Leachate Collection and Treatment Facility Gets City Landfill Site and Student Thesis

Locals will be pleased abut new invetsment in environmental protection measures at the Merrick landfill site, as in the quotation which follows:

NORTH BAY, US - Engineering plans for a leachate collection and treatment facility at the city's Merrick landfill are ready to be drafted after council approved a $1.7 million expenditure during its March 5 meeting.

"Once completed, these plans will be presented to the Ministry of Environment for comment. We expect that to be completed by the end of the summer and hope to be able to tender out the construction of the project by late fall," said North Bay's manager of environmental services John Severino.

It is expected the leachate treatment facility will be operational by the spring of 2014.

The leachate treatment system has been designed by Conestoga Rovers and Associates, with input from Queen's University students who have been actively studying the city's landfill site and estimating future waste management needs.

"We actually have students at Queen's doing their thesis on our site," said City engineer Alan Korell, "and the National Research Council has put money in as well."

Total costs of this project have been budgeted at $5 million, money well spent according to Korell. He says the landfill site, "is the city's biggest opportunity to make a positive impact on the environment."

Severino says the system the city has chosen allows for the treatment of the liquid seepage so it can be directly returned to the environment. "It is also a flexible system in order to address any future concerns and is part of the whole Green Plan for the city."

The Merrick landfill, opened in 1994 with a footprint of 40.5 acres and has a life expectancy of 20 more years. Divided into 10 cells, "the first cells were naturally attenuated," said Severino, "where the leachate was allowed to run into the ground and be naturally treated. When we opened cell five, we put down a clay liner to collect the leachate, and have done the same with cell six, recently opened."

The treatment project is a complement to the methane collection system already part of the landfill operations.

"Currently we are collecting and flaring the methane gas. This system has only a one-twentieth impact on the environment compared to the natural process," said Severino. "Once the cogeneration plant is operational, the methane will not only produce energy for the area but will also be used to heat and help facilitate the leachate treatment system."

North Bay's energy from gas project, is the first to receive approval under the province's new Green Energy Act and is targeted to start production the end of June. The cost of this initiative was also $5 million.

"At peak capacity the plant should generate 1.6 megawatts of electricity," said Korell. "Enough to supply many of the homes in the area and stabilize that end of the city. It's about the equivalent of 1,300 homes."

The cogeneration plant will offset about 45,000 tons of carbon dioxide annually.

North Bay Hydro received approval for the renewable energy project in June 2011.

"Our philosophy, when it comes to the landfill site, is to limit what's going in there, and to optimize what's going on," Korell said.

Korell and Severino are excited about the city's approach to waste management, and are already eyeing starting the expansion planning process in about 10 years in order to have everything in place at the end of the current certification period. They both feel the city is, "ahead of the game in Northern Ontario," and they want to see it stay in the environmental lead.

"We are already diverting as much as 40 per cent of our waste, through recycling," said Korell, " and we're working to make the current landfill site last as long as possible.

"We're also fortunate that the city owns lots of land where the site is now, so we'll be able to expand, rather than have to look for a new location."

As the first such site approved to produce biogas, "we've sort of been the provincial guinea pig," said Severino. "MOE has been using us as a demonstration site and bringing people to show them what a well managed landfill is like."

Mayor Al McDonald says the landfill site initiatives are part of council's commitment to the environment and to future generations.

"These projects see over $10 million invested at the Merrick landfill site," he said, " to ensure the City's future needs are satisfied in an environmentally responsible way."

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New EPA Leachate Monitoring Rules Affect Local Landfills

New landfill rules will mean increased costs for old landfills in the US County, and include, five key areas, for a post-closure care period, post-closure care financial assurance, more post-closure care period imonitoring if there are judged to be health or environmental effects, and a procedure to adjust final closure financial assurance.

The full details are given from the Zanesville Post article which descrobes them, below. Please visit the original site:

ZANESVILLE -- The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has proposed new rules that would require the state's licensed construction and demolition debris landfills to regularly test groundwater for an expanded number of contaminants.

Two of the state's 55 licensed landfills which would be subject to the new rules are local -- Sidwell Materials' site off of Limestone Valley Road in Newton Township and the County Road 286 landfill in Coshocton County.

Sidwell Materials Asbestos Hazard Evaluation Specialist Drake Prouty said the company will abide by whatever rules and regulations ultimately are set forth by the agency.

