Arsenic law gets stricter

Sarno Road landfill faces changes in requirements for wood disposal

By Jim Waymer
Florida Today

MELBOURNE, Fla. - Dust puffs up like flour from Sarno landfill as trucks dump arsenic-laden boards from old docks, decks and fences.

As the wood decays, the poisonous and cancer-causing chemical element seeps into the groundwater because only sand and clay separates the dump from the Floridan aquifer.

A stricter federal limit on arsenic in drinking water -- in effect this month -- should guard against future cancer risk, experts say, as should a proposed state rule banning arsenic-treated wood at unlined landfills, such as the one in Melbourne.
Read more