Additional bids sought for landfill water tests
By Michael Farrell
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mfarrell@morrisdailyherald.com
The Morris City Council's Health and Sanitation Committee will seek bids from other laboratories to conduct tests on ground water from wells at Community Landfill.
During a meeting Wednesday night, the committee, with Alderman Don Hansen opposed, agreed to recommend Chamlin and Associates to provide the engineer required when the samples are taken.
Alderman Hansen said Shaw Environmental has been doing the work at Community and he would feel more comfortable continuing to use them.
The committee also approved paying Chamlin $7,350 to do required surveys of the groundwater wells and 28 gas wells located at Community Landfill.
Warren Olson of Chamlin said the survey includes recording the exact location and elevation of each well and plotting them on the GPS.
During the meeting, it was explained the 22 groundwater wells at Community, as well as the leachate discharged, must be tested quarterly. Leachate is rain that filters through the landfill, then is collected and discharged into the sewer system.
Because Community Landfill has not been properly closed with an approved cap, the rain that falls on it becomes leachate.
The ground water wells are designed to catch any contaminants that could be in water that leaks through the bottom of the landfill.
Wednesday night, the committee had bids from Shaw Environmental and Chamlin for the testing of the groundwater wells and leachate for one year. The first sample from the wells must be collected in December.
Chamlin's bid used TEST Inc. as the lab, while Shaw used PDC Lab of Peoria. Chamlin's bid was about $10,000 less for the one-year contract.
Olson said he also received a bid from Arrow, a lab the city uses for other tests, but it was higher. A fourth lab had not submitted a bid by Wednesday.
Alderman Randy Larson said the lab tests are the largest portion of the costs involved.
"If we can save some money, I don't care if the lab is in Saudi Arabia," Larson said.
Larson said he thought he could get the names of additional labs and they could be asked to submit bids.
Olson said the lab must send someone to the landfill to collect the water samples, so distance and travel costs will be a factor in all the bids. The lab must also be certified by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and meet federal requirements.
Olson said he would provide Larson with a list of all the tests that must be conducted on the water samples and he could try and find some additional bidders. Olson said he would also try to find a couple additional labs to submit bids.
The city council wants to act on the contract at the Dec. 7 meeting, so any additional bids from labs will have to be submitted before that.
The committee also agreed to pay Chamlin $2,550 to survey the amount of fill that has been stockpiled at the Community Landfill site.
Olson said dirt removed for the basement of the new city hall was transported to Community, but then some was taken back, so no one knows how much is actually there.
Aldermen Drew Muffler, Larson and Hansen are the members of the committee and all attended the meeting.
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