A “hot spot” at the Werribee tip has landed Wyndham council in hot water.
The Environment Protection Authority has fined Wyndham council $7773 for failing to comply with a pollution abatement notice issued in March, 2016, that directed it to bring its methane emissions into line with its EPA licence by the end of November that year.
In a statement released last week, the council said although it had “immediately” taken action to address the issues raised by the EPA, the discovery of a “hot spot” – defined by the EPA as hot waste underground with no flames, visible smoke or gaseous emissions – in a tip cell was one of several issues that prevented further action being taken.
EPA spokesman John Rees said the environmental watchdog had directed Wyndham council to reduce the steepness of the slopes on a cell of the Werribee landfill, apply half a metre of compacted clay soil cover to seal it and install more landfill gas wells.
“The fine was issued when the work was not done within the time required,” Mr Rees said.
Wyndham city operations director Stephen Thorpe said the council was in the second stage of a three-stage process to reduce the hot spot temperature.
“We are currently preparing for the third stage, which will involve further drilling to confirm that the issue has been resolved,” he said.
