HR: 0800h
AN: H31B-1294    [Abstracts]
TI: Evaluating the Potential for Landfill Leachate to Affect Surface and Ground Water Quality
AU: Pederson, D T
EM: dpederson2@unl.edu
AF: University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Department of Geosciences Bessey Hall, Lincoln, Ne 68588 United States
AU: * Towerton, M M
EM: mtowert1@bigred.unl.edu
AF: University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Department of Geosciences Bessey Hall, Lincoln, Ne 68588 United States
AB: As precipitation percolates through waste in a landfill, contaminants associated with waste dissolve, forming leachate. Landfill leachate has the potential to pollute ground and surface water if not properly managed. Predicting chemical parameters and quantity of leachate generated is vital not only to understand how ground and surface water may be affected by landfill leachate, but also useful in determining when leachate components are in compliance with US Environment Protection Agency's drinking water standards. The Bluff Road landfill in Lincoln, Nebraska provided sixteen years of data from active land filling operation. Data included quarterly chemical analyses of leachate and quantity of leachate generated. Linear regression between chemical parameters and time determine if the long-term concentration trend is increasing, decreasing, or stable. Predictions of quantity of leachate generated were made through application of a published model. Long-term trends for inorganic macro components appear to mirror each other indicating that physical processes dominate over chemical processes. Heavy metal concentrations show a decline with time for all parameters except for iron, cadmium, and copper which is in agreement with published studies. Modeling the quantity of leachate generated was successful in duplicating the general trend of measured values, but was not accurate in matching quantitative values.
DE: 1719 Hydrology
DE: 1831 Groundwater quality
DE: 1847 Modeling
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005