Constructed Wetlands for the Treatment of Landfill Leachates

Constructed wetlands are proving to be the best natural treatment system for landfill leachates.Most of the contaminants in landfill leachates are degraded in treatment wetlands. Potential for long-term sustainability and significant cost savings are attractive features of this eco-technology.Documentation of the experience in this use of constructed wetlands has been limited. Constructed Wetlands for the Treatment of Landfill Leachates is the first compilation of the results of research from North America and Europe. Originally presented at an international symposium, this collection of papers offers the most recent research findings from the leading researchers in this new and innovative natural treatment system.Specific issues addressed in the text include:oleachate characteristics, and the potential for treatability by constructed wetlandsowetland treatment, processes and transformationouse of constructed wetlands in cold climatic conditionsoassessment of the tolerance of wetland plants to the toxicity of leachatesorole of plants in the treatments of leachatesointegrated wetland systemsoperformance of different wetland treatment systemsocost comparisons of wetland technology vs. traditional treatment technologiesThe potential for environmental contamination due to leachates from landfills is increasing, and there is an urgent need to find ways and means to treat leachates in a sustainable way Constructed Wetlands for the Treatment of Landfill Leachates will provide an invaluable source of information on the subject for scientists, engineers, practitioners, policy makers, and regulatory officials.

Price: $129.95

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Avoiding Failure of Leachate Collection and Cap Drainage Systems (Pollution Technology Review No. 138)

A guide to the control of leachate, including failure mechanisms, design, construction, inspection, maintenance and repair.

Price: $139.95

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Cranston tells Resource Recovery to pay its bills - Providence Journal

CRANSTON — The Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation has until Sept. 27 to settle a $2-million debt in back charges or the city will initiate legal action, members of the City Council’s public works committee said Thursday.

Council members say the owner and operator of the state Central Landfill in Johnston snubbed settlement attempts for months.

“They can’t continue to put their heads in the sand and act like we don’t exist,” Council President John E. Lanni Jr. said.

Friday, Michael J. OConnell, the corporation’s executive director, said Resource Recovery was actually waiting for city officials to contact them.

“Our predicament is that we have requested information from them, and we haven’t got anything back from them, which is why we can’t respond,” OConnell said.

On July 20, the city billed Resource Recovery for $2,096,598.31 in back charges, saying the corporation failed to treat its leachate or pay its share of expensive upgrades. The invoice includes $437,254.52 in operating and maintenance costs associated with the excess loading dating to 2005, and $1,659,343.78 for the corporation’s pro-rated share of the city’s costs of upgrading the plant based on a permit change that year. It does not include possible administrative costs.

City officials also say Resource Recovery allowed three businesses in its Johnston industrial park to illegally tie into Cranston’s sewer service. That violation carries penalties of $25,000 per day per business, city officials say.

City Solicitor Evan Kirshenbaum and Councilman Mario Aceto, the committee’s chairman, have said the city tried to negotiate a resolution for the past year, but agency officials stalled in scheduling another meeting. City officials later learned from a newspaper article that Resource Recovery was planning to build a sewer line to connect into a Narragansett Bay Commission sewage intake.

The Providence Journal filed an open records request on July 30 asking for copies of public documents, including the corporation’s annual budget, along with any supporting documentation and description of the corporation’s leachate pretreatment system or payment-in-lieu of pretreatment and any sewer agreement with the city to extend service to the corporation’s industrial park.

The deadline to respond was Sept. 14.

Friday, OConnell said the corporation’s lawyer was reviewing the documents to see which, if any, would be released “because this is a likely lawsuit in the near term.”

Also Thursday night, the council finance committee voted to unseal the minutes of several closed-door discussions on how much Johnson & Wales University is to pay the city in taxes for 12 lots, roughly 20 acres of waterfront land, on its Harborside Campus.

In 2005, the city rezoned the land and amended its Comprehensive Plan to allow the university to build 12 dormitories and a community building and management facility.

The campus, which includes 84 buildings on the Providence side, was built by a nonprofit agency, which leases the buildings to the university. That raised the question of whether the project was tax-exempt.

Rather than seek clarification, the university and the city reached a 20-year agreement that city officials say was never signed, under which the city was to get $95,000 annually for the first 10 years and $104,500 for the next 10 years.

The “memorandum of understanding” called for the city to collect most of that money from the state in the form of a payment in lieu of taxes and Johnson & Wales to cover any difference between the state compensation and the agreed-upon figure. If the property was later deemed to be taxable, the university agreed to pay the appropriate tax.

