All the planning and preparation that goes into creating a new landfill or expanding one can be stressful. Luckily, it can also be an opportunity to integrate onsite leachate treatment—a cost-effective, scalable solution that not only eliminates the time and cost of trucking leachate, but also fully sequesters PFAS within the landfill.
By Greg Ackerson
Deciding to expand your landfill or build a new one means a long list of to-do items: You will need to examine the size and scope of the project, the needs of your community, the capabilities of your team, rules, and regulations, financing, and much more. One of the most important phases in landfill design is addressing the increase in leachate associated with a new cell being constructed. With changing regulations and increasing leachate management costs, if you are in the design phase for a new cell, it is time to incorporate a new leachate management strategy that can grow with your landfill.
Onsite leachate treatment is often more cost-effective and flexible than traditional leachate treatment options, while also removing the PFAS and other contaminants of concern that many other solutions leave behind. While a new system is a shift from the status quo, addressing onsite leachate treatment early means that your team, your community, and your landfill are better prepared for the future.
Step 1: Understanding Your Municipality’s Landfill Needs
The process of building a new landfill or landfill cell is usually spurred by community need, whether you are starting over at a new site, replacing an older cell, or reaching capacity. If you believe a new landfill or expansion is coming anytime in the next decade, you need to be considering this now—especially because shifting rules and regulations surrounding landfills, particularly landfill leachate, are harder to plan for.
Let’s say your old landfill cell used a traditional leachate management method that involves storing the leachate and hauling it to your local wastewater treatment plant (WWTP.) As you plan for the new cell, you should consider that even a closed cell will create leachate. Plus, leachate is not created on a schedule. An uncharacteristically rainy season could mean that leachate backs up into the cell’s lining, causing regulatory issues if you have not planned for maximum storage—which, of course, comes with additional costs.
Planners and decision-makers must take all of this into consideration at the beginning of the design process, which could take as long as two years before the new cell is actually in operation. In that time, new regulations regarding contaminants of concern in leachate could mean your management plan is already out of date.
To get ahead of these regulations, build relationships with the team at your local WWTP, lawmakers, and other regulators to understand what is coming. When you understand the discussions and changing attitudes regarding leachate and contaminants, you realize what your landfill will need to be prepared for. Early conversations in the permitting process allow you to create a plan—and a backup plan—for your leachate when the new landfill or landfill cell comes online.
Also, ensure that you have the flexibility to scale with new regulations as they change over time, even after the new landfill cell is operational. While many options for leachate treatment can help treat singular contaminants—such as Total Nitrogen, Chlorides, Boron, PFAS, or even a new contaminant yet to be discovered—to comply with new standards, only an onsite, full leachate treatment system ensures that you do not need to rely on a third party at any step in the process. Partial treatment may help with a single contaminant of concern, but it leaves you with leachate that still needs to be addressed, as well as hundreds of other contaminants of concern that can cause future issues.
Step 2: Assessing Your Landfill’s Capabilities
You can integrate an onsite leachate treatment system at any time, but the most efficient time is either alongside or just before the new landfill or cell is in operation, especially if you are expanding an existing landfill. If talking to WWTP managers and regulators has made onsite leachate treatment seem like an option, the next phase of planning should include considerations for team capabilities, site capabilities, and financing.
Different systems require different training and licensing to operate. Integrating a system early means you will have as much time as possible to hire or train treatment system operators. Requirements may vary state-by-state, but once you determine these, you will need to plan for extra training hours. Working directly with your system vendor on training during commissioning involves testing the modes of operation, safeties, and bypasses. It might seem like an unnecessary, additional expense, but it is the only opportunity for this level of training that your team will have. Taking advantage of this opportunity while it exists is the smartest thing you can do. By the time the training is done, operators will know the system inside and out and be prepared for every eventuality.
Even though leachate treatment systems are more technical than landfill cells themselves, this is one area where you do not need to suffer the high cost of a low bid. Most states have statutes that allow public entities to negotiate projects if the supplier is willing to guarantee the project cost, its operation, and the leachate savings associated with the system. This is a great way to do a design-build project and ensure that you are getting the solution you want. It also begs the question: if a supplier will not guarantee the operation of their system, is that someone you should work with? This is one of the reasons that it is ideal for operators to explore options during the very early phases of new landfill expansion.
It is also important to remember that any new system will need space for a building or structure to operate onsite, so it is critical to understand your site’s capabilities. If you are expanding an operating landfill, consider onsite treatment options that leverage existing infrastructure. Any existing load-out can be a great space to add a structure for an onsite leachate treatment system, and it will already be equipped with much of the piping required. It makes sense to use what you already have if you can.
