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coincided with an increase in total C02
evolution. This was not observed in the
PCP study as the system cooled more
rapidly. There was no significant
difference in cumulative C02 from the
PCP- and PCNB-treated composts during the
initial 22 days (Fig. 4). The PCNB study
continued for an additional 38 days until
its temperature returned to room
temperature.
The constant temperature respiration
experiments which included sludge-wood-
chip mixtures both with and without PCP
or PCNB indicated that these chemicals
had no significant effect on the decom-
position process as determined by total
C02 evolution (Fig. 5, 6, and 7). The
total C02-C per 100 g dry material was
the same, or less, for untreated versus
the PCP- or PCNB-treated mixture. In
comparing cumulative C02-C from the
constant temperature experiment with that
from the I.e., there was no substantial
difference based upon 100 g dry weight,
which indicates that decomposition of
carbonaceous materials at high tempera-
tures was not more rapid than at 25 C.
(Fig.4)
The cumulative C02-C data indicated
that the PCP or PCNB at 50 mg/kg concen-
tration did not affect the decomposition
of the sludge-woodchip mixture. Decom-
position rates (g C02-C/24 hr) were in
the 5 to 7 range which approximates that
recorded in several previous studies
(Sikora et al., 1982). The constant
temperature respiration studies indicated
that the PCP- or PCNB-treated samples had
decomposition rates equal to the
unamended controls (Fig. 4).
Recovery of 14C as 14CQ9 from
Pentachlorophenol
Peak 14C recovery as 14C02 in
the composting of the PCP-treated mixture
occurred on day 11 with increases in
activity starting on day 4 (Fig. 2). A
steady decrease in 14C02 evolution
occurred after day 11. Peak 14C02
evolution did not coincide with the
maximum total C02 evolution which
occurred on days 4 and 5. Peak
activity did take place while tempera-
tures were above 60 C which indicated
that a thermophilic population may be
involved in the degradation of the PCP
molecule. The percentage recovery of the
added 14c-PCP as 14C02 was approxi-
mately 2.3%.
Degradation of PCP under constant
temperature conditions resulted in
distinct 14C02 peaks during the first
week of incubation (Fig. 5). This was
followed by a relatively constant level
of 14C02 production until day 20, at
which point there was an increased level
^4C02 evolution. This latter
increase coincided with an increased
total C02 output. These data suggest
that the microbial population in the
sludge-woodchip mixture may have adapted
to the degradation and metabolism of PCP.
The percentage recovery of the added
14C-PCP was approximately 2.6%,
slightly higher than the recovery from
the laboratory composter. These data
correlated with total C02 data which
indicated a slightly higher cumulative
C02 from the constant temperature
versus the laboratory composter studies
(Fig. 4).
Recovery of 14C as 14CQ2 from
Pentachloronitrobenzene
The recovery of 14C02 from the
compost studies was similar to that
observed in the PCP studies for the first
23 days (Fig. 3). The maximum 14C02
rate appeared near day 11 and declined
thereafter to near day 22 when an
increase was observed. A secondary peak
was recorded on day 35 followed by a
decline and another peak on day 45, which
coincided with an increase in total C02
and temperature at that time. The
largest peak occurred at a temperature of
80 C, which indicated that some
degradation of PCNB may have been by
thermophilic organisms. The secondary
peak occurred at temperatures of 63 and
55 C which is still in the thermophilic
range.
The evolution of 14C02 from PCNB
under constant temperature conditions
coincided closely with the increases and
decreases of total C02 evolution (Fig.
6). The percent recovery for ^4C as
C02 in the constant temperature and
composting systems were about the same
377
-------
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-A PCP AMEND.-COMPOST
-D PCP AMEND.-RESP.
10
20 30 40
TIME (days)
50
60
Fig. 4 Cumulative C02-C based on 100 g (dry weight) recorded from mixtures in
constant-temperature respirometer or laboratory composter.
378
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(2.06% versus 1.97%, respectively)
suggesting that degradation at mesophilic
versus thermophilic temperatures was
approximately equal. Although there was
a minor increase in 1^C02 evolution
on day 23, there was no further major
increase in ^COj evolution such as
was observed at the conclusion of the PCP
experiment (Fig. 5).
DISCUSSION
Methods have been developed to
determine the degradation rates of
organic compounds under both composting
and constant temperature conditions which
will aid in evaluating the relative
effects of composting as a means of
treating hazardous industrial wastes.
Degradation of 14C-PCP and
14C-PCNB with evolution of 14C02
occurred under both thermophilic and
mesophilic conditions. In the laboratory
composter, degradation of both compounds
was maximum around day 11, 2 to 3 days
after the total C02 maximum was
recorded. Degradation of PCP and PCNB to
C02 normally involves several steps,
possibly by different groups of
microorganisms, and this mechanism may
have resulted in a delayed ^4C02 peak
past the peak total C02 activity.
