The Barnes Aquifer Protection Advisory Committee (BAPAC) has issued a position paper on the possible landfill expansion entitled,

Why Aquifers and Landfills Don't Mix [PDF]


The 1 page document gives a brief background on the aquifer.

BAPAC states in regards to the Northampton Landfill Expansion:

"While recognizing the advances in technology and landfill engineering being proposed are more safe and environmentally sound than those used on the original landfill, BAPAC notes that across the country, landfill liners have failed, polluting streams and groundwater. While the landfill may have an extended lifetime of 30 years, the aquifer represents a critical water source for all future generations that must be protected.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has excluded landfills from within the recharge areas of drinking water sources, with the Northampton Landfill expansion being the only exception. The BAPAC believes the long-term risk to the Barnes Aquifer far outweighs the short-term benefits of expanding this regional landfill."

Another interesting note to this position paper are the minutes from BAPAC's September 1st meeting, in which they refer to the current Northampton landfill.

"BAPAC also recommends that the City begin to remediate the existing contamination by removing the
waste from the unlined cell.
Global warming forecasts for the Northeast indicate that precipitation will increase in the region, potentially increasing groundwater levels, creating greater opportunity for migration of contaminants from the unlined cell to the surrounding environment."

The potential of increased rain in the region and the possible negative effects associated with it were reported by The North Street Neighborhood Association in July of this year.

Heat and Rain Increasing in Massachusetts: Implications for Infill and the Proposed Landfill Expansion

Here is an excerpt of the entry:

When it rains it pours: Why Massachusetts is becoming waterlogged

...Massachusetts is accumulating rainy months at a disturbing pace.

Overthe past century, according to data from the National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration, average annual rainfall in the commonwealthhas increased from about 36 inches to nearly 50 - a jump of over 33percent...

...in the last 10 years, an average of over 50 inches of rain has fallen annually in the Valley.

Thatrainy trend is likely to continue. In a sweeping report on globalwarming that it issued in June, the U.S. Global Change ResearchProgram, a coalition of scientists and researchers from a dozen federalscientific agencies including NOAA, projects that the Northeast willgrow progressively wetter - and warmer - this century. Much of theincreasing precipitation could fall in heavy rainstorms that raise therisk of flooding and damage to agriculture, the report says.

Infact, those kinds of downpours have been occuring with growingfrequency across the country, according to the report, butpredominantly in the Northeast, where they've increased 67 percent inthe past 50 years...

[Derek Arndt of the National Climatic DataCenter] notes that future climate projections show the Southexperiencing increasing periods of significant drought, like the onethat gripped parts of that region last summer and fall.

And increasing rainfall in the Northeast is not occuring in a vacuum, experts say: It's accompanied by higher temperatures...

Bythe end of the century, depending on how fast heat-trapping emissionsincrease, annual average temperatures could increase from 4 to 8degrees, according to the report...

...severe flooding caused byheavy rainfall and rising seas could cause extensive damage to homes,businesses and infrastructure like roads and drinking water systems...

Highertemperatures in urban areas in summer - Hartford, Conn., might average30 days annually of 100-degree heat later this century, the report says- could worsen air pollution problems as well as make life generallymiserable...

This article underscores points we have been raising for some time:

• Development that encroaches close to wetlands, as does the proposed Kohl North Street condo project, is unwise. We need to give our urban wetlands more space, not less, to help them counteract the prospect of increased stormwater flows as well as droughts. Northampton's recently enacted Wetlands Ordinance,which encourages "Smart Growth" development as close as 10 feet towetlands in Northampton's more urban districts, flies in the face ofpredicted climate trends.
• Reducing urban greenspace through poorly-conceived infill is likely to worsen the urban heat island effect.Predictable consequences are increased heat and air pollution in urbanareas, on top of effects from climate change. This will not encouragepeople to live in built-up areas, a goal of Smart Growth and the Sustainable Northampton Plan.Infill should be largely directed to land that is already covered withpavement or existing structures. We have not nearly used up our supplyof such land. King Street alone offers several good candidates forinfill.
• As droughts and water shortages are likely for the South andWest, the water in the Northeast is likely to become an increasinglyvalued resource. Extending the Northampton landfill over the BarnesAquifer recharge area puts a potentially valuable regional asset atrisk.