This year, Finance Director Robert F. Strom said, Cranston received $4.2 million in PILOT money from the state, which includes payment for the 12 university parcels and 20 state lots. Strom estimated the state’s payment for Johnson & Wales was $150,000 to $160,000.

The university land, Strom said, is currently assessed at $4.8 million, and the buildings at $21 million.

marmenta@projo.com

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Fulton continues to work on landfill violations - Fulton Sun

He said the city also has completed supplemental environmental performance projects, which he described as "essentially an additional penalty designed to improve the situation, including a methane capture system. Slivka also addressed a concern from Ready regarding what happens when the landfill closes in May 2011.

"We will have a financial assurance instrument in place," he said.

"Essentially saying 'Here's this money to fix violation issues if it happens."

Fulton Director of Administration Bill Johnson said the city actually has been subject to more inspections since announcing its intention to close the landfill.

"DNR has an interest in ensuring we close it properly," Johnson said.

Regarding odor issues, Slivka said the Department of Natural Resources has been out to test air quality on a number of occasions -- as recently as the week of Sept. 6 -- and never found a problem.

"On odor violations, our litmus test is 7 to 1 dissolution," Slivka said. "We've gone out there a number of times and it's never been higher than 2 to 1."

Johnson addressed the most recent violations for exposed litter.

"This is not an excuse, but we are approaching our closure date, and there was an attempt to spread trash thinner over a wider area to even out the land," Johnson said, noting that process also included having to haul in more dirt. "The idea sounded good to use the trash to fill in, but it just didn't work out the way we thought.

"We did it, it was wrong, and we won't be doing it anymore."

As for methane levels, he said one supplemental environmental performance project currently in the works involves putting in a 10,000 gallon tank to pump water that flows down into the methane collection wells out of the landfill.

"This will allow our methane extraction wells to function better," Johnson said. "Hopefully by drawing the methane down into the wells it will stop it from migrating."

Another just-completed project is a storm water sediment pond "that will give sediment in the storm water time to settle out before water leaves the site."

Although Slivka said he could not give a number regarding how much the city has been fined for these violations, he did say DNR recently sent an agreement in principal regarding settlement.

"We're certainly sympathetic to Mrs. Ready, but we feel like we have been out there and we have been on the city's back," Slivka said.

Johnson acknowledged the city has received that agreement, noting DNR is proposing a fine of $10,000 as well as an additional $5,403 to pay for investigative costs.

Johnson said he is scheduled to meet with Department of Natural Resources officials later this week, and noted the agreement in principle will be presented to the Fulton City Council at its Sept. 28 meeting.

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Dumping water into bay could be Mercury clean-up solution - UpperMichigansSource.com

CMS would filter the water to remove 90 percent of mercury, but some ask if that's enough

PETOSKEY, MI -- CMS Land Company believes they've found a local solution to the Leachate problem at Bay Harbor and East Park, but it's being met with some serious concern.

What to do with the contaminated water from the former Penn-Dixie Cement Plant near Petoskey?

That has been the question, and for four years, the water has been shipped to a deep-well injection site.

But CMS Land Company says something else needs to be done, and they believe they've found the solution.

But this solution could mean small quantities of Mercury being diluted into the Great Lakes.

For five years it has worked like this...collect the run-off water that contains mercury from the contaminated land underneath Bay Harbor and East Park, neutralize it in this building, and then ship the result, an average of 150-thousand gallons per day, to a deep-injection well-site more than 50 miles away to Johannesburg.  C-M-S Land Company has been in charge, and now, they say it's their belief they've found a better *local solution to take care of the local problem.

"We're proposing to build a $4 million state-of-the-art facility to treat the water that we collect here using the best available technology and then release that water back to Lake Michigan," said CMS Land Company Area Manager Tim Petrosky.

The main contaminant of concern is Mercury.  The facility will remove 90 percent or more from the water.  That water would then be mixed with clean water to meet environmental criteria before going back in the lake.

"The requirements are very, very stringent, in fact, the release criteria for mercury to the lake is 1.3 parts per trillion," said Petrosky.

Here's an analogy of the parts per trillion guideline.  It'd be like placing one drop of contaminated liquid in all of the water of 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools combined.

But Doctor Grenetta Thomassey of the Tip of the Mitt Watershed Council says this amount *may seem benign...it could be detrimental, which is why the council doesn't support this solution.

