AREA A/B ENGINEERING REPORT - Waste Management

Geosyntec Consultants
The components (or systems) of the managed landfill, and their role in the landfill meeting its
required performance standards, are detailed in Section 3. Briefly, these components include the:
• Liner system, which provides underlying containment of wastes for protection of
groundwater;
• Leachate management system (LMS), which collects leachate (i.e., liquid that has passed
through or emerged from the solid waste and contains soluble or suspended materials
removed from the waste). The typical LMS has one or both of the following elements:
o Leachate collection and recovery system (LCRS), which provides containment and
protection of groundwater in addition to facilitating treatment and performance
monitoring;
o Leachate recirculation system (LRS), which reduces the quantity of leachate
requiring disposal by recycling it back into the landfill, which in turn provides for
enhanced (active) treatment (degradation) of the waste as described in Section
1.4.1.
• Gas management system (GMS), which collects the gas produced from the degradation of
waste by biological processes inside the landfill, thereby allowing for landfill
performance monitoring, gas destruction, and/or renewable energy production; and
• Final cover system, which provides containment, controls the rate of water entering the
landfill as a result of rainfall or snowmelt (thus facilitating treatment of the waste within
the landfill), provides stormwater management (SWM) and protection of surface water
quality, and can provide suitable wildlife habitat.
1.3 How is Environmental Performance Monitored?
The environmental performance of the key components of the modern, managed landfill are
evaluated routinely over time by means of systematic, inter-related programs measuring
compliance with regulatory standards and confirming proper functioning of the landfill
components. The environmental monitoring program (EMP) typically comprises some or all of the
following components:
• Groundwater monitoring;
• Surface water monitoring;
• Lateral (outside the landfill) gas (methane) migration monitoring in the shallow unsaturated
subsurface (known as the vadose zone);
• Head-on-liner monitoring (i.e., monitoring the amount of liquid build-up on the base liner
system);
• Leachate (liquids collected from the base liner system) quality monitoring;
MD10186.doc 19 29 March 2009