The preliminary data presented herein
indicated that PCP and PCNB can possibly
be degraded by thermophilic organisms in
a compost environment, but that
degradation may have proceeded at about
the same rate as in the constant
temperature system. The data also
indicated that a concentration of 50
mg/kg of PCP or PCNB did not inhibit
degradation of carbonaceous materials in
the constant temperature or composting
systems. In fact, a stimulation of C02
evolution was recorded, similar to what
Doyle (1979) recorded in manure or sludge
amended soils.
In conclusion, preliminary data
indicate that PCP and PCNB may degrade at
about the same rate under composting as
constant temperature, aerobic
conditions. Thus, composting could
possibly be used as a means of treating
PCP or PCNB containing materials. Data
which still remain to be collected on
these samples are byproducts formed
during composting versus constant
temperature degradation, analyses for
nitrogen compounds, and determination of
byproducts in condensates collected
during composting.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This study was performed under
Interagency Agreement No. AD-12-F-0-055-0
between the U.S. Department of
Agriculture and U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency. The authors
acknowledge the guidance and support of
Dr. Richard Mahler, Project Officer, and
Dr. Carlton Wiles of the Municipal
Environmental Research Laboratory.
REFERENCES
Deever, W. R., and R. C. White. 1978.
Composting petroleum refinery sludges.
Texaco, Inc., Port Arthur, TX. 24 p.
Doyle, R. D. 1979. The effect of dairy
manure and sewage sludge on pesticide
degradation in soil. Ph.D. Dissertation
Univ. of MD., College Park, MD.
Epstein, E., and J. E. Alpert. 1980.
Enhanced biodegradation of oil and
hazardous residues. _Iin Proc. Conf. on
Oil and Hazardous Material Spills.
Information Transfer, Inc., Silver
Spring, MD.
Mullins, D. E., J. A. Petruska, R. W.
Nicholson, E. R. Collins, and R. W.
Young. 1981. Preliminary studies
evaluating composting as a means for
pesticide disposal, pp. 283-290. _[n_
Land Disposal: Hazardous Waste. Proc.
Seventh Ann. Res. Symp., Philadelphia, PA.
Parr, J. F., and S. Smith. 1969. A
multipurpose manifold assembly: use in
evaluating microbiological effects of
pesticides. Soil Sci. 107:271-280.
Rose, W. W., and W. A. Mercer. 1968.
Fate of pesticides in composted
agricultural wastes. National Canners
Association, Washington, D.C. 27 p.
Sikora, L. J., M. A. Ramirez, and T. A.
Troeschel. (1982) Design and evaluation
of a self-heating laboratory composter.
(Submitted to J. Environ. Qua!.).
382
-------
THE FATE OF MUTAGENIC COMPOUNDS WHEN HAZARDOUS WASTES ARE LAND TREATED
K. W. Brown, K. C. Donnelly and B. Scott
Texas Agricultural Experiment Station
Soil and Crop Sciences Department
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas 77843
ABSTRACT
Land treatment may well be one of the most economical and environmentally sound
methods of waste disposal. In order for land treatment to become a viable alternative,
a system is needed for evaluating waste degradation which can be used to determine the
environmental fate of mutagenic, carcinogenic, or teratogenic constituents of wastes
which are disposed of by land treatment. Such a system is needed in order to prevent
contamination of the environment and possible transmission of genetic defects to future
generations. A battery of three short-term bioassays are being investigated in the
development of a program for evaluating hazardous waste degradation. Initially, the
cytoxic effects of ten wastes were evaluated in Aspergillus ni-dulans, Bacillus subtilis,
and Salmonella typhimuriwri. From the ten original wastes, three were selected for
chemical fractionation and characterization of the mutagenic activity of the subfractions
in the three biological systems. The three wastes selected for the characterization
phase of the project include a wood-preserving bottom sediment, methyl ethyl ketone
waste, and the liquid stream from the acetonitrile purification column. Biological
analysis indicated that the most genotoxic waste was the wood-preserving bottom sediment.
This waste induced a strong positive response in all three bioassays. The methyl ethyl
ketone waste induced genetic damage in the Aspepgillus bioassay only, while the
acetonitrile waste induced genetic damage in all three bioassays.
INTRODUCTION
Land application of waste is a
method of disposal which when properly
designed provides for the recycling of
nutrients and water while toxic organic
constituents are retained and degraded in
the upper layer of soil. Soil disposal of
hazardous waste is restricted by EPA
regulations to include only those wastes
which are rendered less or non-hazardous
by land treatment. This research was
begun in order to develop a series of
biological test systems which can be used
both to evaluate the effect of land
application on the hazardous characteris-
tics of a waste, and as a monitoring tool
for a land treatment facility.
The use of chemical analysis alone
is insufficient for several reasons.
