There's a leak in the supposedly impenetrable cap at the old Ordot Dump. Officials now have to work to find out what the problem is, otherwise, they face millions of dollars more in final closure costs.

The leak was first mentioned by Guam Solid Waste Authority general manager Irv Slike at a budget hearing last month. He told senators that when a dump site is capped-off the leachate volume is supposed to go down over time. But officials have been monitoring the output at the Ordot Dump since 2016, and the volume has been going up.

As evidence, a report shows that when it rains, there's a corresponding increase in the amount of leachate. One suggestion is that it may be due to groundwater rising up. That's because there's no bottom liner at the dump, to install would have meant excavating decades worth of garbage.

But until the problem's fixed, an attorney for the USEPA says the dump closure should not be certified. She told the court, "we need to get a handle on what's happening out there."

And that's not all. The federal receiver now estimates the cost of the court-ordered 30-year monitoring of the dump should be almost double. "It's huge" said the receiver representative. From the initial estimate of $27 million dollars, to now $56 million. That's because the new projections factor in escalated costs over time, which the initial estimates did not.

For now though the court ordered the various local and federal stakeholders to get together and work out a mitigation plan.

And as GSWA chairman Andrew Gayle told us, "It's better to spend a little money now, to save a lot of money later."