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DOCUMENT RISt
06240 - [B1706750]
Waste Disposal Practices: A Threat tc Health and the Nation's
WateQr Supply. CED-78-120: B-166506. June 16. 1978. 31 pp. + 2
appendices (3 pp.).
Report to the Congress; by Robert F. seller, Acting Couptrcller
General.
Issue Area: Environmental Protecticn Programs: Solid Waste
Disposal and Resource Recovery (2206); Invironvental
Protection Programs= Environmental Protection Standards
(2201).
Contact: Community and Economic Developent Div.
Budqet Function: Natural Resources, Evvirctment, and Fnergy:
Pollution Control and abatement (3C04)o
Organization Concerned: Environmental Protection Agency.
Conqressional Relevance: House Committee on Public Vorks and
Transportation; Senate Committee on Environment and Public
Corks; Conqress.
Authority: Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 EP.L.
94-580). Safe Drinking Water Act (42 U.S.C. 300(f)). Clean
ater Act of 1977 (F.L. 95-217). loxic Substances Control
Act.
millions of tons of waste are generated annually and
disposed of on land because this is usually the cheapest method
of waste disposal. Land disposal sites are often located in
areas considered to have little value for other uses.
Findinqs/conclusions: there has not been enough ccncern for soil
or proximity to water resources in selecting land disposal
sites. Leachate, a polluted liquid resulting when water comes in
contact with waste, contaminates groundwater and creates a
potential public health threat. federal and State agencies have
not assessed the eztent of damage to groundwater suppli .s or
determined the number of sites which may ke leaching. Studies
have been made only after wells have beet contaminated. 2he
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimated that about
14,000 of the nearly 20,000 municipal wasteland disFosal sites
do not compLy with State standards, ad almcst nothing is known
of the over 10C.000 industrial sites. State prcgrams have been
ineffective because of lack of staff and funds and because of
the unavailability of alternative sites. Federal legislation
aimed at improving waste disposal 1ractices has not been
effective enough because tine frames for improvements have not
been met, problems of existing grcundmater contamination have
not been addressed, and monitoring of drinking ,atex systems
does not include all contaminants. Recommendations: The
Admnistrator, EPA, should: determiue when th1e legislative
mandate for completing the open dump inventcry can re.setably be
achieved and present this information and estimates of needed
Federal fundi,2q to congressional committees, include in ctiteria
for sanitary landfills monitoring at sites located in areas](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.gao/gaobaaxkt0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)