The events of 2020 have affected the economy, the way we conduct business, and even our social interactions. Now, more than ever, streamlining costs is key for public and private sector clients across the country. Enter groundwater monitoring projects.
Often overlooked as an opportunity to reduce costs, it’s an excellent place to start when examining the costly operational processes of a solid waste facility. Groundwater monitoring is often thought of as necessary for compliance requirements and overlooked when considering ways to reduce spending. However, the proactive review of all monitoring projects may offer monitoring reduction or even cessation opportunities.
SCS Engineers has successfully employed these strategies at several Florida landfills. For instance, in Marion County, the SCS team worked to get a cessation in landfill gas and groundwater monitoring at the Martel Closed Landfill. Hired to conduct routine post-closure monitoring, the team observed obvious trends in the data that were favorable to the County. If you consider that monitoring costs average $10,000 to $50,000 per year, the potential cost savings over ten years is $100,000 to 500,000.
Bottom line: you should take the initiative to ask a few simple questions to see if further examination is warranted. What if contaminants are naturally occurring? Is the data in the technical reports supporting conclusions that include reduction or cessation when appropriate? Are you simply meeting the minimum requirements of the permit without an eye on the future?
About the Author: SCS Project Director David Atteberry puts his 20+ years of environmental consulting and management experience to work for his clients. His technical experience includes geologic and hydrogeologic investigations involving hazardous waste, solid waste, environmental, and water supply. Dave’s technical areas of expertise include contamination assessments, remediation, site characterization, aquifer characterization, RCRA compliance, waste characterization, environmental due diligence, reserve budgeting, and field sampling techniques.
SCS Groundwater™ collects and efficiently organizes groundwater monitoring and maintenance data providing those responsible for environmental compliance with a reliable, consistent, and cost-effective way to manage, view, and assess large volumes of information.
The application’s primary value is enabling users to set up a detailed monitoring plan for any number of events, including the sampling points to include and what analyses to perform at each point. Once the information upload is complete, the application checks incoming data against the plan to determine if all work is completed.
Efficient and consistent data collection means better quality control, fewer violations, and less costly operations. The application is a relational data management system specifically designed for groundwater management. Learn about more benefits here.
Across the industry, stakeholders agree the next few years will be critical in shaping how landfills deal with PFAS and how the public perceives it. Waste trade associations, scientists, and a host of organizations are in the midst of conducting a number of studies looking closely at the issue, PFAS treatment options, the positive impact of recycling, and regulatory policies.
While there are sites noted in the article, there’s no practical way for most companies and landfills to respond at this time responsibly. Additionally, landfills are unique; no two are alike. Most human exposure to PFAS occurs through contaminated food. The majority of landfill leachate is pre-treated at the landfill before going to a wastewater treatment plant, where additional treatment occurs before discharge.
According to EREF President Dr. Bryan Staley, in the article, “The relative impact of leachate as a human exposure pathway needs further evaluation to understand its relative degree of importance as it relates to health implications.”
Dr. Gomathy Radhakrishna Iyer, landfill leachate and design expert for SCS Engineers, said some operators are waiting to see what regulations may come even as they work on accounting for potential compliance issues and seeking solutions. “When the clients are thinking of upgrading their treatment plans, some are definitely taking into consideration PFAS treatment,” Radhakrishna Iyer said.
“You’re spending millions of dollars, you need to do your due diligence, right? At this point, consideration should be given to PFAS treatment during the feasibility stages,” she said.
Landfill engineers rely heavily on topographic maps in their design work. Topographic maps present elevation contours, known as contour lines, for changes in the ground surface. Surveying companies create contour lines by performing land surveys, Light Detection and Ranging (Lidar) surveys, or aerial mapping. In all cases, the topographic maps are generated based on a standard coordinate system.
Basing horizontal systems on geodetic coordinates worldwide, they may be updated every few years or decades. An example of the horizontal coordinate system is the North American Datum (NAD). A datum is a formal description of the Earth’s shape and an anchor point for the coordinate system. Using the NAD system, engineers can make horizontal measurements in consideration of the anchor point information.
NAD 27 and NAD 83 are two versions of the NAD system with slightly different assumptions and measurements. A point with specific latitude and longitude in NAD 27 Datum may be tens of feet away from a point with similar latitude and longitude in NAD 83 Datum.
The latitude and longitude of an initial point (Meads Ranch Triangulation Station in Kansas) define the NAD 27 Datum. The direction of a line between this point and a specified second point and two dimensions define the spheroid. Conversely, NAD 83 Datum uses a newer defined spheroid, the Geodetic Reference System of 1980 (GRS 80). GRS 80 is an Earth-centered or geocentric datum having no initial point or initial direction.
