What kind of pollutants come from landfill seepage

Dumps and landfills are not entirely synonymous and a distinction should be made. A dump is defined as, " a site used to dispose of solid wastes without environmental controls. The term ' landfill ' is replacing ' dump ' due to the modernization of our solid waste facilities. Even so, some modernized landfills are poorly engineered or located in an environmentally unsound areas.

The upgrade of waste disposal sites from dumps to environmentally sound solid waste disposal systems was mandated by a set of hazardous waste amendments passed in Landfills are now regulated at one of three class levels depending on the nature of solid or hazardous waste accepted.

Proper lining of landfills is crucial to keep our groundwater safe. Tests in the middle east have shown that shredding solid waste material has helped the decomposition process, increasing the rate of biological degradation.

Also, allowing the waste to compost for a week before covering with soil can improve results. Lining landfills, to prevent leakage is an important step, as is continued monitoring.

Proper hazardous waste disposal must be employed if the entire contamination process is going to be successful. Toggle Navigation.

Home Services Resources Contact. Posted by Richard Espinoza on Tue, Sep 29, hazardous waste. W hat is Leachate? Landfill Cross Section The leachate from Municipal Solid waste landfills is a highly concentrated "chemical soup", so concentrated that small amounts of leachate can pollute large amounts of groundwater, leaving it unsuitable for domestic water use.

The risk of groundwater contamination by any leachate that is not caught by collection systems is determined by the following factors: Concentration and toxicity of contaminants Permeability and type of the geologic strata The direction of groundwater flow Areas near landfills have a greater possibility of groundwater contamination because of the potential pollution source of leachate originating from the nearby site.

Groundwater Flow is Important Groundwater moves slowly and continuously through the open spaces in soil and rock. But these often rip during installation, and they always develop holes and cracks over time. And even if you could replace old liners with the plastic ones required today, we are still talking about plastic and synthetic clay.

These newer liners too will break down over time, meaning we are merely kicking the contamination can down the road for our kids to suffer the consequences.

The production of leachate cannot be avoided, and despite the attempted collection of leachate in newer landfills, some of it still escapes into the environment.

The failure of these double liner systems is not only inevitable, it is also acknowledged by the agency enforcing it. EPA itself has said:. Eventually liners will either degrade, tear, or crack and will allow liquid to migrate out of the unit. Landfill companies are required to monitor whether leachate is leaking by monitoring groundwater around the cells. When properly implemented, such monitoring programs would be able to identify the leak so that the facility operator could then clean it up as best possible.

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