Cover systems

This international handbook will be updated regularly in order to meet our objective of including the most current scientific knowledge on a global basis. The plan is to also publish additional volumes to cover systems and... 

Alternative final cover systems, such as the innovative evapotranspiration (ET) cover systems, are increasingly being considered for use at waste disposal sites, including municipal solid waste (MSW) and hazardous waste landfills when equivalent performance to conventional final cover systems can be demonstrated. Unlike conventional cover system designs that use materials with low hydraulic permeability (barrier layers) to minimize the downward migration of water from the cover to the waste (percolation), ET cover systems use water balance components to minimize percolation. These cover systems rely on the properties of soil to store water until it is either transpired through vegetation or evaporated from the soil surface. 

Final cover systems are intended to remain in place and maintain their functions for an extended period of time. 

In addition, cover systems are also used in the remediation of hazardous waste sites. For example, cover systems may be applied to source areas contaminated at or near the ground surface or at abandoned dumps. In such cases, the cover system may be used alone or in conjunction with other technologies to contain the waste (e.g., slurry walls and groundwater pump and treat systems). 

The design of cover systems is site-specific and depends on the intended function of the final cover—components can range from a single-layer system to a complex multilayer system. To minimize percolation, conventional cover systems use low-permeability barrier layers. These barrier layers are often constructed of compacted clay, geomembranes, geosynthetic clay liners, or combinations of these materials. 

Depending on the material type and construction method, the saturated hydraulic conductivities for these barrier layers are typically between 1 x 10-5 and 1 x 10-9 cm/s. In addition, conventional cover systems generally include additional layers, such as surface layers to prevent erosion protection layers to minimize freeze/thaw damage internal drainage layers and gas collection layers.6 22... 

For hazardous waste landfills, RCRA Subtitle C provides certain performance criteria for final cover systems. While RCRA does not specify minimum design requirements, U.S. EPA has issued guidance for the minimum design of these final cover systems. Figure 25.1b shows an example of an RCRA Subtitle C cover at a hazardous waste landfill.30... 

FIGURE 25.1 Examples of final cover systems, (a) MSW landfill and (b) hazardous waste landfill.15... 

In addition to being called ET cover systems, these types of covers have also been referred to in the literature as water balance covers, alternative earthen final covers, vegetative landfill covers, soil-plant covers, and store-and-release covers. 

Monolithic covers, also referred to as monofill covers, use a single vegetated soil layer to retain water until it is either transpired through vegetation or evaporated from the soil surface. A conceptual design of a monolithic cover system is shown in Figure 25.2. 

Capillary barrier cover systems consist of a finer-grained soil layer (like that of a monolithic cover system) overlying a coarser-grained material layer, usually sand or gravel, as shown conceptually in Figure 25.3. The differences in the unsaturated hydraulic properties between the two layers minimize percolation into the coarser-grained (lower) layer under unsaturated conditions. 

The finer-grained layer of a capillary barrier cover system has the same function as the monolithic soil layer that is, it stores water until it is removed from the soil by evaporation or transpiration mechanisms. The coarser-grained layer forms a capillary break at the interface of the two layers, which allows the finer-grained layer to retain more water than a monolithic cover system of equal thickness. Capillary forces hold the water in the finer-grained layer until the soil near the interface approaches saturation. If saturation of the finer-grained layer occurs, the water will move relatively quickly into and through the coarser-grained layer and to the waste below. 

In addition to being potentially less costly to construct, ET covers have the potential to provide equal or superior performance compared to conventional cover systems, especially in arid and semiarid environments. In these environments, they may be less prone to deterioration from desiccation, cracking, and freezing/thawing cycles. ET covers also may be able to minimize side slope instability, because they do not contain geomembrane layers, which can cause slippage.5-42 43... 

Capillary barrier ET cover systems may also eliminate the need for a separate biointrusion and/ or gas collection layer. The coarser-grained layer can act as a biointrusion layer to resist root penetration and animal intrusion, due to its particle size and low water content. The coarser-grained layer can also act as a gas collection layer, because the soil properties and location within the cover system are comparable with a typical gas collection layer in a conventional cover system.3944... 

Further, landfill characteristics, such as production of landfill gases, may limit the use of ET covers. The cover system may not adequately control gas emissions since typical ET cover designs do not have impermeable layers to restrict gas movement. If gas collection is required at the site, it may be necessary to modify the design of the cover to capture and vent the gas generated in the landfill. In addition, landfill gas may limit the effectiveness of an ET cover, because the gases may be toxic to the vegetation.13 45... 

Limited data are available to describe the performance of ET cover systems in terms of minimizing percolation, as well as the covers ability to minimize erosion, resist biointrusion, and remain effective for an extended period of time. While the principles of ET covers and their corresponding soil properties have been understood for many years, their application as final cover systems for landfills has emerged only within the past 10 years. Limited performance data are available on which to base applicability or equivalency decisions.39,43 46... 

