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Show Issie organization Wcfns against cif garbage plans ut a recent meeting of the lift County Planning Com. illusion, Laurence Cooper, l'ro- i ! l'esor of Geology at Southern I ah State College, warned of. l'ials and citizens that the jjoposed dumping of garbage I il the gravel pits north of Ce. i(ir City might result in the f contamination of ground wat- 1 (v throughout the Cedar Val- 2 i '.v- f The ciy has asked for por-j por-j Diission to use the gravel pits 1 3 f,)r refuse disposal after the s 'j old dump south of town i.s I I a banttmed. Plans for the move ) have 'Jeen tentatively approv-i approv-i j ed ry the State Board of f ; Heajh, pending the County's v (IccJ-ion. ' f I'ofessor Cooper warned the ': ; cnimissioners that the Cedar a'a i.s a "closed hydrological s'.stem" in which ground wat-fr wat-fr is "trapped" and builds up t i tigher and higher dissolved ' mineral pnnr'ontrnlinrw until - it finally becomes useless "How long that will take," Cooper said, "depends on how much mineral content we add to our ground water." According to Professor Cooper, Coop-er, if the gravel pits are used for dumping, poisonous minerals miner-als such as mercury salts might be carried from decomposing decom-posing garbage into the water table. Once absorbed, these poisons can never be removed s from a closed water system. Professor Cooper recommended recom-mended that the Commission set aside the gravel pits for " flood control purposes, since they constitute an ideal way for getting water back into the water table. At the same meeting, members mem-bers of ISSUE? (Interested in Saving Southern Utah's Environment?) Envir-onment?) urged the Commission Commis-sion to consider the possibility possibil-ity of using one of the mined-out mined-out iron ore pits for disposal, because the rock bottom is impervious im-pervious and a supply of back, fill would bo readily available. avail-able. After discussion, the Commission Com-mission decided to approve the city's request for use of the gravel pits, with the provision pro-vision that proper controls and management techniques be guaranteed. This would in-Hide in-Hide taking precautions for keeping the pits dry. |