High water levels hinder leachate pipeline construction project in Caribou area

CARIBOU, Maine — High water levels of the Little Madawaska River have hindered two pipeline construction projects, both literally a stone’s throw from completion.
Standing on the bank off Grimes Mill Road on Sept. 9, Mark Draper watched as water rushed downstream at 917 cubic feet per second — more than 800 cubic feet per second higher than normal based on a U.S. Geological Survey average for the last three years.
“Last year at this time you could walk across this river and not get your feet wet,” said Draper, solid waste director of the Tri-Community Landfill.
Tri-Community Landfill is 175 feet from completing a 2.3-mile pipeline project to connect the landfill to the Caribou Utilities District, where the landfill’s leachate — water that has come into contact with garbage — will be treated.
Until the pipeline is completed, Tri-Community employees will continue hauling the leachate to the CUD one 6,300-gallon truckload at a time.
As Draper explained, CUD didn’t have the capacity to accept Tri-Community’s leachate when the landfill was first built, and there wasn’t a feasible way to pipe the leachate to Fort Fairfield for treatment.
Now that Caribou has the capacity for the leachate, the pipeline will save Tri-Community employees roughly 1,000 trips a year hauling approximately 6 million gallons of leachate.
But nature seemed to have other plans for the project as record-setting precipitation this summer has caused the Little Madawaska River to swell and rage along. Workers with Soderberg Construction considered building a cofferdam to push river water to one side in order to lay two 6-inch pipes across the riverbed — one pipe for daily operations and the other as a backup. But the high, rushing water dampened that plan.
Instead, officials with Tri-Community and Soderberg opted to go with directional drilling under the river — essentially drilling down from one bank, under the river, and over to the opposite bank.
Subcontractors with Enterprise Trenchless Technologies Inc. of Lisbon Falls were on-site Tuesday afternoon for the directional drilling under the river, which will allow the two ends of the pipeline finally to meet after a season of opposing each other from the banks of the Little Madawaska. The project is likely to be completed this week.
Expediting the weather-delayed project by drilling and essentially bypassing the river will cost an estimated $18,000. That cost will be split between the contractor and Tri-Community. The total projected cost of the leachate pipeline project is approximately $1.7 million, which includes engineering, easements for right of way, environmental permits and construction.
What Draper found most frustrating was that the rain not only delayed the project but also added to the amount of leachate that needed to be treated.
But Tri-Community Landfill isn’t the only entity that has been trying in vain to cross the Little Madawaska River this summer; just downstream, the Greater Limestone Water and Sewer District also is just shy of completing a pipeline project. That district is trying to connect to an existing Caribou Utilities District pipeline so its treated waste can reach the Aroostook River.
Limestone Water and Sewer Director Jim Leighton explained that directional drilling isn’t an option for that project because the pipe the district plans to run under the river has a diameter of 21 inches.
Like the Tri-Community project, efforts to build a cofferdam earlier this summer were a wash.
“So now we’re doing the waiting game,” Leighton said.
Since Sept. 6 and 7, when the river was rushing at more than 2,500 cubic feet per second — bearing in mind a gallon of water weighs just more than 8 pounds — the water level has been dropping steadily. At the beginning of this week, the river was “down” to 374 cubic feet per second. Waiting out the weather isn’t a problem for LWSC, as a few weeks’ delay won’t change the project’s cost.
Leighton is confident that the project will find a window this fall.
“This [pipeline under the river] will connect us to the Aroostook River, then it’s just a matter of turning a couple of valves and we’ll be able to start utilizing the pipeline,” Leighton said.
Leighton also pre-emptively clarified that while the Greater Limestone Water and Sewer District is connecting its pipeline with that of the Caribou Utilities District in order to reach the Aroostook River, all of Limestone’s wastewater still will be treated in Limestone — it’s not being transported to Caribou. Rather, LWSD is using the same diffuser pipe as CUD to discharge into the Aroostook River.
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Managing the legacy of landfill - Waste Management World

Eastern Daily Press - September 24, 2011

The vast mountains of decaying rubbish buried beneath Norfolk's landscape may be hidden from view - but their potential environmental consequences are not so easily masked. Waste dumped by generations of families and businesses is still decomposing, oozing toxic chemicals and greenhouse gases which could threaten their natural surroundings.

But the challenge of managing our landfill legacy is being met through an innovative engineering effort, while policy-makers continue battling to find more sustainable ways to dispose of the refuse left by a growing population.

Norfolk County Council is responsible for more than 150 closed landfills, of which six are the larger "permitted" sites which were still operating by the time new environmental regulations came into force in the 1990s. Teams of technicians work to a double remit: to monitor and minimise the ecological impact of gas and leachate generated by so much buried waste, and to find ways to maximise income from its useful by-product - methane.

Turning the greenhouse gas into energy at four sites is currently worth about £280,000 per year to the county council, 22pc of the total costs for managing the authority's closed landfills.