He said that EPA representatives visit the landfill at 4620 Limestone Valley Road quarterly and for unannounced spot testing of groundwater at the 9-acre site, and no problems have been found.

A legislative study committee and the EPA proposed tougher regulations regarding water monitoring or leachate at the bottom of landfill sites in 2005, but backed off after officials complained the new regulations would be too expensive to comply with.

That proposal would have allowed for 64 different toxic chemicals to be tested for, instead of the 19 currently required by the EPA. The new proposal expands that number to 77 pollutants which could "leach" in to groundwater supplies, including iron, sulfate, manganese and even toxic adhesives.

Based on the prior study which determined lthat landfill leachate poses a threat to public health and the environment if released to ground water or surface water, and public comments received on the draft rules issued earlier this year, Ohio EPA developed the current proposed rules.

The amended proposed rules focus on five key areas:

- Five-year post-closure care period.

- Post-closure care financial assurance provided by the facility.

- Extension of post-closure care period if there are health or environmental effects.

- A procedure to adjust final closure financial assurance with the issuance of an annual license.

- Monitor landfill eachate at the bottom of the landfill for an established list of contaminants, and if detected, monitor ground water for the detected contaminant.

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Anaerobic Digestion News: Biogas from Anaerobic Digestion Can Help Save Our ...

Anaerobic Digestion News: Biogas from Anaerobic Digestion Can Help Save Our ...: Our Angry Dragon cartoon below is intended to be funny and provokes thought about why biogas from anaerobic digestion can help save our pla...

Odour Killing Solution From St Clair, Clean Harbors is a Dangerous Idea

While we are sure that everyone has great sympathy with the locals in St. Clair, who should not have to suffer this odor for one more day, as an experienced leachate treatment engineer it concerns me to read about the solution being adopted. Covering these foul smelling lagoons, which contain a, no doubt, high level of organic contamination is a dangerous route to take. The largely anaerobic leachate which probably over time have also developed an organic sludge below the water which is also anaerobic, will be generating biogas. In fact there are many examples of anaerobic digestion (biogas) plants built on purpose using acetogenic organic wastes in a comparable manner to this.

So, please take care about going down the route of covering leachate lagoons and providing almost no ventilation. If you do, take care to observe good explosion risk assessments (in the EU the ATEX Directive applies) and implement goode safety procedures on-site. In the past it has been seen as a much better idea to dose the leachate as it enters the lagoons with an oxidising agent such as hydrogen peroxide, or even potassium permangenate. Once in an aerobic condition throughout, no more methane will be generated, and the operator could then commence aeration of these lagoons, but aeration into anaerobic conditions at first would just make the odor more pronounced. (If you need expert help on solving leachate odor problems contact us at www.leachate.co.uk .) The article extarct follows. Please visit the link at the bottom of this page to see the original page:

ST. CLAIR  TOWNSHIP - Clean Harbors has spent nearly $1 million on corrective action since last August when an overwhelming stench began impacting neighbours of the hazardous waste facility.

"The sheer volume of exposed leachate couldn't be addressed by snapping our fingers," said the company's compliance director.

Mike Parker, a handful of consultants, and Clean Harbors' managers, spoke to about 35 residents Wednesday at an open house at the Royal Canadian Legion in Corunna, assuring them that months of sickening odour incidents will soon be over.

While some neighbours disagree, company brass are confident the stink is a result of too much leachate at the Telfer Road site.

Since August, Clean Harbors has incinerated approximately 20 million litres of leachate and emptied one of its holding ponds.

By late February, the company expects to completely cover its two leachate ponds with engineered roofs and will easily meet the deadlines directed by the Ministry of Environment, Parker said.

The ministry has ordered Clean Harbors to address its odour issue and reduce the volume of on-site leachate by May.

"We're doing a lot of work that will ultimately reduce the leachate,"

Parker said. "We're doing everything possible to be sure the odour is gone. I'm very confident the major source will be eliminated by May.

"We wouldn't do all this and spent this kind of money if it wasn't going to be affective," he said.

But neighbours at Wednesday's open house weren't so confident.

The odours have impacted their quality of life, made them nauseous, stung their eyes and sent them to emergency.

"You are interfering with my enjoyment of my property," Jim Stenton of Petrolia Line told Clean Harbors' general manager Jim Brown.

