THE QUALITY OF THE WATER, AIR AND SOIL OF DORAL WILL BE ANALYZED.

For a healthier environment!

 

The environmental task force of Doral is formed by volunteers that are in search of a cleaner and healthier environment for us.

 

Edda Pujadas

Para leer en Español

The City of Doral Council recently approved an agreement for professional services to conduct a study on the quality of the air, water, and soil.  The goal of this study is to determine the actions that need to take place to improve the conditions of our environment.

As informed by Maggie Santos, spokesperson for the City of Doral, this study will collect and analyze samples to quantify the sulfur and volatile organic compounds that are typically associated with the unpleasant odors around the waste and landfill sites.

Santos also commented that this study will also take measurements to determine the emissions that come from the soil and water bodies that surround the sanitary facilities. Once the studies are completed, these findings and the corresponding recommendations will be presented to the City of Doral which in turn then, can take the necessary corrective measures in the shortest period of time.

The request for this study of an environmental analysis comes from the requests by the authorities, residents, business people and workers of Doral about the bad odor and environmental problems. To them, the main concerns are the nasty odor and emission of gases that come from the Covanta Resources Recovery Plant and the landfill located in the City of Medley, both of them with more than 30 years of operation already.

The Covanta plant, located within the limits of the City of Doral, has as its principal and essential purpose to reduce solid waste which otherwise would end up in a landfill.  It processes an approximate of 4,200 tons of solid waste per day, with around 600 trucks dumping waste every day.

The Covanta plant receives 1.2 million tons of garbage per year, from all around Miami Dade County. This is treated through a combustion process that reduces it in 90% and turns it into ashes. They assure that the garbage is dumped hermetically and explain that this is achieved through an automated system of gates that open and allow the garbage truck to come in and it is not until the gates are hermetically closed again that the dumping process starts.

In the neighboring City of Medley, one of the three landfills that serve around 2,000 square miles and 2.6 million residents in Miami Dade County, is in operation. This receives on a daily basis more than 3 thousand tons of organic waste.  At the end of each day, all the waste material that came in is covered with a minimum of six feet of soil.

Logically, where there are landfills, there are gases that generate foul odors, mainly when it rains and depending on the direction of the wind, these are transported. For this reason, in this facility, they have installed systems which provide aromatic scents to alleviate this situation, and that is monitored all day long.

The emissions of these two facilities are controlled strictly by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and by the Miami Dade County Environmental Resources Management. The latter one also researches both, the landfill and the recovery facility.

“Even when the Medley landfill is outside the boundaries of our city, and the Covanta plant is an important designated facility for all Miami Dade County which is not under the authority of the City of Doral, we hold periodic meetings with their representatives to check on the complaints of bad odor, discuss procedures and to find new processes to minimize the odor,” states Maggie Santos.

 

ENVIRONMENTAL TASK FORCE

The concern about the environment was the reason for which an Environmental Task Force was created. This is formed by members of the community who are interested in a cleaner and healthier environment for all of us.  They offer their time as volunteers for this cause.

This group of volunteers in favor of the environment is being Chaired by Edward Russo, who is also joined by Leigh Marshallsay, Joe Jimenez, Michael Piazza, and Phillip Serrate. They hold public workshops and make the requests and researches that they consider appropriate, and when they get results, they inform the City Council over the problems that they identify and their possible solutions.

This environmental group works with staff from the City of Doral to get information on the analysis of the quality of the water from the Miami Dade County Environmental Resources Management (DERM), as well as from the groundwater monitoring system. “We are also working to coordinate a Question and Answer workshop with the representatives of the Miami Dade County Water and Sewer Department,” explains Maggie Santos.

Among the activities happening during November, that this group of environmental volunteers is conducting, we can highlight meetings with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Air Quality Protection area of the Regulatory and Economic Resources Division of Miami Dade County.

Maggie Santos states that the best way to provide our help to this environmental group is to participate as citizens, residents, and companies from the City of Doral, all of whom are invited to attend their meetings. The calendar for their meetings can be checked on the City of Doral webpage: www.cityofdoral.com

“The most important part, is that we are all part of the solution, for this reason, it is important to keep up reporting the bad odors by calling 311 or to the website: https://www.cityofdoral.com/311/  as this will help us identify the locations with environmental problems during this testing period, and we will be able to analyze the complaints in real time.”

“The most important part, is that we are all part of the solution, for this reason it is important to keep up reporting the bad odors by calling 311 or to the website: https://www.cityofdoral.com/311/as this will help us identify the locations with environmental problems during this testing period and we will be able to analyze the complaints in real time.”

 

One thought on “THE QUALITY OF THE WATER, AIR AND SOIL OF DORAL WILL BE ANALYZED.

  • Is doral water cleaner than boca raton? My friends fish died (RIP) when transferring from doral water to Boca water

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