Disposal

Solid Waste Landfill Guidance

Using the Internet to Locate Information Needed to Complete a Phase 1 Site Characterization Report

All Solid Waste Facilities that will require storage or disposal of wastes for over one year are required to submit a Phase I Site Characterization Report. One-time use only sites may also need to develop a Phase I SCR and so must certain types of composting facilities, MRFs, and even transfer stations. Typically this report is required as part of a new Solid Waste Permit Application, or in some cases, a Letter Authorization Application. Many existing sites may also need to complete or update their SCR if it has not been done recently. Guidance on the structure and content of the SCR can be found in DEQ’s Solid Waste Guidance, Municipal Solid Waste Landfills, Section 2 (Phase I) and Section 3 (Phase II). An electronic version is available on the web and the Department encourages the use of this guidance document to complete any SCR.

• Solid Waste Landfill Guidance

The purpose of the Phase I SCR is to provide general information about the site and the surrounding area. It is not meant to be an exhaustive, in-depth examination since that will be dealt with in further phases of the SCR as required. The Phase I SCR has always been meant to be more of a current literature review rather than the summary of site-specific fieldwork accomplished. The only real exception to this is the required door-to-door survey to determine the current water source (community system, well, or surface water intakes are examples) for each improved property in the area of interest.

The World Wide Web is an excellent starting point for gathering much of the required data. While not the only source, the web can directly offer information, or, suggest where to get further information on the topics to be covered by the Phase I SCR. Some of these sites require special software to download information and display the information. Other sites are simply order points for the information (there may be a charge). The Department does not recommend or approve of these sites, with the exception of DEQ’s own web pages. DEQ lists these sites and offers them to the person preparing the SCR as good starting points in gathering the needed information. If you are accessing this memo electronically, your computer may allow direct link to the web addresses found in this document. One note, web addresses are constantly changing. What may be a good address today may be invalid tomorrow. A good surfing point is to back up to the root address and see if there is a new link.

The following is the Department’s recommended organizational structure of a Phase I Site Characterization Report and some possible sources of information. See DEQ’s Solid Waste Guidance, Municipal Solid Waste Landfills, Section Two:

1. Introduction
   Provide a brief review of the location restriction information covered under Section 1. Note any problems locating data. Describe the owner and operator of the proposed facility including how to contact them. State the reason or purpose of this facility. Provide a brief description of proposed (current) site operations.
2. Existing Conditions
   Describe the location of the site (township, range, and section); nearest city or town; nearest U.S. or State Highway; access to the site; legal description; local land use zoning; and vicinity map(s). Try the following web sites for information for this section: Base maps (7.5 minute) USGS quadrangles can be ordered at USGS Topographic Maps (http://topomaps.usgs.gov/) and many areas of Oregon now have available digital maps. Some Oregon counties have tax lot information available on the web. Contact the county office in question for availability and access. Some land use zoning information can be found at Oregon's Department of Land Conservation and Development web site (www.lcd.state.or.us/), but the data may be incomplete. Use this site more as a reference for proposed land use zoning changes. Aerial photographs can be ordered through Nature of the Northwest (www.naturenw.org).
3. Climate/Meteorology
   A good place to start is the Oregon Climate Service web page (www.ocs.orst.edu) or at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at www.arl.noaa.gov.
4. Hydrology
   Surface water and stream flow data can be found at Oregon's Water Resources Department web site (www.oregon.gov/OWRD/SW/index.shtml). Wetlands are described in the National Wetlands Inventory at http://www.nwi.fws.gov or at the Army Corps of Engineers, Environmental Laboratory Wetlands at http://el.erdc.usace.army.mil/wetlands/. Flood plain delineation and/or flood maps can be ordered at the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Flood Hazard Mapping Section (www.fema.gov/plan/prevent/fhm/index.shtm).
5. Water Balance
   There are several Department-approved water balance models. Those not found here or in the Solid Waste Guidance may be acceptable after sufficient review by the Department. The most common water balance model is the EPA’s Hydrologic Evaluation of Landfill Performance (HELP), for which a discussion and order form can be found at www.epa.gov/epahome/models.htm. Another useful set models can be found on the USGS web site at http://water.usgs.gov/software/ground_water.html.
6. Water Use Inventory
   Oregon Water Resources Division (www.wrd.state.or.us) contains a lot of useful information. Nearly all water well logs on file with this Department are available in summary format. There is also a list of infiltration galleries and surface water intakes for public drinking water supplies. Some cities and/or water districts may have online maps that show which properties are serviced by their systems. It might also be useful to review EPA’s Risk-Based Decision-Making models at www.epa.gov/swerust1/rbdm/index.htm to determine other possible beneficial uses of the groundwater resource in question.
7. Geology
   Several web sites have Oregon geologic information. Many of these sites contain links to other sites. Some of the most useful web locations are: Oregon's Department of Geology and Mineral Industries at www.oregongeology.com/sub/default.htm; USGS's Geologic Information About Oregon at http://geology.wr.usgs.gov/docs/geologic/or/oregon.html; or try the Nature of the Northwest site (see link in II.). Geologic hazard information on tsunami, seismic impact zones, and other geologic hazard maps can be found at these three sites. The three sites also contain many links to the geology departments of several pacific northwest universities including OGI, OSU, PSU, UofO, OIT, WSU, and UofW.
8. Soils
   While not specified in the Phase I guidance, a review of the on-site soils is required if there is no liner system or if the natural soils are to be used in construction and/or operation of the site. The local county extension office is a good place to start for a description of the soils found at the site. The Phase I SCR must include the SCS classification with a physical description of each soil type present at the facility. This information must be developed before running the Water Balance model. The input to the model must use the soil (surface and near surface) information developed and reported here. For soil information (a quick look on the web) try the Natural Resources Conservation Service at http://soils.usda.gov/ and the Soil and Water Conservation Society at www.swcs.org/.
9. Hydrogeology
   Regional basin data might be available from either Water Resources Department or DEQ’s Water Quality Division. Also check with the local government since they, or the local water district, may have applied for a groundwater protection area from DEQ and the Health Department (Drinking Water Program); see http://oregon.gov/DHS/ph/dwp/index.shtml. These agencies may have already delineated the groundwater flow in the aquifer(s) of interest close to the site.
10. Other Information
    Other information may be required to complete the Phase I SCR. An example of this may include, but is not limited to, a description of any mining activities nearby, a high tension electrical transmission line or a pipeline adjacent or passing through the site or any known endangered or threatened species in the general area. Rare and endangered species information can be found at the Oregon Natural Heritage Information Center at http://orbic.pdx.edu/. You should also reference the Department of State Lands web site on essential indigenous anadromous salmonid habitat at www.oregon.gov/DSL/index.shtml. Please contact the Department if you have any questions on what should or should not be included in the Phase I SCR.
11. Phase II SCR Workplan
    The Phase II SCR Workplan must be included with the Phase I SCR. The workplan must describe how the information requirements found in Section 3 of the Landfill Guidance will be addressed. A schedule of events must be included.

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