It’s been closed for years, but the city still has to maintain and monitor the Glen Lily Road landfill.

Most recently, the city applied to renew its permit to discharge stormwater runoff into an unnamed tributary of Westbrook Creek. The public has a chance to comment on the permit application until Jan. 19.

The city samples runoff from the landfill once a month, looking for things such as chlorides, and tests quarterly for metals such as cadmium, copper and chromium.

“We’ve never had anything at all show up,” said Matt Powell, environmental manager for the city. “Actually, there really isn’t much runoff at all from the city because the grass cover soaks it up.”

The city closed the landfill in 1981 but has to continue its monitoring.

“The responsibilities never go away,” Powell said.

The 30-acre landfill operated on a 270-acre site from 1973 until its closure in 1981. Initially, the landfill had a clay cap, but changes in federal regulations meant the city was out of compliance at this landfill and two other sites it owned.

“I think the problem there was some kind of solvents,” Powell said.

A 1989 agreed order forced improvements at the landfills that were paid for with surcharges on garbage collection bills.

It meant installing an expensive system to collect the garbage juice generated during decomposition and putting in multiple monitoring wells. The clay cap was replaced with a thick plastic membrane.

Powell said new improvements, which were paid for with the help of the Historic Landfill Program, were made to the landfill in the 2010-11 season. The improvements allowed the city to take out the monitoring wells.

Additional thick plastic liner was added and two feet of soil went on top, which was planted in grass.

“You would never know it’s not a cow pasture, looking at it,” he said.

Powell said the permit and testing it requires is needed just to make sure that nothing harmful is running off.

“This permit gets renewed every five years,” he said. “So this is a standard thing for us.”

Taking care of the paperwork and monitoring the landfill is not nearly as onerous as it was before the most recent improvements.

“It probably takes us about two man days a month,” he said.

— To see the permit, visit dep.gateway.ky.gov/eSearch/search_ai_detail.aspx?AgencyID=4110. Comments may be filed at OWPublicNotice@ky.gov or by sending written comments to Division of Water, Surface Water Permits Branch, 200 Fair Oaks Lane, Frankfort, KY 40601.

— Follow business editor Robyn L. Minor on Twitter at twitter.com/bowserminor or visit bgdailynews.com.