What you need to know:
- The Mat-Su Central Landfill near Palmer has installed a state-of-the-art system that filters and vaporizes murky runoff known as leachate, eliminating the need to truck it to Anchorage for treatment and discharge into Cook Inlet.
- The system captures pollutants, including PFAS and zinc, and is powered by methane from the landfill. It is expected to save the borough about $270,000 annually.
- Since late October, the evaporator has processed 600,000 gallons of runoff. Anchorage plans to install a larger version at its landfill next year to treat 40 million gallons of annual leachate.
PALMER — A large vapor plume now periodically visible over the Mat-Su Central Landfill near Palmer is caused by a new, state-of-the-art evaporator system that scrubs and pumps decomposing trash water into the air instead of leaving it to be trucked to Anchorage for treatment and release into Cook Inlet, borough officials said this week.
The vapor will be released from the top of the new evaporator system for up to several hours on weekdays on about 200 days a year, depending on how much runoff needs to be processed, Matanuska-Susitna Central Landfill Manager Jeff Smith said during a tour of the facility Wednesday.
Residents near the landfill may notice the plume shooting about 20 feet into the air, he said. It is particularly visible on cold days because it is so much warmer than the air it is entering, Smith said…