Stenton asked Brown why the company doesn't put out a warning through the community warning system known as CVECO when odours are bad.

"It would be better if I had warning so I could get out of my house,"

Stenton said.

"For an odour complaint?" Brown answered. "I don't see it that way."

But, Clean Harbors does alert the Ministry of Environment, he added.

"And once the leachate is under the cover, it will eliminate that septic smell," Brown said. "You'll never get rid of all the odours completely but the really bad smell should be gone."

Clean Harbors has applied for ministry approval to vent the engineered roofs, a move that the neighbours oppose.

"I think everyone is pretty upset about it," said Lori Vokes who represents about 100 area residents.

"They said they were installing airtight covers and now they want to vent them."

The public has until Feb. 12 to comment on Clean Harbors' application to vent.

"We hope enough people will object to make the ministry take a closer look at the application and not just rubber stamp it," said Vokes.

The application can be viewed at www.ebr.gov.on.ca and is number 011 5467.

If approved, each leachate pond will have one vent measuring two inches in diameter, said Parker.

"We'll use it two or three times a week for three to five minutes at a time. If there's a bad odour, we'll shut the valve," he said.

The vents are necessary to release any trapped air under the cover and ensure the ponds work efficiently, Parker added.

Odour complaints related to Clean Harbors' operation continue, said St. Clair Township Mayor Steve Arnold.

Incidents are less frequent and not as intense but are still occurring, he said.

"Usually there isn't a problem with odours at this time of the year,"

said Vokes. "But the last six months have been completely out of the ordinary.

"It's making people nervous about the spring."

Sarnia Observer

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Leachate Removed from Illegal Irish Dump

The Irish Times has reported today on a serious environmental crime which unfortunately is costing the local community and the nation a lot of money to clean up. It is bad enough if the site has been filled with no more than municipal solid waste, or commercial waste. Let's hope that the operator as not been accepting hazardous waste, which could make the leachate unaccepatble for treatment at the sewage works. Read our quotation below and also visit the original article at the Irish Times:

THE CLEAN-UP by the Environmental Protection Agency of an illegal dump at Kerdiffstown, Co Kildare, which will take many years to complete is to move a step closer with the removal of 8.5 million litres of polluted liquid from the contaminated site.

(The video below is about a different site.)

The agency spent some €3 million in January and February last year fighting a fire at the dump which resulted in the release of toxic smoke over the Naas area for more than four weeks.

Nephin Trading and associated companies Dean Waste and Jenzsoph Ltd operated at the landfill and recycling facility for 14 years until the agency secured court orders in 2010 shutting it down.

Work last year focused on securing and containing the site to prevent further pollution. The agency is moving to the next phase of removing waste from the site.

The agency has siphoned off more than 8.5 million litres of “leachate” – contaminated liquid from the dump which would otherwise have percolated into the ground.

It is seeking haulage companies to transport the liquid to Dublin’s municipal sewage plant at Ringsend for processing in contracts worth up to €1.5 million for the next four years.

A spokesman for the agency said work was progressing well.

There was a “minor spill” during the collection of leachate last month when a holding tank was overfilled, and approximately 500 litres reached a drain which flows to the Grand Canal.

Corrective action was taken immediately and the impact was “very localised and short-lived”, the agency said.

Further contracts will be put out to tender shortly in relation to site management and investigation to determine the best way to remediate the dump. Some preliminary investigation work was undertaken earlier this year, with the drilling of 24 boreholes to determine the waste buried.

Once the best method for disposing of the solid waste has been determined, the agency hopes to begin excavation of the dump and demolition and removal of the infrastructure on site.

This work is expected to be largely complete by 2017 and will be followed by covering the landfill with soil and plants, and the installation of permanent gas and leachate controls. However, the agency estimates the site will require management until 2047.

While the cost of the clean-up has been estimated at more than €30 million, accurate costs will not be known until the precise nature of the waste has been determined. The agency is continuing several legal actions in an attempt to recoup the costs.

The High Court last year rejected an application by the agency to make the directors of Nephin Trading personally liable for the clean-up costs, because relevant EU regulations had not been transposed into Irish law.

