Alternative Landfill Cover Project Profiles
Abstract
Developed
by
US Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Land and Emergency Management
Technology Innovation and Field Services Division
Washington, D.C.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed this Web site to summarize timely information about demonstrations and full-scale applications of alternative landfill covers. The alternative landfill covers described involve design concepts that primarily manipulate water balance principles to minimize percolation into the waste. Projects for this Web site are collected using information from technical journals, conference proceedings, information obtained from technology vendors and site managers, as well as State Web sites that provide permit information. When available, the site profiles contain information about relevant site background (hydrogeology), materials disposed of at the site, climate, location, monitoring system used, cover type, size and design, performance results, point of contacts, and references. This Web site can be used as a networking tool (each profile lists a contact) to identify past solutions and lessons learned that would apply to new sites with similar contaminants and climate.
As of August 2011, the Web site included information on 223 projects. Four types of alternative landfill covers are included in this Web site: monolithic evapotranspiration (ET) covers, capillary barrier ET covers, asphalt covers, and bioengineering management covers. These ET alternative cover designs are increasingly being considered for use at waste disposal sites, including municipal solid waste and hazardous waste landfills and radioactive waste sites. Many of these new ET sites are being proposed and built in the arid and semiarid regions of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and parts of the Great Plains. As further information is obtained, EPA will update and expand this Web site with new profiles on alternative landfill cover sites and updated information about existing project sites. EPA is continuing its efforts to examine trends in the use of alternative landfill covers.
For more information or to update or add a new profile please contact:
Cindy Frickle, EPA
frickle.cynthia@epa.gov
(703) 603-8763