Numerical models are used to predict the performance and assist in the design of final cover systems. The availability of models used to conduct water balance analyses of ET cover systems is currently limited, and the results can be inconsistent. For example, models such as Hydrologic Evaluation of Landfill Performance (HELP) and Unsaturated Soil Water and Heat Flow (UNSAT-H) do not address all of the factors related to ET cover system performance. These models, for instance, do not consider percolation through preferential pathways may underestimate or overestimate percolation and have different levels of detail regarding weather, soil, and vegetation. In addition, HELP does not account for physical processes, such as matric potential, that generally govern unsaturated flow in ET covers.39 42 47... 

Finer-grained materials such as silts and clayey silts are typically used for monolithic ET cover systems and the top layer of a capillary barrier ET cover system because they contain finer particles and provide a greater storage capacity than sandy soils. Sandy soils are typically used for the bottom layer of the capillary barrier cover system to provide a contrast in unsaturated hydraulic properties between the two layers. Many ET covers are constructed of soils that include clay loam, silty loam, silty sand, clays, and sandy loam. 

Control layers, such as those used to minimize animal intrusion, promote drainage, and control and collect landfill gas, are often included for conventional cover systems and may also be incorporated into ET cover system designs. For example, a proposed monolithic ET cover at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico will have a biointrusion fence with 1/4-in. squares between the topsoil layer and the native soil layer to prevent animals from creating preferential pathways, potentially resulting in percolation. The biointrusion layer, however, will not inhibit root growth to allow for transpiration. At another site, Monticello Uranium Mill Tailings Site in Utah, a capillary barrier ET design has a 12-in. soil/rock admixture as an animal intrusion layer located 44 in. below the surface, directly above the capillary barrier layer. 

In more recent applications, several types of ET cover designs also have incorporated synthetic materials, such as geomembranes, which are used to enhance the function of minimizing water into the waste. For example, the Operating Industries Inc. Landfill in California has incorporated a soil layer with a geosynthetic clay liner in the design. The cover system for this site will reduce surface gas emissions, prevent oxygen intrusion and percolation, and provide for erosion control.68... 

Percolation monitoring can also be evaluated indirectly by using leachate collection and removal systems. For landfills underlain with these systems, the amount and composition of leachate generated can be used as an indicator of the performance of a cover system (the higher the percolation, the more leachate that will be generated).22... 

Although the ability to minimize percolation is a performance criterion for final cover systems, limited data are available about percolation performance for final cover systems for both conventional and alternative designs. Most of the recent data on flux rates have been generated by two federal research programs, the Alternative Landfill Cover Demonstration (ALCD)84 and the Alternative Cover Assessment Program (ACAP). From these programs, flux rate performance data are available for 14 sites with demonstration-scale ET cover systems.5,39,85... 

Maintaining the effectiveness of the cover system for an extended period of time is another important performance criterion for ET covers as well as conventional covers. Short- and long-term... 

Source U.S. EPA, Evapotranspiration Landfill Cover Systems Fact Sheet, EPA 542-F-03-015, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, September 2003. 

Limited cost data are available for the construction and operation and maintenance (O M) of ET cover systems. The available construction cost data indicate that these cover systems have the potential to be less expensive to construct than conventional cover systems. Factors affecting the cost of construction include availability of materials, ease of installation, and project scale. Locally available soils, which are usually less costly than imported clay soils, are typically used for ET cover systems. In addition, the use of local materials generally minimizes transportation costs.3945... 

While the construction cost for an ET cover is expected to be less than that for a conventional cover, uncertainty exists about the costs for O M after construction. Several factors affecting the O M cost include frequency and level of maintenance (e.g., irrigation and nutrient addition), and activities needed to address erosion and biointrusion. In addition, when comparing the costs for ET and conventional covers, it is important to consider the types of components for each cover and their intended function. For example, it would generally not be appropriate to compare the costs for a conventional cover with a gas collection layer to an ET cover with no such layer. Additional information about the costs for specific ET cover systems is provided in project profiles, discussed in Section 25.9. 

A searchable on-line database has been developed by U.S. EPA with information about ET cover systems.92 As of September 2003, the database contained 56 projects with monolithic ET cover systems and 21 projects with capillary barrier ET cover systems these systems have been proposed, tested, or installed at 64 sites located throughout the United States. Some sites have multiple projects, and some projects have multiple covers and/or cover types. 

Performance data Percolation is being measured with a lysimeter connected to flow monitoring systems, soil moisture is being measured with water content reflectometers, and soil matric potential and soil temperature are being monitored with heat dissipation units. From November 1999 to July 2002, the capillary barrier cover system had a cumulative percolation of 0.5 mm. Total precipitation was 837 mm over the 32-month period. Additional field data were collected through 2005. 

RCRA covers were constructed in 1995, and the ET covers were constructed in 1996. All of the covers are 43 ft wide by 328 ft long and were seeded with native vegetation. The purpose of the project is to use the performance data to help demonstrate equivalency and refine numerical models to more accurately predict cover system performance.39... 

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