Meanwhile, water percolates through rotting rubbish, collecting chemical contaminants as it goes, and the resulting leachate must be routinely monitored, abstracted and sent away for treatment. In all, keeping permitted sites in compliance with environmental regulations costs taxpayers about £1.4m per year.

Bill Borrett, Norfolk's cabinet member for environment and waste, said: "I think people have got to understand more about landfill, because once you understand the amount it costs, the environmental hazards and the amount of space it takes up, people become more aware of the legacy of their waste and the importance of recycling.

"It is not simply put into a hole and forgotten about - there is years of work in maintaining the land after that." The site at Mayton Wood, near Coltishall, accepted 1.5m tonnes of commercial, industrial and household waste between 1971 and 2003. The waste is grouped into huge domed "cells" contained by a liner and capping system.

The base of the landfill consists of a clay base, followed by a waterproof plastic membrane which is protected by a shingle or sand drainage layer above it. At the top, a similar set of layers encase the waste - along with the gas and liquids - in an impermeable bowl, with the angled sides draining any leachate to a collection sump at the bottom. Meanwhile, rainwater is prevented from getting into the landfill, and is instead channelled to the perimeter across the domed surface.

Hydrogeologist Tim Wilkins regularly samples, monitors and controls leachate levels with the help of a computerised system of wells and pumps. "Leachate is what you get when water percolates through the waste and picks up contaminants," he said. "Some of it comes out looking like coffee and smells quite nasty. The main constituent is ammoniacal nitrogen, and it can be quite toxic to the aquatic environment.

"We have got 11 wells on this site and each has a pump and a level sensor which sense the level of the liquid. The pumps are operated automatically when the leachate reaches a level of one metre above the base layer. "All the permitted sites are now within compliance, but when we took them over (in 2008) they generally had 14-15 metres of leachate. They were all saturated, which meant there was more chance of the leachate escaping."

About 70 gas wells are also sunk into the Mayton Wood waste to harness landfill emissions which are typically 45pc methane, 25pc carbon dioxide and the remainder mostly nitrogen. The gas is drawn into perforated pipes which reach 10 to 16m underground to the base of the cell, and are connected through a network of sealed pipes above ground to a powerful fan at the on-site energy plant. The generator draws in 450 cubic metres of gas per hour and converts it to electricity which is sold on to the National Grid, with the profits shared by the council and the private plant operator.

Des Holmes, the council's landfill gas project officer, said: "We're talking about the equivalent of 45 double-decker buses full of gas
being sucked out of the ground every hour. The whole site is under negative suction. "The machinery is basically like a large diesel engine that has been converted to run on landfill gas.

It produces 600kW/h, enough for 500 homes, and it is constant. The only time it stops is when it breaks down, but it can keep going at that rate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. "The gas will diminish over the years, but I reckon we have got about 15 years until it stops becoming economic to produce electricity here." Gas production at closed landfills is estimated to reduce by 10pc each year as the waste degrades, prompting efforts to find more innovative ways of squeezing every last pound out of the resource. The council's strategic waste manager Paul Borrett said there was a "fine balance" between preventing rainwater seeping into the site, and keeping the waste damp enough to maintain chemical reactions.

"The amount of rain water that collects on the site is more than we can cope with, but we want the waste to stay wet so it continues to produce gas," he said. "In trying to reduce the 'tail' of the gas production, we are looking into recycling some of the leachate we have collected back through the waste. Once it gets saturated or if it dried up, we have got no gas production and no income - so it is a fine balance." The generating plant at Mayton Wood also contains a gas flare, to safely burn off any potentially dangerous pressure build-ups of methane, which is estimated to be 21 times more dangerous as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

Work on the landfill is continuous as the waste compacts, changing the shape of the cap and the effectiveness of the wells. But Paul Borrett said although it could take several decades for landfills to settle, there were plenty of examples of where they had been replanted as woodland, public amenities or even a pitch and putt course.

"A lot of people's view of landfill is a big pit where people throw rubbish away - an eyesore," he said. "But we have moved on from that. We manage our landfills here in Norfolk and you can absolutely get to the point where they can be turned into something that's more useable - but we do have ongoing respon-sibilities and liabilities."

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Sunny Farms to continue handling leachate - Tiffin Advertiser Tribune

FOSTORIA - Council took a step in helping the environment by having a first reading on a resolution dealing with landfill leachate.

Council heard Sunny Farms landfill creates "leachate", a liquid which flows through or drains from a landfill, but needed a place to continue having it treated instead of releasing it to the environment.

It was noted the city has been able to accept the landfill leachate for treatment in return for having the landfill accept the city's treated sewage sludge.

The resolution is to authorize safety-service Director James Schreck to accomplish a formal agreement to continue with the treatment process.

Mayor John Davoli noted the importance of removing items which could hold water and become a breeding ground for mosquitoes. He said the risk of having mosquitoes hatch in catch basins has been countered with a chemical that slowly releases to keep mosquito larvae from hatching. The city also is spraying for mosquitoes at night.

