IAGI Award Winner: CLI's Floating Leachate Cover - geosynthetica.net (press release)

For the Olympic View Sanitary Landfill in Port Orchard, Washington, Colorado Lining International (CLI) fabricated and installed a defined sump floating cover system that included gas venting. The purpose of the cover installation was to prevent the mixing of rain water and leachate in the landfill collection ponds.

The geomembrane material chosen for this particular cover was XR-5 (from Seaman Corporation). It was selected in part for its excellent chemical resistance. Also, as a flexible membrane it could be pre-fabricated by CLI's team in its Colorado fabrication plant. Pre-fabrication greatly reduces the need for on-site welding of geomembrane panels, so the site installation work can be carried out more quickly and economically.

In addition to the fabrication and installation of the floating cover, the project required the removal of old aerators, design of new bubbler system, construction of a concrete beam, redo of the system's electrical panel, installation of 3,000 feet of drain pipe, and fence removal and replacement. As a design/build project, all of this work had to occur without draining the collection pond.

Extraordinary coordination among the project team and CLI's experts helped complete the cover and affiliated activities within the client's budget and without disturbing the collection pond, which remained in service throughout the process.

Now in its third full year of operation since the installation work, a savings of $175,000 to $200,000 per year has been calculated for treatment and transportation costs (based on yearly rainfall).

This project was recognized by the International Association of Geosynthetic Installers (IAGI) during the association's installation awards of excellence ceremony, which took place during the Geo-Frontiers 2011 conference in Dallas.

Waste Management

View the original article here