Aside from space, another consideration for an onsite system is a location for the clean water—or treated leachate—to be discharged. In this case, you will need to consider the regulations and environmental characteristics of your site, as treatment options will vary depending on your use of either an infiltration basin or surface water discharge. This is one of the benefits of having a robust treatment solution that creates water that meets the National Drinking Water Standard. It is much easier and cost-effective to get rid of clean water than it is to get rid of contaminated water.
If are adding a system that reduces PFAS (like foam fractionation), but still requires trucking to a WWTP, it is important to account for post-treatment storage needs. Be sure to evaluate the space required to hold treated leachate before transport. You also need to consider your costs moving forward if you will still have to truck and treat leachate, along with the additional costs of operating the specific PFAS treatment you have just purchased.
Financing probably feels like the scariest item on your list, but it should not be. Onsite treatment can provide significant monetary benefit. Working closely with your leachate treatment system vendor can also help identify opportunities for cost savings. Some regulatory agencies are offering financial incentives for PFAS remediation, and occasionally, grants and rebates are available to reduce the potential costs of leachate treatment (see Legislation in Wisconsin sidebar) Your vendor should be aware of the best options. Finding low-interest financing can also leverage the money you already have in your operating budget to pay for a system. If you are already paying to truck and treat leachate at a WWTP, those budget dollars can be reallocated toward the cost of a new system, and often completely pay for it.
Fully onsite treatment may mean new things to consider, but many landfill operators discover it can be budget-neutral when factoring in the increasing costs of hauling leachate to a WWTP. After all, next year’s transportation contract terms can be unpredictable, but one thing is for sure—costs are not going down. With the right onsite treatment system, you stop hauling leachate, and instead fully sequester PFAS and other contaminants of concern that traditional WWTP treatments cannot address.
Step 3: Look to the Future
Landfills have a variety of leachate treatment methods available to them to help remove PFAS and other contaminants onsite. If you have been using the traditional hauling method, it may seem more cost-effective to add a system that provides a layer of contaminant removal without doing full onsite treatment. One that will not interfere with a process that has been “good enough” in the past. However, when will good enough stop being good enough? It could be sooner than you planned.
New headlines about PFAS-contamination concerns pop up every day. At a local level, new regulations to limit and remediate PFAS in our environment are more prevalent. Even if every manufacturer stopped using PFAS tomorrow, landfill leachate would still contain these toxins for decades to come, and the traditional wastewater treatment method of diluting and dispersing leachate does nothing to stop contaminants of concern from getting into our environment. As regulations tighten, your landfill needs to be ready to face them proactively instead of scrambling after the fact.
Planning a new landfill is the perfect opportunity to hold your leachate treatment to a higher standard. Advanced treatment means not just treating leachate to meet ever-changing regulations, but actually meeting the National Standards for drinking water. After all, PFAS are in the spotlight now, but what will the next contaminant of concern be? If your leachate is not already completely safe from contaminants, what will happen when standards shift again?
All the planning and preparation that goes into creating a new landfill or expanding one can be stressful. Luckily, it can also be an opportunity to implement a leachate treatment solution, which means a healthier environment for your community and a landfill that is ready to take on the future. Integrating onsite leachate treatment means you have a cost-effective, scalable solution that not only eliminates the time and cost of trucking leachate to a wastewater treatment plant, but also fully sequesters PFAS within the landfill, ensuring they do not stay out of the environment. Although landfill superintendents are already looking at a long to-do list when they decide to expand a landfill or develop a new one, integrating onsite leachate treatment should be at the top of that list. | WA
Legislation in Wisconsin
In Wisconsin, there is legislation in place that allows regulators to collect $13 per ton of landfill leachate to be given to the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for environmental clean-up. Recently, legislation was passed that allows for half of this money to go to the DNR, while the other half can go back to landfills to pay off any debts associated with onsite PFAS treatment. This is a major incentive for Wisconsin landfills that makes onsite leachate treatment the most cost-effective option, and other states may follow.
Greg Ackerson is the CEO of Apex Water Solutions, an industry leader in landfill leachate and PFAS management. Apex Water Solutions’ WARP (91TVwater Advanced Remediation Process) System is the first onsite U.S. landfill leachate treatment that produces clean water that meets national drinking water standards—removing PFAS and other contaminants of concern that would otherwise be transported, diluted, and discharged into the environment, threatening public health and groundwater. Greg can be reached at [email protected]. For more information, visit .