WAVERLY, Ohio — A methane reading above Ohio’s regulatory threshold was recorded last month at the Pike Sanitation Landfill, according to documents submitted to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
In a Feb. 27 letter to Ohio EPA’s Southeast District Office, Rumpke’s site geologist reported that quarterly monitoring conducted Feb. 18 detected methane at 7.9% by volume in gas monitoring probe GMP-12. Under Ohio Administrative Code 3745-27-12(J), methane levels may not exceed 5% by volume in monitoring probes.
The company representative wrote that “methane was observed in explosive gas probe GMP-12 at a level of 7.9% by volume, which exceeds the 5% threshold,” adding that “no gas was detected at any other monitoring location.”
The letter states Rumpke notified Ohio EPA and the Pike County Health Department by email on Feb. 19 following the exceedance.
According to the company’s written report, the gas alarm in the nearest occupiable structure — identified as the container repair shop (GA-2) — “was tested and confirmed to be operational.”
The company also implemented contingency monitoring, as required by state regulations. The report stated that increased monitoring would continue at GMP-12, along with three temporary bar punch locations installed around the probe, “on a weekly basis until four consecutive readings are below the threshold limit.”
Rumpke said that follow-up monitoring conducted Feb. 25 showed methane levels had dropped to 0.60%. The document states that gas “was not detected at any of the three bar punch locations.”
The landfill indicated in its submission that weekly monitoring will continue and that after four sequential weekly readings below the explosive gas threshold, the site will return to routine compliance monitoring. The letter further states that “if gas exceedances were to escalate, appropriate measures would be taken.”
Explosive gas monitoring is required at landfills to prevent methane migration beyond site boundaries or into nearby structures.
At this time, public records show the exceedance was limited to a single probe and that subsequent readings were below regulatory limits.