Environmental consultant Larry Silverman and representatives from the Amissville

Environmental consultant Larry Silverman and representatives from the Amissville citizens group have reviewed the preliminary design report sent to Richmond last week by Joyce Engineering and they find it wanting.

“Our concerns have not been answered or resolved,” Lorraine Early told the supervisors on Monday. Missing specifically from the design report on the proposed county landfill is additional data on groundwater. “Joyce Engineering has not done any scientific testing of the water table. It’s all been done by theory,” she said. “There have been no additional measurements taken, no water quality testing (on the 600 private wells the citizens group has pinpointed in the landfill area).”

According to Mrs. Early, the group’s consulting engineer estimates cost for a trench with single liner to be $1 million an acre and development of the seven-acre Phase I site to total about $10 million. She urged that a detailed groundwater study be completed before the county spends more money on a landfill at the 99-acre Stover tract. “If you start to build and the foundation falls away, it’s going to be more expense to the taxpayers.”

While the Virginia Department of Waste Management (VDWM), as the state’s landfill permitting agency, must approve site and design, the Board of Supervisors “is the only official body with jurisdiction over how much it’s going to cost and how it’s going to be paid for,” said Larry Silverman. The VDWM looks at whether engineering can correct site deficiencies; the board must decide whether the county can afford to pay for the expensive engineering called for by this particular site, Mr. Silverman added. “Constructability” is the issue, he said, and before constructability can be determined, more geological information is necessary.

If estimates on groundwater levels are off by five feet, “you might