First, it is difficult, if not impossible
to predict the synergistic, antagonistic,
or additive interactions of the components
of a complex mixture from chemical
analysis alone. In addition, certain
chemicals may be broken down into meta-
bolites that are more toxic than the
parent compound (Wright, 1980). Under
such circumstances, a chemical analysis
would indicate degradation of the parent
compound, but would not necessarily
provide an indication of the increased
toxicity of the partially degraded
metabolite. Finally, in some instances,
microbial activity can form genotoxic
compounds from non-toxic precursors, such
as occurs when nitrosamines are formed
from nitrite and primary amines in sewage
sludge (Alexander, 1981). The analytical
383
-------
scheme which is being developed utilizes
biological analysis to detect mutagenic
samples, followed by a chemical analysis
to define the composition of the mutagenic
sample. Such a combined testing protocol
has been employed by Rao et_al., (1981) to
identify mutagenic fractions of synthetic
fuels, by Nestman et_ al_. , (1980) to
identify the mutagenic constituents of a
pulp and paper wastewater, and by Tabor
and Loper (1980) to identify the mutagenic
constituents in drinking water.
In order to provide maximum sensiti-
vity in the bioassays, a battery of test
systems are being investigated. The bio-
logical systems which are being evaluated
in the current study were selected to
detect a range of genetic damage including
point mutations, various types of chromo-
some damage, and inhibition of DNA repair.
The complete group of bioassays utilized
in this study, and the type of genetic
damage which they detect are given in
Table 1. These test systems were selected
to respond to the various types of genetic
damage, to detect the anticipated compounds
in the wastes, and to provide for the
incorporation of metabolic activation in
the standard testing protocol. All of the
test protocols include provisions for
solvent controls and positive controls.
These controls demonstrate the sensitivity
of the test system, the functioning of the
metabolic activation system, and also act
as an internal control for the biological
system.
This research project is being
conducted in three phases. In the waste
characterization phase, the acute toxicity
of ten hazardous wastes were evaluated in
the three microbial systems. The acute
toxicity characterization is being
followed by a characterization of the
genetic toxicity of waste subfractions in
order to select three wastes for use in the
greenhouse and lysimeter study. The
objectives of the greenhouse study (Phase
II) are to evaluate the genetic toxicity
of three wastes which have been applied to
two different soils, to monitor movement
and/or translocation of mutagenic waste
constituents into runoff water or plants,
and to monitor degradation of mutagenic
waste constituents in soil.
In Phase III of the project, two
wastes will be applied to two soils
contained in 55 gallon lysimeters. The
goals of the lysimeter study are to
evaluate the genetic toxicity of two
hazardous wastes applied to two soils.
Three short-term bioassays will be
utilized to monitor leachate water quality
as well as movement and degradation of
mutagenic waste constituents in soil.
This report will discuss the results
obtained thus far in Phase I (Waste
Characterization) and the initial results
from Phase II (Greenhouse Study).
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Soil
Two soils were selected to represent
a range of soil textures. These soils
were a Norwood sandy clay (Typic Udiflu-
vent) and a Bastrop clay (Udic Paleustalf).
The characteristics of these soils are
given in Table 2. Soils were analyzed
for mutagenic activity using the
Salfnonella/m'Lc'cosQme. assay only.
Waste
Ten wastes were initially selected
for the project (Table 3). Criteria for
the selection of the wastes were the
wastes amenability to land treatment and
large volume of production. The acute
toxic effects of each waste were evaluated
in three bioassays.
Fractional survival was determined
for the crude extract of all ten wastes
using at least one strain in each of the
microbial bioassays. Overnight cultures
of the appropriate strain were grown to
a cell density of approximately 1 x 10.9
cells per ml and serially diluted from
10"1 through 10-6. TO 2.0 ml of top agar,
0.1 ml of the microbial culture and 0.1
ml of the crude extract of each waste
were added, mixed on a vortex mixer, and
plated on a complete medium. Cells were
exposed to a minimum of four dose levels
of the crude extract. The plates were
incubated for 24 hours at 37°C and
fractional survival (N/NO) determined by
comparing cell counts on exposed plates
to the cell count on plates exposed to
the solvent DMSO without the waste extract.
Three of the 10 wastes were then selected
for characterization of the chronic toxic
effects and for use in the greenhouse and
lysimeter study.
384
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TABLE 1. BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS USED TO DETECT CEUOTOXIC COHPOUNDS IN HAZAKDOUS WASTE
Genetic Event
Organ! ora Detected Advantage^
PRQKARYOTES
subtilis damage in DMA cid^s, inorganics; can
repair deficient evaluate several DMA
strains. repair mechanisms ; large
data base.
typhimurium defined; end- point.
Di s ad van t ages
tiles; difficult to
quantify .
tiles; toxic mutagens,
certain chlorinated
hydrocarbon i>.
References
(1979).
Kada et al.
Tanooka et
(1978).
Skopek B £ i.
(1978).
liaroun dnd
(J981).
.,(1974)
al.,
-ii . ,
Ames,
WHOLE PLANTS
Trad&soctnti-a ap.
Glyaine max
Point mutation;
chromosome
damage.
Point mutations;
chromosome
damage.
Detects range of genetic
damage including terra-
togens; good correlation
in compounds tested;
chromosome organization
similar to humans.
Trculssctmtia sensitive
to volatiles; cnroraobome
organization faimiiar to
humans; good correlation
in compounds tested.
