A review on soil cover in waste and contaminant containment: design, monitoring, and modeling

Abstract

Soil cover is a widely-used but relatively new method for solid waste containment. Standard while site-specific procedures for cover design, monitoring, and evluation are needed to insure reliable cover performance. This paper presents a review of soil cover types, design principles and procedures, cover monitoring, Cover types and cover design are introduced with the general concepts and discussed on their specific applicabilities in different circumstances. and long-term performance modeling. Detailed discussion is given on unsaturated flow system properties and their field measurements, including methods, apparatuses/equipments and their advantages and disadvantages. Several unsaturated flow simulators are discussed and compared with regards to their simulation capacities for critical parameters closely related to soil cover performance such as runoff, infiltration and evaporation. Finally, research subjects are suggested for future work for better soil cover monitoring and modeling.

Keywords

soil cover / solid waste containment / cover monitoring / cover performance modeling / review

References

[1] Albrecht B A, Benson C H (2001). Effect of desiccation on compacted natural clays. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 127(1): 67-75

[2] Albright W H, Benson C H, Gee G W, Abichou T, Roesler A C, Rock S A (2003). Examining the alternatives. Civil Engineering, 73(5): 70-75

[3] Annandale J G, Jovanovic N Z, Benade N, Tanner P D (1999). Modelling the long-term effect of irrigation with gypsiferous water on soil and water resources. Agriculture Ecosystems and Environment, 76(2-3): 109-119

[4] Ayres B, Dirom G, Christensen D, Januszewski S, O’Kane1 M (2003). Performance of cover system field trials for waste rock at myra falls operations, In: Proceedings of Sixth International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage, 233-239

[5] Bauters T W J, DiCarlo D A, Steenhuis T S, Parlange J Y (2000). Soil water content dependent wetting front characteristics in sands. Journal of Hydrology, 231: 244-254

[6] Benson C H, Abichou T H, Olson M A, Bosscher P J (1995). Winter effects on the hydraulic conductivity of compacted clay. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, 121(1): 69-79

[7] Bethune M B, Selle B, Wang Q J (2008). Understanding and predicting deep percolation under surface irrigation. Water Resources Research, 44(12): W12430

[8] BLM (U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management) (2008). Abandoned mine site inventory. Available at: http:// www.blm.gov /wo /st /en /prog /more /Abandoned_Mine_Lands/ abandoned_mine_site. html

[9] Bodhinayake W, Si B C, Noborio K (2004). Determination of hydraulic properties in sloping landscapes from tension and double-ring infiltrometers. Vadose Zone Journal, 3(3): 964-970

[10] Bouwer H, Back J T, Oliver J M (1999). Predicting infiltration and ground water mounds for artificial recharge. Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 4(4): 350-357

[11] Castellvi F, Stockle C O, Mormeneo I, VIllar J M (2002). Testing the performance of different processes to generate temperature and solar radiation: a case study at Lleida (Northeast Spain). Transactions of the ASAE, 45(3): 571-580

[12] Cook D, Brett D, Ray D (2003). Observations from the magazine dump clay capping trial. In: Proceedings of Fifth International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage, 887-893

[13] Dobchuck B S, Wilson G W, Aubertin M (2003). Evaluation of a single-layer desulfurised tailings cover. In: Proceedings Fifth International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage, 373-381

[14] Dwyer S F (2001). Finding a better cover. Civil Engineering, 71(1): 58-63

[15] Fayer M J (2000). UNSAT-H Version 3.0: Unsaturated Soil Water and Heat Flow Model, Theory, User Manual, and Examples PNNL Rep13249. Pacific Northwest Natl Lab, Richland, WA

[16] Fayer M J, Gee G W (2006). Multiple-year water balance of soil covers in a semiarid setting. Journal of Environmental Quality, 35(1): 366-377

[17] Fines P, Wilson G W, Landriault D, Langetine L, Hulett L (2003). Co-mixing of tailings, waste rock and slag to produce barrier cover systems. In: Proceedings of Sixth International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage, 1019-1022

[18] Flanagan, D C, Livingston S J (1995). Water Erosion Prediction Project(WEPP), Version 95.7. User Summary, in WEPP User Summary (Eds. Flanagan and Livingston) NSERL Report No11, July

[19] Gee G W, Ward A L, Caldwell T G, Ritter J C (2002). A vadose zone water fluxmeter with divergence control. Water Resources Research, 38(8):16-1-16-7

[20] GEO-SLOPE, International Ltd (2002). VADOSE/W, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

[21] Hauser V L, Weand B L, Gill M D (2001). Natural covers for landfills and buried waste. Journal of Environmental Engineering, 127(9): 768-775

[22] Hayashi M, Quinton W L (2004). A constant-head well permeameter method for measuring field-saturated hydraulic conductivity above an impermeable layer. Canadian Journal of Soil Science, 84(3): 255-264

[23] Hermsmeyer D, Ilsemann J, Bachmann J, van der Ploeg R R, Horton R (2002). Model calculations of water dynamics in lysimeters filled with granular industrial wastes. Journal of Plant Nutrition And Soil Science, 165(3): 339-346

