SPOKANE BASIN
D
INVENTORY AND ASSESSMENT OF SOLID
WASTE DISPOSAL SITES IN SPOKANE
COUNTY. WN. AND NORTHERN IDAHO
ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION
AGENCY
REGION X
SEATTLE, WA
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IBSTE DISP©SHL SSTES 111 SPOKANE
PHOTECTlOi^
AGENCY
REGION X
SEATTLE, WA.
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
tREPLY TO
ATTN OF:
SUBJECT:
TO:
10CSW - M/S 533
DATE: October 19, 1972
Final Report - Inventory and Assessment of Solid Waste Disposal Sites
in Spokane County, Washington and North Idaho
Lester E. Blaschke, Chief, Solid Waste Management Branch
Attached are two copies of the subject report. This information
serves as an August 1972 baseline inventory and should be utilized to
measure future progress in the area.
It was readily apparent that the recently awarded EPA solid
waste planning grant is largely responsible for the rapid progress
being made in the North Idaho area. Within the past five years, the
number of dumps in Spokane County has been cut in half. More progress
will be made following' the official adoption of the solid waste plan
this fall.
fobias A. Hegdahl
Engineer, Solid Waste
Management Branch .
Enclosures
EPA Form 1320-6 (11-71)
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SPOKANE COUNTY AND'NORTH IDAHO
SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL SITE INVENTORY AMD ASSESSMENT
This inventory and assessment covers Spokane County, Washington
and the five northern counties in Idaho which are Benewah, Kootenai,
Shoshone, Bonner and Boundary. This information, which is current as
of August 1972, should be used as a.baseline for future comparison of
solid waste management progress in the area. The north Idaho information
and data -was gathered through Mr. Ken Lustig, the solid waste coordinator
for the recently awarded EPA solid waste planning grant. The Spokane
County data was obtained from Mr. Mike Senske in the County Engineers
Office and from Mr. Rodger James in the .Spokane City Engineering Department.
The north Idaho information is presented first.
NORTH IDAHO
The information in this report is aimed primarily at an inventory
of solid waste disposal sites in the area where residential and commercial
waste is deposited. Agricultural wastes present little problem as there
are few feedlots in the area and most of the topography is mountainous
and covered with forests. Of course, the usual problems with forest
harvesting, slash disposal, etc., are encountered but no attempt was
made to address them in the short time allotted for this work. These
aspects should be adequately investigated during the ongoing solid waste
planning grant. Many wood waste teepee burners were observed in the
area but increasingly stringent state air pollution regulations can be
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expected to lead to their demise. The pnly significant industrial waste
problem revolves around the many mining operations in the area. Severe
water pollution problems have been created by these activities and work
is in progress to help alleviate this situation. Once again, investigation
of these mining activities was not attempted but the ongoing work in
water pollution abatement should provide necessary data to interested
parties.
With the exception of Coeur d'Alene, Kellog, Wallace, Mullan, Osburn
and the small towns of Sandpoint, St. Maries and Bonners Ferry, the area
is extremely rural in nature. Characteristics of each county are as
follows:
Per Square Mile
County
Benewah
Bonn.er
Boundary
Kootenai
Shoshone
Total
Population
6,230
15,560
6,371
35,332
19,718
83,211 .
Population
Density
7
9
4
26
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Topography
Mountainous
Mountainous
Mountainous
Mountainous
Mountainous
Principle
Industries
Lumbering,
Mining,
Agriculture
Lumbering,
Mining,
Agricul ture
Lumbering,
Mining,
Agriculture
Lumbering,
Mining,
Agriculture
Lumbering,
Mining
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The area abounds with lakes and forests and a large tourist and
recreation population is experienced during the summer months. This
adds gre.atly to the solid waste load experienced in each of the
counties. As an example, the Priest Lake area of Bonner County has
a normal population of 500 but this swells to 15,000 during the summer
months. Large increases can be anticipated in the future as more
recreational areas are developed and new summer homes are constructed.
A county by county assessment of solid waste practices follows:
Benewah County - Benewah County is extremely rural in nature with
the largest town being St. Maries with a population of about 2,600.