Linited data base;
inbufficient
number of trained
peryonnd,
Limited data ba&e;
cannot utilize
mammalian metabolism;
cell wall impermeable
to some compounds.
Scott et aZ.,(1982)
Scott et al., (1978).
Bjgnami el al,,
(1981).
Nauman et al., (1976).
Vlg, (1975).
TABLE 2. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE UNAMEHDEU SOILS USED IN THE GREENHOUSE AND LYSIMETER STUDY
i<_ Activity
!(evertants/mg Revertant6/m;;
Soil
Series
Norwood
Bastrop
Sand Silt Clay Organic % Moisture
, Matter _„ ,«,* ur tf c«Tttl
48.2 15.2 36.6 1.4 7.69 12 18 33
60.3 10.0 29.7 1.0 6.86 6 22 25
of Organic
Extract of the Soil
47
365
Soil
.028
.292
t UP - Wilting Point.
tt FC - Field Capacity.
ttt SAT- Saturated.
Dichloromethane was selected from a
group of agents to extract the organic
fractions of the wastes and the soil, since
it consistently provided the greatest
extraction efficiency for the wastes used
(McGill and Rowell, 1980). Six volumes of
dichloromethane were added to the waste or
waste soil mixture and mixed in a Waring
blender for thirty seconds. This extrac-
tion was repeated twice or until the
extracting solvent remained colorless.
Solvent extractions were then combined and
taken to dryness on a Brinkman Bucci Rotary
Evaporator. The residue from this extrac-
tion was partitioned into acid, base, and
neutral fractions following the scheme
outlined in Figure 1. The neutral fraction
of each waste was further separated into
four subtractions using sequential solvent
extraction on a silica gel column. This
extraction approximately separated the
neutral fraction into saturate, aromatic,
and condensed ring fractions according to
the procedures of Warner et_ al. , (1976) .
Biological Analysis
The ability of samples to induce
genetic damage was measured in three micro-
bial systems (Table 1). Th.i bioassay using
an eukaryotic organism, Aspergillus
nidulans (a fungus) can be used to detect
point mutations and small deletions induced
385
-------
in a haploid genome, or can be used as a
diploid organism to detect chromosome
abberations, mitotic recombination, gene
mutation, non-disjunction, recombinogenic
events, recessive lethals, and spindle
poisons. These systems are capable of
detecting changes in the genetic entity
that are of relevance to the human species
and are sensitive to compounds not detect-
ed in the Salmonella assay (Lilly, 1965;
Scott et. al., 1978; Scott et &\^. , 1982).
In the first phase of this study, the
Aspergillus bioassay will be used to
assess the mutagenic potential of the acid,
base, and neutral fractions of hazardous
industrial wastes by evaluating the induc-
tion of mutations at the methionine
suppressor loci. Conidia from a different
single colony of the laethGl biAl
(requiring methionine and biotin) Glasgow
strain of Aspergillus nidulans grown for
5-6 days on a complete medium at 37°C were
used for each experiment. Using the
methionine system, a response is consider-
ed positive if there is a positive slope
on the mutation induction curve, or the
induced mutation frequency for at least
two exposures is more than twice the
spontaneous mutation frequency. Samples
were tested at a minimum of three dose
levels and four exposure times. The proce-
dures used were the same as Scott et al.
(1978). Mutant colonies were assayed by
spreading exposed cells on a methionine
free medium. Mutant colonies were scored
after incubation for 5 days at 37°C.
Colonies were divided by physical appear-
ance into three classes, A, B, and C; and
the total number of mutant colonies. Using
the methionine system, mutant colonies can
be divided into three classes, each of
which involves two genes. The colony
morphology of Class A colonies appear
green, Class B brown, and Class C green
with a white hyaline edge. The frequency
of mutations induced by a sample was
determined by subtracting from the total
mutation frequency in Classes A, B, C and
the total, the frequency of spontaneous
mutations which occurred in Classes A,B,C,
or the total. A sample was considered
mutagenic if there was a positive slope on
the mutation induction curve, or the
induced mutation frequency for at least
two exposure times was more than twice the
spontaneous mutation frequency. Positive
controls included 8-methoxpsoralen (Sigma,
St. Louis, MO) plus near UV light without
activation, and benzo(a)pyrene (Aldrich,
Milwaukee, WI), with metabolic activation.
A microbial DNA repair assay was used
to measure the capacity of a sample to
produce increased lethal damage in DNA
repair deficient strains. Six different
strains of B. subtilis deficient in
different recombination (Rec ) and/or
excision (Exc ) repair were used to test
for lethal DHA damage. These included the
Rec~ strains rec A8_, rec B2, rec E4, mc-1;
Exc~ strain hcr-9; and Rec~, Exc~ strain
fh 2006-7. All of these strains are
subti-lii
isogenic with
has all repair intact.
strain 168 which
These strains were
kindly supplied by Dr. I. C. Felkner of
Clements Assoc., Washington, B.C. Over-
night cultures were grown in brain-heart
infusion broth (Difco, Detroit, Ml)
incubated at 37°C. Each strain was streak-
ed radially on a nutrient agar plate to a
centrally placed sensitivity disc contain-
ing 100 pi of the test chemical. After
incubation at 37°C for 18 hours, the
distance of growth inhibition from the
disc was measured in millimeters (Kada
et al., 1974). A response was considered
positive if the distance of growth inhi-
bition was more than 2.5 mm greater in
one of the repair deficient strains than
in the repair proficient strain 168.
