Exposed garbage at the landfill is one issue the Georgia Environmental Protection Division has demanded Augusta address. [SPECIAL] ▲ The state wants Augusta to address ongoing leachate leakages that have sent dirty water into creeks. [SPECIAL] ▲ A garbage truck drives across a muddy area at the Augusta landfill. Whistleblowers raised multiple substantiated concerns about operations at the landfill last year. [SPECIAL] ▲

Augusta's landfill has been dogged by whistleblower complaints — nearly all of them substantiated — for more than a year, and as of last week, remains out of compliance with an October consent order.

The barrage of concerns first hit Mayor Hardie Davis' desk in January 2019. According to documents obtained by The Augusta Chronicle, leachate — the fluid produced when rain permeates uncovered garbage — was flowing into a nearby creek.

The state Environmental Protection Division had demanded a corrective action plan by Feb. 25, 2019, but in March, then-Environmental Services Director Lori Videtto said she was not aware of the state letter. On March 13, a few weeks before she resigned, Videtto sent the corrective plan outlining the city's effort to contain the leachate.

Leaked leachate and landfill coverage weren't the only issues identified by EPD. Another complaint last year said landfill workers were using contaminated dirt as both daily cover for waste and on outer landfill slopes. The dirt had been removed in the Atlanta Gas Light remediation of soil around a former gas plant at Seventh Street and Walton Way.

Augusta officials have been reluctant to assign blame for the issues. Former landfill Director Mark Johnson resigned in June 2017 and has since worked with landfill contractor Gearig Brothers. Videtto led the department for 21 months until leaving for Waste Management, and environmental services staffer Becky Padgett headed the operation for about six months until a national search identified Mark Mehall as the new director.

"The lady (Padgett) that took over wasn't as familiar with that operation," Augusta Commissioner Dennis Williams said. "The new director is just getting there and he's jumping in head first."

A few days after Videtto left, EPD again wrote Davis, informing him that the landfill remained out of compliance "due to the continuous leachate outbreaks that have been ongoing since January."

The letter also said some landfill areas lacked vegetative cover altogether, leaving waste exposed, scattered and attracting animals, including a large flock of seagulls.

EPD ordered the city to provide a revised action plan by May 10, but before it could follow up, it received another complaint that workers were using the contaminated dirt and leaving the "working face," the area where waste is being actively placed, uncovered and without dust control.

A June 19 followup said that while corrective actions were being taken, "there was very little improvement." Staffers acknowledged using the contaminated dirt inappropriately but said the last load was May 31.

EPD drafted a consent order in July requiring the city to cover all exposed waste; correct all leachate outbreaks; and grade, seed and mulch all landfill slopes, but soon another complaint would come in. In addition to the contaminated dirt, it said leachate was running from landfill ditches to stormwater ponds, which empty into Spirit Creek, while the city failed to install a gas system within five years of garbage being placed there in 2011.

In September, Mehall detailed the numerous corrections to reduce erosion and leachate leaks the landfill had taken, and in October, Davis signed the consent order, which required the city to pay a $4,000 fine.

Within seven days, all leachate outbreaks were to be corrected and a plan submitted for the gas system. Within 60 days, all waste had to be covered, seeded and mulched, the order said.

In December, EPD observed more exposed waste and confirmed a report that despite the city's announcement that it had closed a landfill site in July, receipts for tipping garbage continued through October.

EPD site visits last week found the landfill remained out of compliance — "there was exposed waste still" across "many acres," while leachate continued to commingle with stormwater.

All commission discussions about the problems have been held behind closed doors, although it's unclear which exception to Georgia open meetings laws is being used. The landfill appears again on the agenda for the commission's closed session Tuesday.

Williams said he's confident Mehall will get the landfill issue under control.

"The director knows what's wrong, and the problems are going to be corrected," he said.

Commissioners including Marion Williams and Brandon Garrett have attempted to discuss the landfill problems openly but have been rebuffed each time. Last week, the commission agreed to hold a work session on the issues at 10 a.m. March 4.

Commissioner Ben Hasan said it's taken some time for the commission to get its head around the landfill problems, but intends to resolve them.

"We've got some issues out there and we're trying to get to the bottom of them," he said. "They've been out there for quite some time but they are just now reaching the commission."

Environmental Services has other ongoing concerns, including its contracts with waste and recycling haulers that soon need to be renewed or replaced. One of two primary haulers, Advanced Disposal, was recently acquired by Waste Management.

Commissioner John Clarke pointed out that the landfill's credit card machine used to process payments has been inoperative for some time.

"It's a cash business only, and that's very concerning," he said. "The landfill's got more problems than Jimmy Carter's got peanuts."

Clarke said he's also concerned that former Environmental Services employees are able to go to work for city contractors.

Former Commissioner Moses Todd, who took time off from his regular job in the early 1990s to try to resolve the landfill's issues with leachate and methane, said much is at stake with the city's ongoing noncompliance with EPD demands.

"EPD could take further action including restricting the tonnage allowed at the landfill or even suspending the permit — that's what we don't want to happen," he said.