Leachate removal systems

FIGURE 26.26 Leachate removal system with a low-volume sump. (Adapted from U.S. EPA, Requirements for Hazardous Waste Landfill Design, Construction, and Closure, EPA/625/4-89/022, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH, August 1989.)... 

Reduce Head on Liner and/or in Leachate Collection System Inspect Leachate Collection/Removal System or French Drain Repair Leachate Collection/Removal System or French Drain Temporary Cap... 

The use of a drain system permits the quick construction of a collection/removal system which also serves as a barrier for leachate from large, shallow sites. At the Sylvester hazardous waste site in Nashua, New Hampshire, a groundwater interception and recirculation system was installed as a method to retard further spread of the leachate plume until a remedial cleanup action could be implemented. The system was operated for 1 year until a containment wall and cap were constructed over the 20-acre site (McAneny, 1985). 

Case 2 - The Hyde Park Landfill site, located in an industrial complex in the extreme northwest corner of Niagara, New York, was used from 1953 to 1975 as a disposal site for an estimated 80,000 tons of chemical waste, including chlorinated hydrocarbons. A compacted clay cover was installed in 1978 over the landfill and a tile leachate collection system was installed in 1979. Hazardous compounds such as ortho-, meta- and para-chlorobenzoic acid toluene ortho- and meta-chlorotoluene 3,4-dichlorotoluene and 2,6-dichlorotoluene were detected in the leachate (Irvine et al., 1984). Since 1979, the existing leachate treatment system has used activated carbon as the technology for removing organic carbon. Although... 

National capacity variance When developing a treatment standard, U.S. EPA examines the available treatment capacity to determine whether it is sufficient to handle current and future waste management needs. If U.S. EPA determines that nationally there is not enough capacity to treat a waste, it can automatically extend the effective date of the waste s treatment standard. Such an extension to the effective date is intended to give the waste treatment industry more time to develop the capacity to handle the waste. Wastes under a national capacity variance can be disposed of, without meeting the treatment standards, in landfills and surface impoundments that meet minimum technical requirements (e.g., liners, leachate collection and removal systems, and leak detection systems). 

The site conditions for an on-site landfill, such as location, geology, hydrogeology, physiography, climate, and so on, should also be suitable. Landfill should meet the minimum technology requirements and regulations for hazardous waste landfills such as double liners and leachate collection and removal systems, leak detection systems, closure procedures and final cover, and construction quality assurance.59... 

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... 

Finally, if high-level waste is considered to be hazardous waste under RCRA, requirements on construction, operation, and closure of a disposal facility, including the provision of a liner system, leachate collection and removal system, and leak detection system (see Section 4.2.2), would need to be addressed. Such requirements are impractical at a geologic repository for disposal of high-level waste... 

Primary leachate ri , collection and removal system Secondary l... 

Environmental regulations dictate that landfills and surface impoundments for the disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous waste have liners (base, side-slope, and cover liners) and a leachate (contaminated water that emanates from a disposal site) collection and removal system in order to protect air, water, and land resources. Base and side-slopes of containments are lined with compacted clay or geomembrane (commonly HDPE) or both. Cover liners generally incorporate a foundation material overlain by a clay and/or geomembrane (commonly VLDPE which is more flexible than HDPE) liner. Geosynthetic clay liners may be used in place of clay. The leachate collection and removal system is... 

The landfill must have a double liner system that can prevent any migration of wastes out of the landfill to the adjacent soil, groundwater, or surface water. The liner system must include a leachate collection and removal system between the two liners. 

Operators must monitor and inspect the landfill during operation to ensure, for example, that the leachate collection and removal system operates correctly. 

Modern landfill facilities, waste lagoons, and leachate ponds use geotextiles in their key designed systems to contain wastes within the facility. The main designed systems are groundwater and gas collection systems underneath the base liner system, typically consisting of a leak detection system and a leachate collection and removal system, and within the final cover system to collect gas and water below and above the barrier system, respectively. 

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