“You mix it with water, and let it go into Little Traverse Bay, and then you come back and you mix it with water, and let it go into Little Traverse Bay, and basically what you got is that exact same amount of mercury all ending up in Little Traverse Bay, so we're not in favor of that, no," said Thomassey.

CMS has submitted an application to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment. 

“We look really carefully at mercury because it is one of the few contaminants that is known as a bio-cumulative compound, meaning that it builds up in the environment over a period of time, so we look at that very carefully," said Bob Wagner, the Lake Huron Regional Director of the DNRE.

“We think it's the best solution to environmental, safety, and economic perspective," said Petrosky.

“This is a bad deal.  So we are not interested in anything going into Little Traverse Bay if it can be prevented," said Thomassee.

The DNRE will review the application and if the proposed treatment meets the guidelines, they'll issue a draft permit sometime in October or November.  After that, they'll seek public comment.

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Damu inspects waste plant work at Sonsoddo - Times of India

MARGAO: Fatorda MLA Damodar Naik accompanied by the chief officer of the Margao Municipal Council (MMC) inspected the Sonsoddo site on Tuesday morning to take stock of the status of the work of the garbage treatment plant carried out by Fomento-IL&FS.

Chief executive officer of Fomento, Sridhar Kamat, was also present on the occasion.

The BJP legislator voiced his displeasure over the failure of Fomento to put in place any adequate measures to control flow of leachate from the site onto the roads. The explanation offered by Kamat that the heavy rains impeded the leachate control work at the site failed to convince Naik who demanded that the situation be brought under control within two days.

Later speaking to reporters, Naik said that he had received several complaints from the residents of the area about leachate from Sonsoddo flowing onto the streets since the last several days. "It's over seven months that the site was handed over to Fomento by the MMC and it is yet to control leachate flow.

The situation is leading to contamination of wells in the vicinity and will turn out to be a health hazard if the leachate flow is not brought under control immediately," Naik said.

MMC councillors Narayan Fondekar, Raju Shirodkar, Ciriaca Rodrigues, municipal engineer Surendra Naik and sanitary inspector Viraj Arabekar were present for the inspection.

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Landfills pose a health risk - Malaysia Star

MOST people object to having a landfill near their houses. We generate rubbish but once it enters the dustbins or recycling bin, we want nothing more to do with it.

The main reason is fear of possible health problems arising from contact with pollutants escaping from waste management sites, but the problem is set to grow over the next decade due to our throwaway lifestyle.

Each year, we produce more than nine million tons of household waste, but only recycle 3% of it. There is no positive sign that waste generation is decreasing. As a result, a large number of former mines and quarries have been lined with water-proof material and filled with rubbish. As suburbia spreads and brown field sites are developed, more Malaysian families than ever before are living close to landfill sites.

In landfill sites, bacteria break down food and other organic materials, producing potentially pollution liquids and gases such as ammonia, acids and heavy metals, mixed into a nasty cocktail called leachate.

All these contaminants are cause for concern if they end up in natural

water-courser and drinking water supplies. Many such cases have been recorded lately in Malaysia.

Leachate can destroy the well balanced eco-system and is very harmful to human. It is clear that poorly managed landfill will lead to serious environmental problem such as the recent incidence of raw water pollution caused by leachate seepage from a landfill.

Hence, leachate management becomes an important issue in deciding which strategy to apply in any planning process involving the closure of dumps and siting and development of landfills. The main objective of any leachate management will be to ensure that landfill waste does not impose any unacceptable short term or long term risks to the environment or to public health.

ETHAYA RAJAN MOKANATAS,

Kuala Lumpur.

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Largest Membrane Leachate Plant Handover - Water and Wastewater

Enschede, The Netherlands -- Two years ago, ISTAÇ (Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Environmental Protection and Waste Materials Valuation Industry) and Norit X-Flow embarked on one of the most remarkable wastewater treatment projects of its time; the treatment of leachate from the Istanbul landfill in Odayeri and Kömürcüoda. The installation became the largest membrane leachate plant in the world and involves the most advanced water treatment technology available.

The ISTAÇ Leachate Treatment project represents one of the most challenging filtration projects globally, based upon its size, environmental conditions , and continuous growth rates. The solution had to be robust, future proof and deliver consistently the highest effluent quality levels to ensure the environmental integrity of the region. says Jürgen von Hollen, Managing Director of Norit X-Flow.

