ADEM: Alabama landfill fire shows ‘no discernable impact’ on water quality

ADEM: Alabama landfill fire shows ‘no discernable impact’ on water quality

Alabama environmental officials say water samples taken near a landfill fire that’s been burning for more than two months showed “no discernable impact” on water quality in the area.

The Alabama Department of Environmental Management says water samples taken from the Cahaba River and Big Black Creek near the fire — approximately 15 miles northeast of Birmingham — showed little to no impact.

“Some residents have expressed concern that runoff from the site could be having an adverse effect on the water in nearby streams,” Jeff Kitchens, chief of ADEM’s Water Division, said in a news release. “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.”

The department said that to analyze potential impacts, they began sampling both upstream and downstream of the fire on the Cahaba, and Big Black Creek. Big Black Creek flows into the Cahaba less than a mile from the site of the landfill fire.

The department says those results, which are posted on ADEM’s Moody fire updates website, show “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.”

Air sampling and monitoring from the site can be found at the EPA response web site.

EPA personnel on the scene told AL.com Friday that the smoke from the fire may continue to be an issue for residents for another three weeks or so.