Mitomycin C (Sigma), methylmethane sulp-
honate (Aldrich), and sensitivity to
ultraviolet light, were used as appro-
priate positive controls. Quadruplicate
plates were run at each dose level for all
samples.
Fractional survival (N/N ) was
determined for those strains showing the
greatest sensitivity (inhibition) to the
test chemical. Brain heart infusion broth
was inoculated with the appropriate strain,
incubated at 37°C for approximately 16 h
until an OD ,_ of 0.3 was reached
(approximately 1.2 x 10^ cells per ml).
The cells were then diluted with brain
heart infusion media to an OD,.,., of 1.16
(approximately 1.2 x 10$ cells per ml);
serially diluted with Spizizen's Minimal
Salts from 10"^ through 10~6 and plated
onto nutrient agar (Felkner _et_ _al. , 1979).
The 5aZ.moneZ.Za/microsome assay as
described by Ames £t_ al., (1975) was used
to measure the ability of a sample to
revert strains of bacteria to histidine
protrophy. The subfractions of three
wastes were tested with strain TA 98, a
386
-------
TABLE 3. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE HAZARDOUS WASTE
Waste
EPA NO.
Physical % Oil & Suspected Genotoxic
State Grease Constituents
Dissolved Air
Floatation Float (DAF) K048
Slop-Oil Emulsion
Solids (SOE) K049
Combo Sludge
(API Separator and K051
Wastewater Treatment)
Storm-Water Runoff
Silt (SWRI)
Liquid Stream from
Acetonitrile Purifica- K013
tion Column (ACN)
Methyl Ethyl Ketone
(MEK)
Bio-Solids-Phenol K022
Bio-Solids-Ag. Chem.
Wood-Preserving
Bottom Sediments
(Penta-S) K001
Wood-Preserving
Wastewater
Sludge 5
Slurry 89
Sludge 41
Polynuclear
Aromatic hydro-
carbons
Sludge
Liquid
Slurry
Liquid
Liquid
Sludge
Liquid
21
1.8
97
0.2
0.2
27
Polynuclear
Aromatic hydro-
carbons
Polynuclear
Aromatic hydro-
carbons
Ac etamide
Methyl cyanide
Phenols
Biocides
Pentachlorophenol
dioxin, Poly-
nuclear Aromatic
Hydrocarbons
Pentachlorophenol
dioxin, Poly-
nuclear Aromatic
Hydrocarbons
frameshift mutant, and TA 100, a base-
pair mutant, which were kindly supplied
by Dr. B, N. Ames of University of
California at Berkeley, Berkeley, Calif.
Overnight cultures were grown in Oxoid
No. 2 (KG Biological, Lenexa, KA) at 37°C.
Samples were tested in the two strains at
a minimum of four dose levels with and
without metabolic activation from Aroclor-
1254 induced rat liver from Litton Bione-
tics (Kensington, MD). Positive controls
as well as solvent and sterility controls
were run. The control which was used to
verify metabolic activation was 10 yg
2-acetylaminoflourine (Sigma)*, while
* Mention of brand names does not
constitute endorsement.
387
-------
CRUDE SAMPLE IN MECi_2
EXTRACT WITH
NAOH
ORGANIC
AQUEOUS 2
I BASE AND NEUTRALS
hXTRACT
I
2N NAOH AQUEOUS
_L
N HO.
ACID
WITH IN HCL
EXTRACT
BASE
EXTRACT WITH PIECL2
ORGANIC AQUEOUS
MECL2
ORGANIC
AQUEOUS
1
J\NE
SlLIC
I PE
it M
Figure 1. Fractionation scheme for waste-amended soils.
positive controls for TA 98 and TA 100 were
25 ug 2-nitrofluorine and 2 ug N-methyl-N*-
nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine, respectively. A
sample was considered to be mutagenic in
the Salmonella assay if the number of
mutant colonies at two successive dose
levels were more than twice the number of
spontaneous mutations which occurred in
the presence of the solvent alone. In
order to differentiate histidine- indepen-
dent mutants from non-mutated survivors of
a toxic sample, selected mutant colonies
were transferred to a histidine free
medium.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Waste Characterization
The acute toxicity of eight hazardous
industrial wastes in three biological
systems are presented in Figures 2A-D and
3A-D. These studies were conducted in
order to establish maximum dose levels for
the chronic toxicity study, and to
determine the potential short-term effects
of waste application on bacteria and fungi.
