MICHAEL SUCKAU
WESTFIELD – The state Department of Environmental Protect (DEP) issued the city a certificate of compliance for remediation of an erosion problem at the Twiss Street transfer station, clearing the way for the city to begin seeking an expansion permit for that facility.
The city has been considering seeking an increase from the DEP for its “tipping” limit, which is currently 50 tons per day, but that project was held back while the city dealt with a major erosion problem caused by stormwater draining off the transfer station site.
The stormwater gauged a deep ravine, threatening to undermine the Pioneer Valley Railroad tracks abutting the transfer station and dumping tons of sediment into the Powdermill Brook flood control dam.
The erosion was remediated and the DEP recently issued a certificate of compliance needed before the DEP would allow the expansion project, to nearly 200 tons a day, to begin.
Health Director Mike Suckau said yesterday that phase 1 of the expansion project will begin immediately.
“The contract is signed and the funding is in place,” Suckau said. “The first phase is the design engineering and permitting process, which includes development of a schematic design and a possible reconfiguration of the site.”
The DEP will use the schematic design to determine if the site can accommodate the expanded facility, which will include an enclosed tipping area and a storage facility for equipment. The reconfiguration may require demolition of the some existing structures.
“Construction, if approved by the DEP, could take a full construction season, so the timeline is roughly three years for the whole process,” Suckau said. “An we have to coordinate that with our daily operations because we have to stay open while the construction work is on going.”
In other business Suckau reported to the Board of Health Wednesday night that the “sharps” collection program, which was initiated last August, has been well-used by city residents since the state banned disposal of needles and other sharp medical equipment in household trash. That disposal prohibition went into effect on July 1, 2012.
“There has been pretty steady use,” Suckau said. “We collected 315 pounds of sharps, about 35,000 individual sharps, collected since the inception of the kiosk at City Hall.
The Kiosk was relocated to the temporary Health Department office on the fourth floor of the Westwood Building on North Elm Street while City Hall is closed for renovation.
“The Department is renewing the contract with the sharps vendor at the same cost as the first year, $3,000 to lease the kiosk and to have the twice-a-month pick-up of the sharps,” Suckau said.
