Because of extensive flood damage to the two new cells under construction at Lawton’s landfill, the number of free dumps has been scaled back from six times a year to one per quarter and the City Council imposed a 60-day moratorium on demolition of dilapidated structures.
Torrential rainfall in late April and early May inundated the new cells in which trash is to be b uried. The landfill cells under construction “turned into the Lawton Aquatic Center,” Public Works Director Michael Watrous quipped.
The landfill received 5.5 inches of rainfall in one 24-hour period, and a little over 7 inches more the next week, he reported. Since the cells slope, as late as last week the low end of both excavations was under 15 feet of water that was being pumped into a pond, he said.
A protective liner of im permeable liner material washed away in the floodwaters, Watrous said. “We don’t know the full extent of the damage yet,” he said on June 10.
Those two cells should have been in service already, Watrous said. The city received the necessary permits from the state Department of Environmental Quality in mid-May.
The floodwater is being pumped into a permitted stormwater basin that is approximately an acre and a half in size, and there, sediment will be allowed to settle out. The water then will flow into two other basins, each about two acres in size, Watrous said.
No waste had been deposited into the two new cells when the flooding occurred, “so it’s considered stormwater and is allowed to be tested and treated as such,” Caitlin Gatlin, the city’s communications director, told Southwest Ledger.
When waste is placed into the new cells, all liquid inside those cells will be considered leachate and will be pumped into a lined leachate basin, Watrous said.
“We’ll have to use emergency funds to repair the landfill,” Mayor Stan Booker said.
Without the new cells, the estimated remaining landfill space “will be exhausted in approximately four to five months,” Watrous said.
Consequently, the council declared an emergency and directed city staff to “take the necessary steps to begin repairs” on the damaged cells. The emergency waived competitive bidding requirements. Reducing the number of free dumps from six to four shouldn’t be a major inconvenience because, “We have ‘Trash Off ’ twice a year and monthly bulk pick-up,” City Manager John Ratliff noted.
During the past year the six free dumps for local residents generated 4,778.78 tons of waste at the landfill, Watrous said. Since the landfill “tipping” fee is $28.50 per ton, Lawtonians saved $136,195, and state fees, based on the same tonnage, would be $5,973.
The city’s “dangerous and dilapidated” structures program “contributes a lot [of material] to the landfill,” Ratliff said. Therefore, on his recommendation, the council voted to pause the D&D program for two months “so we’re not adding stress to the landfill.”
Anyone dumping “anything above and beyond” a routine volume of trash and debris at the landfill “should have to pay for that,” Councilman Randy Warren said. “It’s very expensive to make another hole out there and line it,” he added.
In May 2024 the City Council awarded a $3.84 million contract to a Texas company to construct the new cells 6 and 7, each of which encompasses approximately 9.6 acres.
When finished, each cell will have a 2-foot compacted clay liner and will be covered with a 60-millimeter HDPE geomembrane and 250-millimeter geocomposite liner, then covered with a minimum of 1 to 2 feet of protective cover, usually sand, Gatlin told the Ledger.
The council directed city staff to study the services that peer cities provide for bulk trash and how they finance their landfills.