The acute toxicity of the bio-solids
phenol and bio-solids Ag. chem. wastes
are not included in these figures because
these wastes had very low organics
content and almost no toxic effect in the
bioassays at the levels tested. Thus, it
was concluded that these wastes were not
of value to the project. For most of the
wastes studied, the toxic effects were
greatest in prokaryotic Salmonella and
Bacillus; and least in eukaryotic diploid
Aspergillus. Only the crude extract of
the methyl ethyl ketone waste (Figure 3B)
was more toxic in the eukaryotic system
than in the systems using prokaryotic
organisms. For the Aspergillus system,
only the wood-preserving liquid waste
(Figure 2C) exhibited a definite increase
in toxicity with increasing dose of the
waste, while the slop-oil emulsion solids
exhibited a slight increase in toxicity
with increasing dose. For the Salmonella
and Bacillus systems, all waste extracts
studied produced an increase in toxicity
with increasing dose. At least one dose
level was determined for each waste at
which less than 10% of the exposed prokar-
yotic cells survived. This dose will be
388
-------
STrPHIMURIUM {HAPLOID TAIOO)
B SUSrlLIS (HAPLOtD 160 wt )
A N1DULANSI DIPLOID)
DOSE/PLATE (mg)
<" 40
S^TVPHIMUHIUM (HAPLOID TAIOO)
B_SUBTILIS I HAPLOID I6B»I)
A NIOULANS (OIPLOID)
DOSE/ PLATE (mg)
Figure 2a. Percent survival of B. subtilis
strain 168, S. typhimuvium
strain TA 100, and A. nidulans
Diploid 109. The cells were
plated on a complete medium
after exposure to various con-
centrations of wood-preserving
bottom sediments waste. The
percent survival (N/No x 100%)
was then determined.
Figure 2b. Percent survival of B. subtilis
strain 168. S. typhimuyium
strain rA 100, and A. nidulans
Diploid 109. The cells were
plated on a complete medium
acetonitrile purification
column waste. The percent
survival (N/No x 100%) was then
determined.
sjrvpimiyniuM ( HAPLOID TA 100)
B SUBTILIS (HAPLOID 168 wt)
A NIOULANS t OIPLOID}
X S TYPHIMURIUM IHAPLOIO TA100 I
0 R SUBTIL^ (HAPLOIOI68»II
" A NIDULANS I DIPLOID)
DOSE /PLATE (mg)
DOSE/PLATE Img)
Figure 2c. Percent survival of B. subtilis
strain 168, S, typhimurium
strain TA 100, and A, nidulans
Diploid 109. The cells were
plated on a complete medium
after exposure to various con-
concentration of wood-preser-
ving liquid waste. The percent
survival (N/No x 100%) was then
determined.
used as the maximum dose level for all sub-
sequent testing with the waste as well as
with soil or water extract.
Figure 2d. Percent survival of B. subtilis
strain 168, S. typhimurium
strain TA 100, and A. nidulans
Diploid 109. The cells were
plated on a complete medium
after exposure to various con-
centrations of slop-oil emulsion
solids waste. The percent
survival (N/No x 100%) was then
determined.
The potential genotoxic effects of the
subfractions of three hazardous wastes are
being evaluated in three microbial assays.
389
-------
>
o:
<0 40
S TYPHIMURIyM{ HAPLOID TA100)
B^SUBTJLIS (HAPLOID 168 wt )
AJUDULANS (PIPLOID)
DOSE/PLATE (mo.)
Figure 3a. Percent survival of B. subtilis
strain 168T S. typhimurium
strain TA 100. and A. nidulans
Diploid 109. The cells were
plated on a complete medium
after exposure to various con-
centrations of dissolved air
floatation float waste. The
percent survival (N/No x 100%)
was then determined.
X S TYPHIMURIUM (HAPLOID TAIOOt
o B SUBTILIS (MAPLOIO 166*11
A A NIDULANS (OIPLOID)
0 ?_SUBT1LIS {HAPLOID 168 wl)
& A NKWLANS ( DIPLOID)
DOSE/PLATE(mq>
Figure 3b. Percent survival of B. subtilis
strain 168, 5. typhimur>ium
strain TA 100, and A. nidulans
Diploid 109. The cells were
plated on a complete medium
after exposure to various
concentrations of methyl ethyl
ketone waste. The percent
survival (N/No x 100%) was then
determined.
X S TYPHIMURIUM ( HAPLOIO TA IOO)
o BjiUBTU-IS (HAPLOIO 168.11
A A NIOULAN3 (DIPLOID)
nn<;F / PI ATF fmn)
DOSE/PLATE (mg)
Figure 3c. Percent survival of B. subtilis
strain 168, 5. typhimurium
strain TA 100, and A. nidulans
Diploid 109. The cells were
plated on a complete medium
after exposure to various
concentrations of storm-water
runoff impoundment waste. The
percent survival (N/No x 100%)
was then determined.
Figure 3d. Percent survival of B. subtilis
strain 168, S. typhimurium
strain TA 100, and A. nidulans
Diploid 109. The cells were
plated on a complete medium
after exposure to various
concentrations of combined API
separator/waste-water treatment
sludge waste. The percent
survival (N/No x 100%) was
then determined.