Similarly, vertical systems provide surveyors the means to measure vertical measurements based on a standard system. Examples of the vertical datum are the National Geodetic Vertical Datum 1929 (NGVD 29) and North American Vertical Datum 1988 (NAVD 88).
Using topographic maps, solid waste engineers pay special attention to the standard coordinate system used for generating the topographic map made available to them for their design work. Engineers will want to check for additional topographic maps using another Datum for the same site. Checking eliminates the possibility of discrepancies in the design documents.
Typically, the standard system set for a landfill site remains unchanged for consistency among topographic maps generated over the years. If the standard system must change, document the conversion making it available to the solid waste engineers working at the site. The conversion information is valuable for converting engineering plans to prevent the older plans from becoming obsolete and unusable for practical engineering work.
A solid waste engineer that begins work for the first time at an existing landfill site pays special attention to the standard system (horizontal or vertical). The engineer wants to ensure the time spent producing design documents and plans aren’t wasted. For optimum efficiency, landfill owners contracting with new solid waste engineers should provide conversion information from the old to the new system upon the contract’s commencement.
The United States National Spatial Reference System NAD 83(2011/MA11/PA11) epoch 2010.00, is a refinement of the NAD 83 datum using data from a network of very accurate GPS receivers at Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS). A new Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) will replace the National Spatial Reference System NAD 83 and the NAVD 88 in 2022, according to the National Geodetic Survey Strategic Plan 2019-2023. The GNSS will rely on the global positioning system and a gravimetric geoid model resulting from the Gravity for the Redefinition of the American Vertical Datum (GRAV-D) Project. The new systems’ intention is easier access and maintenance than NAD 83 and NAVD 88, which rely on physical survey targets that deteriorate over time.
Solid waste engineers should be aware of the upcoming changes to adapt site designs as necessary and to check with landfill owners and operators to check for any implementations at their facilities.
About the Authors:
Ali Khatami, Ph.D., PE, LEP, CGC, is a Project Director and a Vice President of SCS Engineers. He is also our National Expert for Landfill Design, Construction Quality Assurance, and Elevated Temperature Landfills. He has over 40 years of research and professional experience in mechanical, structural, and civil engineering. Dr. Khatami has been involved for more than 30 years in the design and permitting of civil/solid waste/environmental projects such as surface water management systems, drainage structures, municipal solid waste landfills, hazardous solid waste landfills, low-level radioactive waste landfills, leachate and wastewater conveyance and treatment systems, gas management systems, hazardous waste impoundments, storage tank systems, waste tire processing facilities, composting facilities, material recovery facilities, landfill gas collection and disposal systems, leachate evaporator systems, and liquid impoundment floating covers. Dr. Khatami has acquired extensive experience and knowledge in the areas of geology, hydrogeology, hydrology, hydraulics, construction methods, material science, construction quality assurance (CQA), and stability of earth systems. Dr. Khatami has applied this experience in the siting of numerous landfills.
William Richardson, EIT is Project Professional at SCS, and part of our Young Professionals organization. Will has two years of experience with landfill design projects, including permit modifications and siting requirements. He is currently working in Virginia Beach under the tutelage of Dr. Khatami.
Landfills are large and dynamic systems that can take several decades to develop. Unlike many other infrastructure projects that have a beginning and an end to the construction of the project, landfills constantly grow and change due to many factors, including but not limited to:
From an engineering perspective, it is very common to see changes to the engineering team over time. Each team brings about their ideas and preferences to the operator, and if they present technically competent and economically solid ideas, they can change the course of the landfill development. The course change could be shaped by what will get constructed, how it will get constructed, when it will get constructed, and what sequence it will get constructed. In most cases, the owner is in the loop, but the owner may not be intimately familiar with the nuances that such designs and modifications entail. Therefore, the owner may not necessarily realize hidden problems or mishaps that may happen in the future, which could be prevented by the engineer at an earlier stage of work.
Competent engineers starting work at an existing landfill site for the first time need to review years of data to become familiar with the history of the site before they can begin design work. The history of the site involves, but is not limited to, land use approvals, permitting, designs, modifications, environmental impacts, subsurface conditions, environmental improvements, leachate and gas collection and disposal, existing and future planned developments, operation requirements, and many other features that vary from site to site. Without such knowledge, the engineer is working in the dark without the owner’s knowledge that the engineer’s path lacks familiarity with details. Work products generated by an engineer with limited familiarity with the site are, at best, not reliable. Even potentially having significant impacts on the owner to fix issues that otherwise are preventable with sufficient due diligence.
For example, tasking an engineer to close a portion of the landfill, the engineer must investigate any plans set for landfill development, in the area planned to close. The engineer and owner can discuss any problems discovered by the engineer’s early due diligence, and solutions will be developed and adopted to address issues during the design. This level of due diligence provides the opportunity to generate sound designs and develops a level of confidence in the engineer in the mind of the owner.