Police Chief John McGuire announced the receipt of a $3,900 grant from Ohio Department of Youth Services for holding youth offenders at the city jail. He said the youths must be monitored and kept away from adult prisoners.

In other news, council:

Approved a resolution authorizing the mayor to submit an application to Ohio Public Works Commission State Capital Improvement and Local Improvement Programs for funding to replace a water line on Spruce Street.

Approved an ordinance to supplement permanent appropriations to replace police equipment damaged due to sewer back up.

Heard a second reading on an ordinance amendment which is to deal with parking and storage of commercial residential refuse vehicles.

Heard a request for executive session to occur at the next council meeting for discussion of personnel.

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Ultrafiltration and Reverse Osmosis for Landfill Leachate Treatment - Environmental Expert

Lanchester Landfill serves Eastern Lancaster County and Western Chester County in PA for disposal of household and construction waste. The facility produces around 10,000 gals per day of  leachate.

The Problem

The facility ran a single basin sequential batch reactor (SBR) and a filter press to dewater the solids for many years, but found that they first, could not sustain a good biomass, and second, in winter could not nitrify the ammonia. The facility therefore could not reliably sustain the average monthly discharge requirements:

Evaluation

The purpose of the new system is was meet the discharge requirements consistently. Ultrafiltration and Reverse Osmosis technology was selected since this offers the best performance possible in the smallest footprint with a low capital cost.
The Solution

The existing SBR basin was converted to an equalization basin, and Dynatec provided and installed a prefilter to remove larger solids, an ultrafiltration system to remove fine colloidal solids and oils, a reverse osmosis system to remove TDS, and ammonia and the other dissolved components of concern.

Several tanks already in place were utilized as process and buffer tanks between the various treatment stages.

Final ph control and chlorination was also provided.

The Process

The leachate is equalized in an equalization basin. A filter removes large solids before it enters the UF process.The leachate is processed with ultrafiltration to remove particles and oils.The UF permeate is processed with Reverse Osmosis to remove dissolved materials.

Operation

The system has operated successfully for over five years, allowing the plant to meet its discharge permit on all parameters. The influent and effluent data are provided below.

Conclusion

Dynatec Systems has built on its water treatment experience that began in the 1970's using membranes with rugged industrial reliability to produce UF and RO systems wrapped in a compact package. This made Dynatec the right choice for this project. The successful implementation of this system allows this landfill to continue to discharge to the local POTW and for use for dust control on the facility’s roads.

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Bantar Gebang TPST Leachate Not The Cause Of Pollution - BeritaJakarta.com

BERITAJAKARTA.COM — 10/10/2011 8:37:31 PM Jakarta Provincial Government ensures waste water or  leachate which comes from Bantar Gebang Integrated Trash Management (TPST), Bekasi has passed management process so that waste water does not pollute the environment. Besides, leachate management process in Bantar Gebang TPST is equipped with four Water Waste Management Installation (IPAS) which has been built in the period of 1989 until 1999.
Eko Bharuna as Head of Jakarta Cleanliness Department stated that moreover, there is allegation if water pollutions is occurred in Jambe River, Bekasi which caused by leachate from Bantar Gebang TPST, and it is not true.
“All this time we continue to manage it through four IPASs so that producing good waste and not dangerous,” he expressed at Jakarta City Hall, Monday (10/10).
Therefore, his party guarantees if waste water management has been handled properly. The technology of waste water management in Bantar Gebang TPST is the best technology in Indonesia.
Leachate management in four IPASs has also met waste quality for industry activity in accordance with Environment Minister Decision No. Kep-51/MENLH/10/1995. It is used because there are no specific rules which set waste water quality in Indonesia.Besides that, Bantar Gebang has also managed waste methane gas into electricity and its management able to reduce greenhouse gas effect. Moreover, the process of sorting, composting, and recycling are also conducted in Bantar Gebang TPST.
Now, there are three hangars of compost management with 300 tons per day capacity.Douglas Manurung as Bantar Gebang TPST Managing Director stated that his party continuously conducts laboratory test towards waste water which produced by Bantar Gebang TPST routinely.
“Waste water is managed physically, chemically, and biologically. Thus it has neutral and not dangerous in environment,” he expressed. He explained that in Bantar Gebang TPST, there four IPASs which built in 1989 (IPAS I), 1996 (IPAS II and III), and 1998/1999 (IPAS IV).
Those four IPASs are be able to manage 7,115 cubic meters of waste water per day by producing maximum leachate during rainy season which is Rp 2,856 cubic meters.Besides, there are three disposal waste locations (TPA) around Bantar Gebang. They are Bantar Gebang TPST belongs to Jakarta Provincial Government, Sumur Batu TPA belongs to Bekasi Munacipilty and Burangke TPA belongs to Bekasi Regency.
It ensures only Bantar Gebang TPST has done waste water management properly. “If there found dozens of plastic laundry and small industries which have no waste water treatment, thus its waste water directly flowed to river around Bekasi. But the big question is when the river in Bekasi polluted, why only blaming to Jakarta?” he stated.
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