The distribution of mutagenic activi-
ty in the subfractions of the liquid
stream from the acetonitrile purification
column (ACN) is given in Table 4. These
results indicate the presence of both
direct and indirect acting mutagens in all
subfractions of the ACN waste. At the
highest dose level tested, the basic
390
-------
TABLE 4. MUTAOENIC ACTIVITY OF LIQUID STREAM FROM ACETOMITHILE
PURIFICATION COLUMH AS MEASURED WITH S. typhimunum
STRAIN TA98 AND TA100 WITH AND WITHOUT METABOLIC ACTIVATION
Strain
Sample Doae Level
(mg/plate)
Acid 5
2
1
0
0
0
.0
.5
.0
.5
.1
.01
Base 5.0
1
0
0
0
Neutral 10
5
1
0
0
.0
.5
.1
.01
.0
.0
.0
.1
.01
TA 98
TA 100
+ S.9 - S.9 + S.9
Revertant Colonies per nlate *~S.D.
*162
*122
* 45
30
30
20
*328
* 97
*62
35
20
*126
*106
* 55
J6
21
± 31
+ 2
+ 13
± 5
± 14
± *
± 5
i 32
± 1
t 15
± 2
± 10
± 21
± 5
± 19
+ 3
*69 -t 2.5
36 + 5
32 + 5
NT
15 ± 4
17 ± 4
*77 ± 12
36 ± 4
NT
20+1
17 ± 0
*67 ± 1
*55 ± 2
27 1 8
13 ± 1
15 ± 3
197
145
140
*366
173
120
140
*326
*289
87
97
79
±
NT
±
11T
+
NT
±
±
-
±
±
±
±
i
t
±
13
14
- S
188
149
85
.9
±
+
±
58
1
11
HT
18
76
4
18
8
47
15
34
39
25
80
80
109
112
92
87
131
102
93
85
±
+
i
±
-
±
+
±
-
i
i
*-
9
5
5
17
14
15
21
35
20
4
N.T. Hot tested.
* Significant Increase. (Greater than two times background).
fraction of the ACH waste induced a muta-
tion rate ten times background in strain
TA 98.
The results of testing the subtrac-
tions of the Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK)
waste in the Bacillus., Salmonella and
Aspergillus assays are presented in
Tables 5, 6 and 7, respectively. The
order of toxicity of the subfractions in
B. subtilis is acid>base>neutral; however,
one of the fractions induced increased
lethal damage in DNA repair deficient
strains. The acid fraction was considered
to be most toxic because it did induce a
slight increase in lethal damage in the
DNA repair deficient strain mc-1; and,
because at dose levels greater than 2.5mg
per plate, the toxic effects of the acid
fraction were such that no bacterial
growth was observed. In addition, none of
the MEK waste fractions induced a signifi-
cant increase in mutations in Salmonella
(Table 6). While the acid and neutral
fractions did induce a slight increase in
the mutation frequency for strain TA 98
with metabolic activation, the increase
was not greater than two times background.
The neutral fraction of the MEK waste did
induce an increase in the mutation
frequency in Aspepg-'llus. The results in
Table 7 show that after 80 min exposure,
the total induced mutation frequency was
thirty times greater than the total
induced mutation frequency at time 0.
The results with the methyl ethyl ketone
waste indicates that none of the waste
fraction interfere with DNA repair or are
capable of inducing point mutations in
S. typhimurium. Preliminary results do
however indicate that the constituent(s)
of the neutral fraction is capable of
inducing forward mutations in Aspergillus.
The wood-preserving bottom sediments
induced genetic damage in all three micro-
bial assays. In the Bacillus assay, the
acid fraction produced increased lethal
damage in the recombinant repair deficient
strain rec E4 both with and without meta-
bolic activation (Table 8). The level of
mutagenic activity induced by the wood-
preserving waste subfractions in
S. typhimurium are given in Table 9. These
results indicate that the acid, base, and
neutral fractions were mutagenic in
Salmonella. All fractions required meta-
bolic activation in order to reach their
ultimate mutagenic form. The acid
fraction was most mutagenic in strain
TA 98 (frameshift mutation); while, the
base fraction was most active in strain
391
-------
TABLE 5.
OF ^ACTIONS OF METHYL ETHYL KETONE HASTE TO INDUCE INCREASED
LEINAL DAMAGE IN DBA REPAIR DEFICIENT STRAINS 01? B. eubtilie
• onc-t-t t-t-t.
Waste
Fraction
Acid
Base
Neutral
°°se Growth Inhibition fmm)
(«,g/pla,.e, Strain: 168 wt. recE4 ' recAS hcr-9 fn'2006-7 '
2'5 6.3 5.1 6.6 6.3 6.
10'° 2-0 L9 2.6 1.7 o.
