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IV. Impact Overview of potential waste contaminants(e.g.,discarded household cleansers and solvents)than might find their way into landfill leachate water would remain in place for the foreseeable future. Over the long term,however,many of these common contaminants would also undergo chemical and biochemical decomposition. Providing a lined state of the art facility with a leachate collection and recovery system,monitoring of landfill leachate water,and implementation of post-closure maintenance procedures would reduce the long-term adverse impacts of landfill storage of solid waste to the extent reasonable and feasible given current practices and regulations. G. IRREVERSIBLE ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES Expansion of Austin Road Landfill would cause irreversible environmental changes typical of municipal landfills. The most noticeable change would be permanent modification of landscape and topography,as evidenced by irreversible changes in site land surface contours,drainage contours,and elevation. Visible appearance of the landfill would be permanently altered by emplacement of waste. The increase in elevation would be apparent even after mitigation activities were completed, and would be viewable from several points off site,especially along Austin Road. Similarly,expansion of the landfill over an additional 218.5 acres would irreversibly affect the composition of shallow subsurface materials at the site. (This is not properly an environmental impact,but rather a change of site characteristics due to the presence of foreign materials.) Emplacement of waste at the expanded landfill would make physical and chemical properties of the resulting subsurface different from surrounding soils. This effect would persist over the long term; the solid waste layers would remain distinguishable from surrounding soils,even after decomposition. Although the land use designation for the property is agricultural,it is generally true that landfill development precludes agricultural use. Expansion of Austin Road Landfill over the additional 218.5 acres would irreversibly preempt potential agricultural use on a long-term basis. Although revegetation and landscaping would return surface appearance of the landfill as closely as possible to natural conditions,future agricultural uses or grazing would not be feasible at the site. Given the amount of prime agricultural land that remains in the County,this impact is not significant. Removal of existing native plant and animal habitat would be irreversible. Finally,landfall leachate water quality could degrade over time,requiring water quality monitoring and implementation of the leachate control system as planned. Although this impact IV.4•