SCS landfill design professionals train regularly to be thorough and comprehensive in their familiarization with a site. They spend significant effort to foresee potential problems that might arise many years down the road and find solutions for them now.
About the Authors:
Ali Khatami, Ph.D., PE, LEP, CGC, is a Project Director and a Vice President of SCS Engineers. He is also our National Expert for Landfill Design, Construction Quality Assurance, and Elevated Temperature Landfills. He has over 40 years of research and professional experience in mechanical, structural, and civil engineering. Dr. Khatami has been involved for more than 30 years in the design and permitting of civil/solid waste/environmental projects such as surface water management systems, drainage structures, municipal solid waste landfills, hazardous solid waste landfills, low-level radioactive waste landfills, leachate and wastewater conveyance and treatment systems, gas management systems, hazardous waste impoundments, storage tank systems, waste tire processing facilities, composting facilities, material recovery facilities, landfill gas collection and disposal systems, leachate evaporator systems, and liquid impoundment floating covers. Dr. Khatami has acquired extensive experience and knowledge in the areas of geology, hydrogeology, hydrology, hydraulics, construction methods, material science, construction quality assurance (CQA), and stability of earth systems. Dr. Khatami has applied this experience in the siting of numerous landfills.
William Richardson, EIT is Project Professional at SCS, and part of our Young Professionals organization. Will has two years of experience with landfill design projects, including permit modifications and siting requirements. He is currently working in Virginia Beach under the tutelage of Dr. Khatami.
On Tuesday, November 10th, SCS Engineers announced the promotion of Sandra Ripplinger to Director of Health & Safety. Sandy will oversee all industrial health and safety guidance and training for the SCS employee-owners in her expanded role, reporting to the Board of Directors and Chief Financial Officer Curtis Jang.
Ms. Ripplinger is a Board Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) and Safety Professional (CSP) with three decades of experience providing occupational and environmental health and safety services. She is currently also a Project Director with SCS’s Environmental Health Services Practice in Henderson, Nevada.
Her experience includes providing industrial hygiene expertise for industrial facility health and safety audits, process safety management audits, training, environmental evaluations preventing worker exposure. “Sandy has done a great job strengthening our clients’ safety programs and evaluating the risks to prevent accidents,” said Curtis Jang. “She is a strong leader, and I’m confident she will guide our employees with ever-smarter Industrial Health and Safety (IHS) protocols.”
“I am looking forward to working with our team of business unit directors and IHS professionals, continuing to make improvements that benefit our staff and clients,” Ripplinger said. “Safety and industrial safety are an important part of people’s lives, and SCS is committed to continuing delivery of our services in line with legal compliance, industry guidelines, and our clients’ business needs.”
Marion County has awarded SCS the planning, designing, permitting, bid phase services, construction quality assurance (CQA) services, and construction contract management for the approximately 50-acre baseline landfill cell No. 3 closure. The County sought a firm specializing in solid waste, with landfill closure experience in Florida to provide the required design and permitting services, and with the in-house capability to conduct the construction quality assurance (CQA) services required during construction. The entire project is estimated to take three years to complete, with construction spanning multiple rainy seasons.
Weather-related issues during closure construction are one of the critical factors to address. An overly aggressive contractor could strip too large of an existing vegetative area, try to place too much protective cover material over the barrier layer system; either can potentially cause significant erosion during rain events.
The County’s concern about CQA is to prevent placing the protective cover material over the newly installed barrier layer system. Should an unqualified contractor replace the protective cover material on the barrier layer, it will increase construction time and increase the potential for damage to the system. This damage is often not found until the contractor has demobilized from the site, and the facility begins to conduct the required surface emissions monitoring. The resulting repairs to the barrier layer are often a cost the owner incurs, not the contractor.
Based on decades of experience designing, building, and operating landfills, the SCS CQA professionals prevent these types of construction mistakes. Working closely with contractors to ensure construction events are thought through to the operations phases while providing recommendations if the construction plan may encounter potential issues.
“Our entire team is excited to have the opportunity to continue serving Marion County, especially with a project of this magnitude and importance to Marion County,” said Shane Fischer, a vice president with the SCS team. “Our professionals are committed to delivering the highest quality engineering and construction services possible for the long-term success of the project.”
Additional information at:
Complementing the Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council’s – ITRC, PFAS Technical and Regulatory Guidance, the website now has ITRC Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances – PFAS, and Risk Communication Fact Sheets available. The site and updated content replace older fact sheets with more detailed information and useful for those who wish to understand the discovery and manufacturing of PFAS, information about emerging health and environmental concerns, and PFAS releases to the environment with naming conventions and federal and state regulatory programs.