[24] Manieri J M, Vaz C M P, De Maria I C (2007). TDR spiral probe for moisture measurement in the soil profile. Revista Brasileira De Ciencia Do Solo, 31(2): 191-198

[25] McGuire P E, Andraski B J, Archibald R E (2009). Case study of a full-scale evapotranspiration cover. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 135(3): 316-332

[26] Meiers G P, Barbour L S, Meiers M K (2003). The use of field measurements of hydraulic conductivity to characterise the performance of reclamation soil covers with time. In: Proceedings of Sixth International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage, 1085-1090

[27] Melchior S (1997). In-situ studies on the performance of landfill caps (compacted soil liners, geomembranes, geosynthetic clay liners, capillary barriers). Land Contamination and Reclamation, 5(3): 209-216

[28] Milczarek M A, Zyl D, Peng S, Rice R C (2006). Saturated and unsaturated hydraulic properties characterization at mine facilities: are we doing it right? In: Proceedings of Seventh International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage. Lexington: ASMR

[29] National Bureau of Statistics of China, Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People’s Public of China (2008). China Statistical Yearbook on Environment 2008. Beijing: China Statistics Press, 147-147 (in Chinese)

[30] Nemali K S, Montesano F, Dove S K, van Iersel M W (2007). Calibration and performance of moisture sensors in soilless substrates: ECH2O and Theta probes. Scientia Horticulturae, 112(2): 227-234

[31] O’Kane M, Waters P (2003). Dry cover trials at Mt Whaleback—summary of over burden storage area cover system performance. In: Proceedings of Sixth International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage, 147-154

[32] O’Kane M, Wels C (2003). Mine waste cover system design — linking predicted performance to groundwater and surface water impacts. In: Proceedings of Sixth International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage, 341-349

[33] Richardson C W (2000). Data requirements for estimation of weather generation parameters. Transactions of the ASAE, 43(4): 877-882

[34] Richardson C W, Wright D A (1984). WGEN: A model for generating daily weather variables. ARS-8. Washington DC, USDA Agricultural Research Service

[35] Schwarzel K, Punzel J (2007). Hood infiltrometer—A new type of tension infiltrometer. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 71(5): 1438-1447

[36] Simunek J, Sejna M, van Genuchten M Th, (1999). The HYDRUS-2D Software Package for Simulating Two-Dimensional Movement of Water, Heat, and Multiple Solutes in Variably-Saturated Media, Version 2.0, US Salinity Laboratory, USDA, ARS, Riverside, CA, USA

[37] SoilCover User’s Manual, Unsaturated Soils Group (2000). SoilCover Saskatchewan: Saskatoon

[38] Souto F J, Dafonte J, Escariz M (2008). Design and air-water calibration of a waveguide connector for TDR measurements of soil electric permittivity in stony soils. Biosystems Engineering, 101(4): 463-471

[39] Stephens D B, Newman S P (1982). Vadose zone permeability tests: Summary. Journal of the Hydraulics Division, 108(5): 623-639

[40] Stockle C O, Kjelgaard J, Bellocchi G (2004). Evaluation of estimated weather data for calculating Penman-Monteith reference crop evapotranspiration. Irrigation Science, 23(1): 39-46

[41] Stockle C O, Nelson R (1999). ClimGen: a weather generator program. Washingten: Pullman

[42] Tecle D, Lee J, Hasan S (2009). Quantitative analysis of physical and geotechnical factors affecting methane emission in municipal solid waste landfill. Environmental Geology, 56(6): 1135-1143

[43] USEPA (1994). List of industrial waste landfills and construction and demolition waste landfills. Available at:http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/hazard/generation/sqg/list/lfillpdf.pdf

[44] USEPA (2007a). Municipal solid waste generation, recycling, and disposal in the united states: facts and figures for 2007. Available at: http:// www.epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/municipal /msw99.htm

[45] USEPA (2007b). Treatment technologies for site cleanup: Annual Report, 12th edition, EPA-542-R-07-12, Environmental Protection Agency, September 2007

[46] Uwiera M M, Reeves M J (2000). Application of 3D groundwater models to the assessment of ARD source loadings in surface water bodies. In: Proceedings of Seventh International Conference on Tailings and Mine Waste, Tailings and Mine Waste’00, 213-221

[47] Wels C, Shaw S, Royle M (2000). A case history of intrinsic remediation of reactive tailings seepage for Questa Mine, New Mexico. In: Proceedings of Fifth International Conference on Acid Rock Drainage, 441-458

[48] Yanful E K, Mousavi S M, Yang M D (2003). Modeling and measurement of evaporation in moisture-retaining soil covers. Advances in Environmental Research, 7(4): 783-801

[49] Yoon Y, Kim J G, Hyun S (2007). Estimating soil water retention in a selected range of soil pores using tension disc infiltrometer data. Soil & Tillage Research, 97(1): 107-116

[50] Zornberg J G, Lafountain L, Caldwell J A (2003). Analysis and design of evapotranspirative cover for hazardous waste landfill. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, 129(5): 427-438

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the Scientific Research Foundation for the Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, State Education Ministry.

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg