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April 2011
5 Reasons You Should Have a Leachate Treatment Plan for Every Landfill
"It is not uncommon for projects which start without a plan to overun on time and/ or budget"
By: Steve
Perhaps you have been in circumstances that made you really feel that maybe you had better
have a leachate treatment plan for every landfill? A number of people have gone beyond just answering yes, and have
in fact started off to do so. Relatively few people ever really take the time to think it through really carefully.
Most believe that it's really a lot more challenging than it truly is, so they really never start out. The aspect
of perhaps having to do some work puts others off. Others are too lazy to try, or without sufficient
motivation.
Hold on a minute, now! Are those really good reasons? Did the reasons for have a fair hearing? Was that
consideration reasonable and balanced? The advantages don't appear to have been fully thought through...
Maybe that will require a little bit more consideration... Let's just consider 5 various good reasons in support of
taking steps to have a leachate treatment plan for every landfill, and get a certain amount of balanced perspective
in the discussion.
To start with, a leachate treatment plan should be created at the start of all landfill site developments. I hear
what you're saying when you indicate that it is hard to predict the volume of leachate, and the leachate strength
for a new landfill, so why not wait until both can be monitored. That's a good point. Nonetheless, take into
account that, most environmental regulatory bodies will require the landfill operator to prepare such a plan as a
requirement of licensing the site, and allowing it to open. Moreover, consider that unless a leachate treatment
plan is compiled at the start, there is unlikely to be adequate financial provision made for leachate treatment
thorughout the life of the site and then also during the site closure period.
Second, with a carefully calculatted water balance, and using prublished data for similar site leachate strengths,
it should be possible for hydrologists and landfill site development engineers to get quite close to the actual
rainfall and leachate quality which will be produced. That is true because there are published papers and text
books, which give this information. Among the consequences of this is the fact that unless a plan is made at the
start, the site may lack a site area large enough for a leachate treatment plant.
Third, a leachate treatment plan should include emergency planning for poor weather conditions, and if at a very
wet location, peak flow storage as well. And a discharge consent or permit!
Fourth, a leachate treatment plan should show that the process adopted is a BAT (Best Available Technique)
technology, and ensure that there are a minimum of surprises financially whith running the landfill.
Finally No. 5, a leachate treatment plan should be submitted to the environmental regulatory
body at the time required.
Now, have a look at all those reasons and appraise them. Those points strongly suggest that you should seriously
think about researching ways to have a leachate treatment plan for every landfill.
Just think it over for a few moments. Those same 5 factors swayed others. Now don't they also influence you to have
a leachate treatment plan for every landfill?
Source: http://leachate.eu
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