SCS Engineers’ professionals recommend further reading to understand specific chemicals or subgroups of chemicals under study to comprehend PFAA behavior in the environment. There are appropriate tools to develop a site-specific sampling and analysis program and considerations for site characterizations following a PFAS release.
We combine ITRC resources and our own to compile an updated library that we hope you find helpful. You can always contact one of our local Liquids Management or Landfill professionals too.
PFAS Behavior in the Environment
PFAS Concerns
PFAS Evaluations
PFAS Remediation
The Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council (ITRC) is a state-led coalition working to reduce barriers to the use of innovative air, water, waste, and remediation environmental technologies and processes. ITRC documents and training can support quality regulatory decision making while protecting human health and the environment. ITRC has public and private sector members from all 50 states and the District of Columbia and is a program of the Environmental Research Institute of the States (ERIS), a 501(c)(3) organization incorporated in the District of Columbia and managed by the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS).
ITRC Goals
SCS Engineers
The International Solid Waste Association – ISWA, published a comprehensive report completed by SCS Engineers for ISWA under the Climate and Clean Air – CCAC, on reducing Short-Lived Climate Pollutants. A CCAC Solid Waste Emissions Estimation Tool – called SWEET, was used to investigate waste sector emissions of short-lived climate pollutants -termed SLCPs, and other greenhouse gases – GHGs.
Data was collected where multiple waste management scenarios in Tyre Caza, Lebanon. Publications on waste management in Lebanon, including an Integrated Waste Management Plan and Updated Master Plan for the closure and rehabilitation of uncontrolled dumpsites throughout Lebanon, provided data that were used in this study along with updated information provided by Lebanon’s Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform.
Different management options for reducing emissions of SLCPs over the short- and medium-term. Comparing emissions reductions achieved by implementing a range of programs over a meaningful time horizon provide greater clarity of vision to see which strategies produce the most climate benefits and are worth a high level of effort and the commitment of resources to achieve.
SWEET is designed to be used by solid waste planning professionals worldwide. It allows some degree of flexibility in selecting key inputs, which gives it greater control and ability to reflect local conditions but adds a level of complexity that may be difficult for some users to navigate. While offering users control of some model assumptions, SWEET includes many calculations and assumptions that are necessarily fixed and can produce unintended results given the model’s limitations. In addition, the assignment of input data that appropriately reflects actual and expected conditions can be challenging, especially when there is a large amount of information to be considered.
The reports on solid waste management in Lebanon and Tyre Caza following the waste management crisis provided multiple sources of data that required evaluation and processing before being used in SWEET.
Click here to read, share, and download the report, ESTIMATION OF WASTE SECTOR GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS IN TYRE CAZA, LEBANON, USING THE SOLID WASTE EMISSIONS ESTIMATION TOOL (SWEET)
ISWA and CCAC will be sponsoring a training workshop on the use of SWEET in the future. For advice and guidance using SWEET contact Alex Stege, SCS Engineers Senior Project Advisor, and Expert on Landfill Gas Modeling.
SCS Engineers’ Gomathy Radhakrishna Iyer explains, “The structure of PFAs is a carbon and fluorine bond, and that bond is considered one of the strongest in nature. For industry, Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC), a volatile derivative of methane, ethane, and propane, creates problems globally after they’ve been released. Chlorofluorocarbons are strong greenhouse gases and are also responsible for the destruction of stratospheric ozone.
The most publicized of these compounds are those used as coolants in refrigeration and air conditioners, as propellants in spray cans and similar products, and as solvents for industrial purposes. Chlorofluorocarbons are far less abundant than carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Still, they are 10,000 times more potent as a greenhouse gas and can remain in the atmosphere for more than 45 to 100 years. Reference
Iyer continues, “PFAS has the same kind of carbon-fluorine bond as CFC but linked to several C-F bonds like a chain making them even more inert and hard to degrade. Breaking this bond is what makes finding effective leachate treatments challenging, but certainly possible.”
It takes a savvy engineer to design safe and effective systems. We’re very proud of our Young Professionals like Gomathy – they’re smart and continue learning with the guidance of our VEPs – very experienced professionals.
Open positions at SCS Engineers for YPs and VEPs
President, Michele Nestor
Vice President, Denise Wessels
Secretary, Tom Lock
Treasurer, Matthew Foltz
Private Sector Directors: Jill Hamill, Carolyn Witwer
Public Sector Directors: Scott McGrath and Scot Sample
Young Professionals Director: Brandon Comer
Chapter International Board Member: Robert Watts
The Solid Waste Association of North America – SWANA organization is comprised of public and private sector professionals committed to advancing solid waste management, safety, and resource management through their shared emphasis on education, advocacy, and research. Keystone SWANA serves industry professionals through technical conferences, certifications, publications, and a large offering of technical training courses which in turn keep our communities and environmental resources healthier.
