW NE a, ~ Recharge Diochaq~e _cchaqw_ ,-1 - Arua Arca ~ Arca' "' ,# ,I ~ 4001-r 1/\ Poteu'tiomet:r:i.c Surface l'otcutiomctric · tu1·fuce - d' Pot:entiometric Su1·face l1J - of Unconfined Aquifer of Confined Aquife of Unconfined Aquifer. ~ °'g 300 ~ li'lowing Wells ~ . ,,,... ':i- ~ r::::~ ~~ -- ------------ -----:'lt - - -- - - -:::11=- ...,.__ - --7, ,I.I "-"" L.. - a, :! 200 d •n.. QJ 'ti ::, 4.1 ·n u '.;;! Figure 2;-- Generalized geologic framework and ground-water flow patterns in the Great Swamp, New Jersey. (Note: the uppermost stratified drift and organic sediments of the swamp are too thin to show because of the scale.) (llased on Vucchioli and others, 1962.) ii I> I .; • ,• '•\I"," ..,.nj (IQ C r-t (0 ~- C"l t,.,.) X I ~ 't: I ~- t"" ~ 0 t"' :> :> 0 "O ~ 0 C) IU "'O H rr Ill l"t 0 rr 0 z I-'• I-'• >: 0 0 I-'• ::s :s :5 0 Ill M\ Ill r. :s (D p.. Cl- (0 I-' (0 :s 0 "'d E ('l = Ill er 0- ~ 0 (II I-'- ti 11 0 (0 :s ::r 0 0 1'11 0 I-' Ml (0 0- tll 0 I-' 11 Ill ::i (II :s (0 :;- Cl- IU 0 hi l"t I-' I-'- (D I-' ~ I-' 0 ....I-' I-'•::s QQ ~ 0 .... ~ C ::i I-'·n I-'· "d ....Ill § r' Ill ::s 0. 1-:,. I-'· § r'.... § -(;') H (0 (I) § ::i -< § ..,..... }-' 1ll 'QQ ~ (I) .-..: :z ff (0 .3 -~ ! ~- ;1- § ~ (0 .,;p ~ ti ~ = (/l . : '\ ·· , (0 .. s "'< ~ ~ 5 Table 1.--Thickness of clay and silt underlying the Great Swamp at selected boreholes. Reported thickness of clay and silt Yell No. (feet) 74 C-29A 72 C-38 122* G-4 80 G-5 80 M-3 62 M-4 70 M-5 71 Y-70 ' * Well G-4 is near the eastern edge of the SWa!'il?. 1he 122 feet of clay reported above includes two interlayered beds of sancy materials having thicknesses of 25 and 30 feet. \ NO'l' 'l'O SCALE I I W.- E ~ ~ l.l A /l 'A ll A 0.. 0. 1..1 ti a A Fill A 4 D A L\ 4 4. Landfill 4 /.:,. Ll 4 materials a. , <> • 0 ... \ ~-~~ ,,., .;; , .- • , 0 c,s St:rat:i:£1ed · @_L1y·.:..-.:::: -:::- . ::::, - ~ . - . G ~ Organic drift "\o c-o a ., • C , • ,, • ,.o • - ~ o;- - Peat -tlepusit:s CJ : c----- Clay:::.~~ _.:. ·· n-;:-;"... .,-1 ,.:::-c --- -- ... - . , , --- - 11 I " - - - \ ... - I - - "'- ' ' ' , ___ - - .....,, -- \ -- - _, _ ... --\._ ' I - -·. I .... -·- - ( - '-· -l'_>Lakebetl clay - ' - - - ' - -- ,- Lakebed Clay and Silt - - - - I - - , .I ,- ...... - " - ' r ,_ .,..._ ( I - - - - -- - ... -- ' - - ' - a, Cl <::. I C Q' Q , C> Q 0 ,. , (.J r 0 \) , 0 I Sand, Silt, and Gravel 0 i.:;,,, . · 1~ Stratified , -d) <lrif t ,. C, u C ~ 0 u I ~ . Q OI • I .;> 0 ,, Figure 4.-- Schematic·representation·of hypothetical geologic framework underlying Rolling Knoll Municipal Landfill, Green Village, New Jersey. PROBLEM The impact of the Rolling Knoll Landfill on water resour~es of the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge is currently unknown.
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