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Old Albion Landfill Oozes Leachate - US

This article expresses some surprise that Old Albion Landfill still oozes Leachate. Leachate is being produced "unexpectedly" long after landfill closure at the Old Albion Landfill, and yet it has always been apparent that modern landfills may take centuries before leachate ceases. The highly contaminated liquid was first spotted about two years ago, oozing from the site also known as the Orleans Sanitary Landfill. It is a 35-acre site that was closed and capped in the mid-1990s. Read on for the article and visit the original site for further information:

The liquid – leachate or garbage juice from the landfill – had been pumped and hauled to the Albion sewer plant for about 15 years. That was until 2009, when a post-closure account, set up to pay for the landfill’s leachate pumping, was depleted.

Now the landfill is full of water, and it’s migrating out of the pumping holes in the big mound along Densmore Road. Dan Schuth, manager of the Orleans County Soil and Water Conservation District, worries the leachate could reach Sandy Creek.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation said the leachate doesn’t pose an imminent threat, but the DEC wants the liquid pumped and hauled away.

“There is no cause for immediate concern,” said Linda Vera, DEC citizen participation specialist. “However, since leachate is accumulating within the Orleans Sanitary Landfill, it should be routinely collected to avoid the potential of groundwater contamination.”

Groundwater monitoring wells surround OSL, and samples were routinely collected and analyzed until the fund was exhausted, Vera said.

Albion town officials have been approached by Richard Penfold from Blasdell about a new landfill in the community, a project that was first proposed by Waste Management in the mid-1990s. The DEC approved a permit for Waste Management, but the Town Board later rejected the project, a decision that was upheld in court.

As part of its proposal for a new 78-acre landfill, Waste Management offered to take care of OSL and another neighboring landfill, the 18-acre McKenna site. McKenna is a Superfund site and continues to have its leachate pumped and hauled to the Albion sewer plant.

Albion town officials don’t believe OSL is a town responsibility.

“It’s a privately owned site,” said Robert Roberson, the attorney for the town. “It’s not the town’s. We don’t have anything to do with it.”

Waste Management was leasing the property from John and Irene Smith, the former OSL owners, but that lease ended last year and the site is back is the hands of the Smith’s bankrupt estate, said Dawn Allen, the county’s real property tax director.

“The leachate needs to be pumped out and hauled away,” Roberson said. “I don’t know whose responsibility it is.”

Waste Management took over the OSL site after the operators declared bankruptcy in the early 1990s, leaving an open landfill. Waste Management took in more garbage at the site, ensuring the landfill was properly capped. The company set aside some of the money from that operation in 1993 and 1994 for a post-closure account. That fund ran out of money in 2009, Vera said.

She said the ongoing care for the landfill should fall on the owners, the Smiths, who declared bankruptcy. The town or the county, because they never operated the site, isn’t required to take over the post-closure care of the landfill, Vera said.

“However, either or both may choose to provide post-closure care due to concern about the environment,” she said.

During last week’s Town Board meeting, Roberson said that Penfold, a former president of CID Landfill, believes the Waste Management DEC permit is still valid in Albion.

That permit expires in November 2013, Vera said, but “many factors may complicate another operator's pursuit of that permit.” The permit has since been suspended and the original project, approved by the DEC in 2003, never commenced. Waste Management also requested that a related DEC air permit be discontinued.

While Schuth is worried that the leachate could reach Sandy Creek, DEC inspectors see no evidence of that so far, Vera said.

The surface water from the landfill drains to a quarry on the south side of the canal, Vera said. That quarry then discharges under the canal to another quarry on the north side of the canal, which then discharges to a tributary to Sandy Creek. Although the canal is close to the landfill, “there is little likelihood that any leachate from OSL would enter the canal,” she said.

Schuth, the Soil and Water leader, also expressed concern that the continued water buildup in the landfill could jeopardize the structural integrity of the landfill.

Structural stability of the landfill is difficult to predict, but it would be unlikely there will be a “blowout” of the side slope of the landfill, Vera said.

“A more likely possibility is leachate seeping into the groundwater over time because of the buildup of leachate on the liner,” she said.

The older portion of the landfill only has a compacted soil liner, which met the regulations when that section was built. Later phases of the landfill were constructed with improved liner systems, but none conform to the current requirement of a double composite liner system, Vera said.

Roberson, the attorney for the town, doesn’t expect the issue of caring for the landfill to go away anytime soon. And Albion won’t be alone as more privately owned landfills meet their capacity and face ongoing monitoring and maintenance.

“This is a looming problem down the road,” Roberson said. “These kinds of problems will only get more pronounced over the years.”

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