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Dec. 10, 2007
For immediate release
For more information contact:
Tammy Snodgrass or Bonnie Prigge, (573) 265-2993
US Forest Service, MRPC Partner on Illegal Dump Clean Up
Phelps County Assists with the Conical Sink Clean Up
ST. JAMES—Thanks to a partnership of local, state and federal agencies, a large illegal dumpsite in a Phelps County sink hole will become a part of history. Known as Conical Sink, the illegal dump site is located along Phelps County Road 8540 near the Phelps and Pulaski county line.
Conical Sink is the largest of at least five illegal dump sites on Forest Service property in Phelps, Crawford and Washington counties that will benefit from the partnership and clean up efforts.
In continuing its illegal dump cleanup program, Meramec Regional Planning Commission and the Ozark Rivers Solid Waste Management District are partnering with the US Forest Service, the Phelps County Highway Department, the South Central Correctional Center in Licking and volunteers to clean-up Conical sink. Conical sink is nearly 100 feet deep.
The project began Nov. 2 -3 when Klaus Leidenfrost, a wildlife biologist with the Mark Twain Forest Service’s Houston/Rolla/Cedar Creek Ranger District, and eight inmates from the South Central Correctional Centerbegan separating tires and appliances and bagging trash at the bottom of the sink. Leidenfrost is in charge of the Conical Sink cleanup with MRPC’s Nongluk Tunyavanich coordinating volunteers, equipment and providing food and drinks for workers involved with the cleanups. Inmates also bagged trash from the less steep areas of the sink.
Leidenfrost and five volunteers from the Missouri Speleological Survey (MSS) and UMR, continued bagging trash on Sunday, Nov. 4.
At the close of the first weekend, the Phelps County Highway Department delivered two truck loads of bagged trash to the transfer station.
On Nov. 9, MRPC hired Gabriele Crane Co. and its 75-ton crane with a 202 foot boom to assist with the project. Work began early that morning, with Gene Gabriele and his crew preparing his 75-ton crane for work.
By 8 a.m., eight inmates, two guards, as well as five Forest Service staff, six county employees and one MRPC staff person were on hand to remove the appliances, bagged trash and tires from the sinkhole. The Phelps County Highway Department provided five dump trucks and a back hoe.
The crane was used to lift debris out of the deep sinkhole. Material was placed in a cargo net and hooked to the cable and lifted out of the sinkhole with the crane. It was then loaded into waiting dump trucks.
That day, seven dump truck loads of metal (which were recyled), one dump truck load of trash and 126 tires were removed from Conical Sink.
On Nov. 10, additional trash was bagged and two more truck loads of trash were hauled to the transfer station on Nov. 10.
Later in November, inmates helped Leidenfrost gather 54 tires in Slaughter Sink, also in Phelps County, and also worked to clean up a newer illegal dump on Phelps County Road 8520.
On Nov. 16, 17, 30 and Dec. 1, crews from the South Central Correctional Center in Licking continued to bag up trash at Conical Sink for future removal. There are still several more days of work required at Conical Sink to bag trash before the crane comes back to the site. Due to the recent icy conditions in the area, work has been suspended temporarily. It will continue once conditions improve. Once all the material is removed from Conical Sink, a dirt berm and chain link fence are planned to prevent future dumping.
To the west in Washington and Crawford counties, Chris Woods, district fire management officer of the Potosi/Fredericktown Ranger District, was mounting clean up efforts along two county roads. Nearly 28 tons of trash were removed from scattered illegal dump sites along Harmon Road in Washington County. Clean up of a dump site on Hobo Road in Crawford County is being planned.
The disposal costs and equipment rental is being covered by a $21,700 grant from the Ozark Rivers Solid Waste Management District. Grant funds come from a landfill tipping fee imposed by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, with a portion being returned to Missouri solid waste districts for competitive grant awards. The US Forest Service will cover any cost overruns. “We really appreciate all the cooperation and assistance we had on all these cleanups, especially Conical Sink,” said Tammy Snodgrass, MRPC environmental programs manager. “The Phelps County Commissioners and the county highway crews are to be commended for their efforts and the use of their equipment. It would not have been possible to cleanup the dumpsite of this size without the help from so many agencies,” Snodgrass said.
“Klaus and Chris are to be commended for their dedication to these efforts,” Snodgrass continued. “People travel great distances to enjoy our state and federal forests, and it is unfortunate that some choose to use these resources for their personal trash disposal.”
About three years ago, MRPC completed a survey and documented 69 illegal dumps in the Ozark Rivers Solid Waste Management District, which includes Crawford, Dent, Gasconade, Maries, Phelps, Pulaski and Washington counties. Water sources are particularly vulnerable to the effects of illegal dumping as hazardous materials can seep through the ground and contaminate water supplies.
Besides being aesthetically unpleasing, illegal dumping lowers property values and poses an unsanitary risk to residents living near a dumpsite. Dumps in sink holes threaten underground aquifers that residents and municipalities use for drinking water.
“When you dump in a sink hole, you are threatening the very water we all drink.” explained Snodgrass. “Sinks often times are directly connected to underground streams that supply our water.”
MRPC and Ozark Rivers now has a surveillance camera to monitor dump sites in the region in hopes of securing evidence to prosecute illegal dumpers.
MRPC also maintains a hotline to report illegal dumping 1-800-NO2-DUMP. For more information on the MRPC, ORSWMD or the illegal dump cleanup program, please contact Snodgrass or Tunyavanich at (573) 265-2993.
A cargo net full of debris is lowered to the ground so it can be sorted and hauled away by the Phelps County Highway Department.
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Some 126 tires were removed from Conical Sink. Here, a cargo net is used to lift the tires out of the sink hole.
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