What can be done to make landfills less harmful to groundwater?

Answer 1

As I understand it, new landfills are constructed in such fashion. They are constructed over a base (maybe several layers) of fine, heavily compacted clay and a liner of some sort. There are also pipes (like well shafts) used to pump out the leachate that is treated and disposed of. Find a web site, maybe EPA, that illustrates the standard landfill construction and standards.

Answer 2

As already said by others, it is important to build the landfill in an area where the natural soil is not very permeable (clay is very good for this) and add clay or a liner at the base of the landfill to improve on this. It is also important to COVER the wastes to keep rainwater from getting in to the landfill. Most landfills apply a daycover of soil (the waste is covered every day), and when the landfill is finished a thick layer of low-permeability soil and liners are also added as a final cover.

The whole idea is to keep water from getting in and then back out of the pile of waste, because water reacts with the waste, producing leachate, which is water that has picked up contaminants from the waste, sort of like how water gets turned into coffee when you pass it through coffee grounds.

Because it is difficult to prevent all water infiltration, some landfills are also built with leachate collection pipes underneath or within the base liner. The leachate can then be extracted and treated before being discharged to a surface water body.

Finally, most landfills are built with monitoring wells around them so that the nearby groundwater can be sampled and any contamination of the groundwater can be identified very early, allowing measures to be taken to prevent or minimize this contamination.

These solutions are all technical ways of dealing with possible groundwater contamination. However, all of us can help prevent groundwater contamination from landfilled waste by making sure we do not throw away things that can cause contamination if put into a landfill, like used oil, oil-soaked rags, dead batteries, half-filled cans of paint, partly used containers of chemical products like pesticides, and so forth. These items need to be disposed as hazardous or dangerous wastes. Usually your city allows or even requires these things to be disposed separately at some sort of central collection location.

Answer 3

The subgrade underneath is compacted to specification for engineered fill. Proper grade developed through out the new fill area then a layer of impervious (clay) is placed as a liner prior to the placement of any refuse.

groundwater levels are monitored before during and after rubbish is in place and periodically ground water is sampled to assure non-contamination

Answer 4

Make sure they are built on impermeable rocks or develop a way to seal them off from the underlying aquifers.

Answer 5

take the garbage, put it in a giant trash compactor, send it via NASA destination sun everything will burn up, no harm to anything. we could also quit making so much garbage, might be a little more economical