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Oct. 31, 2008 For more information contact: Conical Sink Clean Up Project Completed ST. JAMES—Thanks to a partnership of local, state and federal agencies, a large illegal dumpsite in a Phelps County sink hole will become a part of history. Known as Conical Sink, the illegal dump site is located along Phelps County Road 8540 near the Phelps and Pulaski county line. When all was done, some 59,000 pounds of trash was removed along with 11,500 pounds of metal and 126 tires. To accomplish the project, Meramec Regional Planning Commission and the Ozark Rivers Solid Waste Management District partnered with the US Forest Service, the South Central Correctional Center in Licking, the Phelps County Commission and Highway Department, and a host of volunteers to clean-up Conical sink. Conical sink is nearly 100 feet deep. The project began Nov. 2, 2007, when Klaus Leidenfrost, a wildlife biologist with the Mark Twain Forest Service’s Houston/Rolla/Cedar Creek Ranger District, and eight inmates from the South Central Correctional Center began separating tires and appliances and bagging trash at the bottom of the sink. Leidenfrost is in charge of the Conical Sink cleanup with MRPC’s Nongluk Tunyavanich coordinating volunteers, equipment and providing food and drinks for workers involved with the cleanups. The South Central Correctional Center in Licking provided the bulk of the volunteer labor as inmates and correctional officers donated 177 days of labor. Volunteers— including Wal-Mart Distribution Center employees, Wal-Mart of Desloge employees, Missouri University of Science and Technology students, Missouri Speleological Survey, Missouri Cave and Karst, employees of the Missouri Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and others—contributed a total of 33 days. Phelps County’s Highway Department hauled all the trash to Rolla’s Transfer Station and metal to a metal recycling location. In addition, they hauled a truckload of tires from the sinkhole and provided more than 1,000 trash bags. The county also provided dump trucks and a backhoe with operators when needed. The last bags of trash were removed in August 2008. The county donated and hauled 14 truckloads of the dirt to construct the berm adjacent to the county road, and a contractor has been hired to install a fence to discourage future dumping. The disposal costs and equipment rental is being covered by a grant from the Ozark Rivers Solid Waste Management District. Some $16,000 has been spent on the clean-up. Grant funds come from a landfill tipping fee imposed by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, with a portion being returned to Missouri solid waste districts for competitive grant awards. Wal-Mart Distribution Center 6069 donated $1,000 and the Missouri Cave and Karst Conservancy donated $500 to help with the overall expenses. In addition Wal-Mart supplied more than 2,250 heavy duty trash bags and numerous cases of drinking water. Additionally, the Forest Service is assisting with some additional fencing costs. “We really appreciate all the cooperation and assistance we had on Conical Sink,” said Tammy Snodgrass, MRPC environmental programs manager. “The Phelps County Commissioners and the county highway crews are to be commended for their efforts and the use of their equipment. It would not have been possible to cleanup the dumpsite of this size without the help from so many agencies,” Snodgrass said. “Klaus is to be commended for his commitment to this effort,” Snodgrass continued. In 2003, MRPC completed a survey and documented 69 illegal dumps in the Ozark Rivers Solid Waste Management District, which includes Crawford, Dent, Gasconade, Maries, Phelps, Pulaski and Washington counties. Water sources are particularly vulnerable to the effects of illegal dumping as hazardous materials can seep through the ground and contaminate water supplies. Besides being aesthetically unpleasing, illegal dumping lowers property values and poses an unsanitary risk to residents living near a dumpsite. Dumps in sink holes threaten underground aquifers that residents and municipalities use for drinking water. “When you dump in a sink hole, you are threatening the very water we all drink.” explained Snodgrass. “Sinks often times are directly connected to underground streams that supply our water. People travel great distances to enjoy our state and federal forests, and it is unfortunate that some choose to use these resources for their personal trash disposal.” MRPC and Ozark Rivers now has a surveillance camera to monitor dump sites in the region in hopes of securing evidence to prosecute illegal dumpers. MRPC also maintains a hotline to report illegal dumping 1-800-NO2-DUMP. For more information on the MRPC, ORSWMD or the illegal dump cleanup program, please contact Snodgrass or Tunyavanich at (573) 265-2993.
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