After approximately two years of operation and treating up to 3500 m3 of landfill water percolate on a daily basis the conclusion is that the plant meets its specifications and contractual requirements for discharge of the treated effluent. ISTAÇ and Norit X-Flow celebrated the official handover and the successful partnership on August 17, 2010.

Water percolating through landfills for solid waste results in leachate, which may contain undesirable or toxic chemicals. The ISTAÇ landfill is constructed to prevent leachate contamination of groundwater or surface waters. The landfill percolate containing high amounts of COD, BOD, TSS and Nitrogen is collected and treated by Norit's membrane bioreactor (MBR) technology which makes it possible to discharge this water directly into the Black Sea, a process that is in line with both current and future drainage standards.

Beside its state of the art MBR technology, the wastewater treatment plants in Istanbul uses a combination of two advanced Norit X-Flow technologies: a biological process applied in conjunction with ultrafiltration followed by nanofiltration.

The collected leachate is first subjected to primary clarification and afterwards transferred to a bioreactor unit for biological treatment. In the bioreactor COD, BOD and Nitrogen compounds are eliminated. Subsequently the Norit X-Flow Crossflow membrane system, placed outside of the bioreactor, separates sludge, solid waste on suspension and some amount of COD. Lastly, the Norit NF installation eliminates the remaining COD, organic micro polluters, heavy metals and other compounds (humic acids, color) to a water quality conform current and future discharge standards.

Mr. Akguel, Managing Director of ISTAÇ adds ?The success of the project beyond the technological solution can be attributed to the project partnership approach adopted by both ISTAÇ and Norit X-Flow both at the operational level, but equally important at the management level to ensure that full commitment and prioritization was given to this project. Our continuous partnership will ensure that this installation is the benchmark for landfill leachate plants for years to come.?

Source: http://www.x-flow.com/

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Leachate from disused site costs ratepayers New Zealand - Northern Advocate

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A Hakaru resident is angry that leachate from a disused landfill is costing Kaipara ratepayers thousands of dollars a year to have it collected and transported from the site.

Derek Mason said the leachate volumes have doubled since the site ceased operating as a landfill and blames poor construction advice, which included no sidewall liners, as a reason for the ongoing problems.

Mr Mason said the Hakaru landfill site, between Mangawhai and Kaiwaka, has been controversial since it was opened in 1995 and was not wanted by the community who had always preferred a transfer station.

The landfill served the Kaiwaka, Mangawhai and Maungaturoto area east of Doctors Hill Rd. Mr Mason said the Kaipara District Council estimated refuse volumes to the landfill of 20,000cu m yearly made a transfer station an unviable option but these volumes had not eventuated.

The council walked away from a proposed site at Franklin Rd, Paparoa, after it realised it was going to be too costly, he said.

Mr Mason, who is a member of the Hakaru Landfill Committee, claimed it cost ratepayers $127,000 per annum to have the leachate carted off site, which was "wasteful spending".

The total volume of refuse collected over the 10 years the site had operated was only 25,000cu m, he said.

"The whole operation has been flawed from the beginning," Mr Mason said.

He estimated the landfill had cost ratepayers $2 million to subsidise its operation.

The committee's view was that the quarry face, where the landfill is sited, would have to be dug out to reduce leachate.

Mr Mason said this would remove about 25 per cent of the compacted landfill. Rather than a costly onsite treatment system, it would be more cost effective to dig out the entire landfill.

Submissions on the matter were heard during the 2010-11 annual plan process.

Council spokeswoman Claire Lichtwark-McInnes said the council agreed there was a problem with the Hakaru landfill and the ongoing costs to remove leachate. In 2007, the council had opted to close the landfill and operate a transfer station at the site.

Mrs Lichtwark-McInnes said the leachate removal did come at a cost to the whole district and was funded from the general rate. Closed landfills throughout the district all had ongoing costs which were covered district-wide, she said. At edition time, she was unable to confirm the costs.

A report to council on the landfill said "the submitters' concerns were valid and the matter needed to be addressed".

Mrs Lichtwark-McInnes said the council had agreed to allocate $25,000 to look at options for the future management of the Hakaru landfill.

Investigations would be completed this year. Options include the removal of all waste, identifying the waste sources to the landfill, drainage of the base around the walls and the building of an onsite leachate treatment system.

The committee regards the treatment system too expensive and considers the removal of all compacted refuse the best option.

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