The county is served by two private collectors with Plummer the only
town requiring mandatory collection. The sites currently in operation
and those recently closed are shown on the enclosed map. It is hoped
all sites in the county can be closed and a new sanitary landfill opened
near the present St. Maries dump. A site has been located and. inspected
for the purpo'se. The sites in Emida, Santa and Fernwood will be closed
and drop boxes installed in September. Mr. Lustig will forward Mission
5000 forms after he is satisfied that they have been properly covered
and access closed. A site is located at Tensed on an Indian Reservation
and some problems may arise in getting it closed. The waste from Plummer
goes to a site in Worley located in Kootenai County. The dump at Big
Eddy is on railroad property and it should be closed this fall.
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Mr. Lustig is hopeful that all current sites vn'll be closed before
October 1 and that the new sanitary landfill will be in operation. He
anticipates that a contractor will provide the drop boxes and operate
the sanitary landfill under contract.
Bonner County - Bonner County is a heavily used recreation area
during the summer months with the Priest Lake area being a popular
attraction. The sites currently operating and those recently closed
are shown on the enclosed map.
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; Dump closure activity has been rapid in the Priest Lake area,
largely because of the positive action taken by the U. S. Forest Service.
The Corners, Outlet, Binarch, Coolin, and Kalispel dumps have been closed
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and covered. The first three have been reported on Mission 5000 and we
anticipate the other two will follow soon. Observation of the latter
two indicates very satisfactory results. The waste from all the closed
sites is going to the new Dickensheet sanitary landfill with the
exception of Corners which is being placed in the Priest River dump.
Plans are to close the Priest River dump and the Sandpoint modified
landfill and establish a new sanitary landfill south of both towns. At
that time the small dumps at Clark Fork and Hope would also close and
the waste will be sent to this new sanitary landfill. The U. S.' Forest
Service also hopes to have the small dump at Taloche closed soon. The
dumps at Granite and Blanchard are privately owned and work on closing
them will continue.
Two private haulers serve Bonner County with only Sandpoint having
mandatory collection. The hauler for Sandpoint also operates the landfill.
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Boundary Co-unty - Boundary County is served by one private collector.
Four open dumps and one modified landfill are currently in operation.
Work to close the four dumps and replace them with one sanitary landfill
located just south of Bonners Ferry is actively underway. A potential
site has been purchased and it is hoped that the private collector will
establish a drop box system and operate the new sanitary landfill under
contract.
The two mill levy for solid waste operation that was approved by
the Idaho legislature provides little monetary base as it only brings in
$20,000 per year for Boundary County. The only feasible plan appears to
be for the county to pay the contractor the $20,000 and let him make up
the difference with user fees. The fees would have to be reasonable and
approved by the county.
Regardless of the success of closing all the sites, the dump at
Eastport, which is on federal land, will be closed by the Forest Service.
The Naples dump has been recently converted to a modified trench landfill
and appears to be much improved over the previous operation. If it is not
upgraded to a sanitary landfill, it may be closed and the waste hauled to
the new site that will be established near Bonners Ferry.
Kootenai County - Kootenai County encompasses the Coeur d'Alene area
and contains nearly half of the population in the north'Idaho area. The
enclosed map shows all existing or recently closed disposal sites.
The site at Dudley, has been closed and reported for Mission 5000.
The site at Twin Lakes has been closed and covered while the site at
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Spirit Lake is closed and will be covered soon. Both are anticipated to
be reported as Mission 5000 sites in the near future. The Rathdrum dump
should be closed in September and the waste hauled to the modified landfill
at Garwood.
The Coeur d'Alene site is one of two true sanitary landfills in
the five county area, the other being at Dickensheet in Bonner County.
A modified landfill is operated at Post Falls and the Milwaukee Railroad
dump nearby is being strongly pressured to close. Harrison, Rose Lake
and Medimont all have dumps which will close and be replaced with drop
boxes when a sanitary landfill is established in the area east of Lake
Coeur d'Alene. The possibility of utilizing the Coeur d'Alene sanitary
landfill or the new sanitary landfill to be established near St. Maries
is also being investigated as an alternative in getting the three dumps
closed. The dump at Worley will probably be upgraded and will continue
to take the waste from northwest Benewah County as well as serving the
.immediate area. The two small dumps near'Athol will be also closed when
an alternative is worked out.
Collection service in Kootenai County is provided by seven different
private collectors with only Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene requiring
mandatory collection. Some of these firms are small and will probably
cease to operate when an organized system of drop boxes' and a sanitary
landfill are implemented.
