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Because the steam or electricity cycle proposed is a closed system, 95 percent of the demand is recycled through a condenser. Five percent is lost through boiler blowdown and evaporation. This five percent makeup water is a draw on neighboring surface and/or ground water reserves . Ash Disposal Solid waste, intrinsically, has an ash content; that is, some of the waste is noncombustible. Even the waste that will burn will not combust completely. Paper, for example, is about 8 percent ash. During burning, part of the ash component of refuse rises with the hot gases of combustion (fly ash) and part falls to the bottom of the combustion chamber (bottom ash) . The completeness of combustion, and hence the amount of ash, is also a function of the type and efficiency of the combustion process. Refuse combustion concentrates many of the heavy metal components of solid waste that can degrade around water. Because of this, the California Water Quality Control Board presently classifies ash as a Group I hazardous waste permitting disposal in Class I sites and in appropriate Class II-1 sites . Cadmium, chromium, lead, manganese, silver, tin and zinc apparently come from the noncombustible components of refuse as well as from the combustibles. The removal of the non-combustible components of mixed municipal refuse by some preprocessing operation prior to use of the remainder for fuel will reduce concentrations of these seven metals in the resulting boiler ash. Also, concentrations of antimony, cobalt, mercury, nickel and possibly other metals may be reduced by separating the combustibles from the noncombustibles prior to burning. Ash generated will be water sprayed or quenched prior to transport to minimize dust generation during loading and unloading operations . III INSIGNIFICANT OPERATIONAL IMPACTS With proper design and facility operation, the following are ex- pected to cause only a minor or insignificant impact on the sur- rounding environment: • Dust • Combustion engine emissions Wastewater • Noise Aesthetics Explosions Odors Traffic congestion Litter 38 -