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Shoshone County - Because of very .mountainous terrain, there are
very few areas suitable for disposal sites. Dumps in Mull an, Osburn,
Smelterville and Kingston have been closed and one modified landfill has
been established at Polaris near Osburn. The Osburn and Smelterville
dumps have been reported for Mission 5000 and closure forms for the
others should be submitted as soon as they are verified as being properly
closed by Mr. Lustig. The Polaris site will be upgraded in the future.
The dump near Murray on Forest Service land will be investigated
for closure by Mr. Lustig within the following year. The dump at Avery
is on Forest Service land and will be closed by September 1, 1972 and
replaced by a drop box as will those at Calder and Clarkia. A very
active contractor has agreed to provide the drop boxes and service them
provided he is granted a long term contract to protect his investment.
The waste from these three sites will be hauled to St. Maries.
In addition to the contractor who will service the drop boxes in
southern Shoshone County, six other priva'te collection firms operate
in the corridor from Pinehurst to Mull an. Competition among them is very
strong and overlapping routes exist in many areas. Mr. Lustig hopes to
alleviate this situation by developing an organized approach for
collection service in the area.
Summary - The Panhandle Health District and the F6rest Service are
taking very positive action in eliminating unacceptable dumping practices
in the five county north Idaho area. Barring unsurmountable political
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obstacles, nearly all open dumps should be eliminated and an organized
solid waste management systems established by the summer of 1972.
Ideally Mr. Lustig would like to have one sanitary landfill operated
in each county in conjunction with rural transfer station systems.
Realistically, at a minimum, about seven, disposal sites will probably
be established. Also an organized and controlled method of solid waste
collection should result as the planning progresses in this area. It
was readily obvious that without the EPA solid waste planning grant which
enabled the Panhandle Health District to hire Mr. Lustig, little or no
progress would have been made.
SPOKANE COUNTY, WASHINGTON
As with the north Idaho report, the Spokane County Information is
meant to be an inventory of solid waste disposal sites where residential
and commercial waste is deposited. Any other desired information on
special wastes should be available in the solid waste plans developed
by the city and county as directed by state law. The City of Spokane
elected to plan separately an option that was allowed by the law.
However, the two plans will be combined into one package before they
are officially adopted this fall. The plans essentially recommend rural
transfer operated in conjunction with central sanitary landfills. Many
small dumps have been closed in the past few years but lack of capital
has forstalled implementation of the rural transfer system.
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:. Approximately 275,000 people reside in Spokane County with the City
of Spokane having a population of 171,000. The City of Spokane is
considered the "capital" of the Inland Empire and serves as a service
and trade center for a large portion of the northwest.
Within the county, the responsibility for solid waste management
lies with the County Engineers Office. The Spokane Public Works Department
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Is responsible for all collection and disposal within the City limits.
Private collectors serve the various other smaller communities within
the county. Currently there are 11 land disposal sites receiving municipal
waste from the city and county. Two modified landfills and one dump
(which receives only tin cans) serve the city, while the other eight
sites serve the.remainder of the county. All the operating sites within
Spokane County are located on the enclosed map along with sites eliminated
or converted to sanitary landfills since 1970. In addition to the sites
indicated, there are three private landfills that handle demolition
material and the Kaiser Aluminum landfill which handles industrial
waste from the Trentwood Works.
Dumps at Elk, Rockford, Mead and Fairfield were eliminated during
1968-1969. The Colbert dump was converted to a sanitary landfill during
the same period. The Milan and Deer Park dumps were converted to small
sanitary landfills in 1970-71 and included in Mission 5000. The Waverly
and Fort Wright dumps were closed, but rejected for Mission 5000 because
of insufficient final cover. The Fort Wright dump should now be eligible
and Waverly is gradually being covered as material becomes available.
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Dump closures at Marshall, Spangle and Valleyford will soon be formally
reported for Mission 5000. Spokane County has opened a large sanitary
landfill near Mica in 1972 which is exceptionally well operated. Within
the next six months it is anticipated that the dumps at Ninemile,
Espanola, and Tyler will be closed and replaced by drop boxes.
Summary - Twelve open dumps have been closed or converted during
the past five years. With the adoption of the city and county solid
waste plans this fall, a permit system for all disposal sites in the
county will be initiated. The approval of such a permit would be based
on compliance with the state minimum functional standards which are to
be adopted in October 1972. The county can adopt the state standards
or develop their own version which would be at least as stringent.
Only sanitary landfills are allowed in the1 minimum functional standards;
therefore, more improvements can be expected. However, a phasing
in period will be authorized based largely upon the implementation
schedule outlined in the plan.
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