10.0 15 14 28 27
.3
,0
,5
mc-1
8.4
1.4
2.3
TABLE 6. MUTAGENIC ACTIVITY OF M-E-K WASTE AS MEASURED WITH
5. typhimurium STRAIN TA 98 AND TA 100 WITH AND
WITHOUT METABOLIC ACTIVATION
Strain
Sample
Acid
Base
Neutral
Dose Level
(nig/plate)
2.5
1.0
0.5
0.1
5.0
2.5
1.0
0.5
0.1
0.01
5.0
1.0
0.5
0.1
+
*43
22
29
14
33
18
24
28
29
22
«,*
25
24
24
TA 98
S.9
Revertant
± 3
± 2
J 1
t 2
i 1
± 1
± I
± 1
i 2
i 6
± 8
± 1
± 8
- S
TA 100
.9 -1- S.9
- S.9
Colonies per plate ± S.D.
30
22
27
40
36
21
18
17
17
20
21
18
25
± 9
± 7
i 9
i 23
±4 65+3
7 ±
±6 78 i 1
± 1
±2 70 1 2
± 4
t 6 100 ± 14
±7 79 ± 5
t 2
± 4
77 ±9
;0 tl
80 2
74 iO
94 ±5
84 J5
75 ±5
81 ±1
80 +2
110 ±16
67 ± 2
73 ± 4
86 ± 2
* - Significant increase.(Greater than twice bac
TA 100 (base-pair substitution). The
results in Tables 10-12 show that the acid,
base and neutral fraction of the wood-
preserving waste induced increased mutation
frequencies in Aspergillus nidulans. In
the eukaryotic system, none of the waste
fractions required metabolic activation to
induce a significant increase in the muta-
tion frequency. These results indicate
that genotoxic compounds are present in the
acid, base, and neutral fractions of the
wood-preserving waste; and, that these
fractions require some form of activation,
either intercellular as in Aspergillus or
metabolic as in Salmonella, to reach their
ultimate mutagenic form.
kground).
mixed with the Norwood soil at a rate of
4.5 g extractable hydrocarbon per 100 g
soil are shown in Figures 4-7. These
results demonstrate the ability to recover
approximately equal amounts of mutagenic
activity from the acid and base fractions
of the waste, and the waste/soil mixture.
The results in Figures 6 and 7 indicate
that greater amounts of mutagenic activity
can be recovered from the neutral fraction
of the waste/soil mixture than from the
waste or soil alone. The adsorption of
the higher molecular weight, and perhaps
more toxic compounds, may have allowed a
greater expression of the non-adsorbed
mutagenic compounds.
Greenhouse Study
The results obtained from testing the
subfractions of the wood-preserving waste
obtained immediately after the waste was
CONCLUSIONS
These results demonstrate the appli-
cability of short-term bioassays in the
analysis of complex environmental mixtures
392
-------
TABLE 7. THE EFFECT OF THE NEUTRAL FRACTION OF A METHYL ETHYL KETONE WASTE ON THE
FREQUENCY OF INDUCED MUTATIONS IN Aaper'gillus nidulans.
Expos
Dose
(mg/plate)
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
0.2
ure
Time
(minutes)
0
15
20
30
45
80
Number of
Cells Plated
2.4
2.8
1.4
1.7
1.3
0.9
x 1Q1
xlO7
xlO7
x 107
*107
xlO7
Surviving
Fraction
1.0
0.89
0.83
0.55
0.72
0.52
Mutation
A
4.27
6.19
1.44
1.06
1.71
Frequency per 10 Survivors
0 C TuLol
2.27 7.68 6.61
9.67 2.22 13.3
4.80 4.09 19.6
9.59 3.93 19.9
1.11 5.44 30.6
TABLE U. CAPAdTY OF FRACTIOUS OF WOOD-PRESERVING WASTE TO !NDUCE INCREASED LETHAL DAMAGE
IN DNA REPAIR DEFICIENT STRAINS OF 8. Bubtilis.
Waste Metabolic
Fraction Activation ~~
Acid +
W ng/pt
Baaa +
10 mg/pt
Neutral +
10 mg/pt
Growth
Strain: 168 wt. recE4
13.9 17.6*
12.0 14.6*
U o
0.38 0.35
0.43 0.37
2-3 2.2
Inhibition (nm)
recAB
14.6
11.?
1.2
0.68
0.20
3.0
hcr-9
15.3
12.9
0
0
0
l.fl
15.0
13.4
1.1
0.2
1.0
2.3
14.2
12.9
1.5
0
0
2.1
* Significantly Inhibited.
such as hazardous wastes. The results
obtained from biological analysis of three
hazardous wastes indicate that not all
hazardous wastes will contain appreciable
levels of mutagenic activity. Biological
analysis indicated the presence of muta-
genic and DNA damaging compounds in the
wood-preserving waste, and mutagenic com-
pounds in the acetonitrile waste. By
utilizing biological analysis, we were
able to isolate the source and define the
type of genotoxic activity in waste sub-
fractions. While the complexity of waste/
soil interactions prevent the extrapolation
of these results to other wastes and soils,
these short-term tests can provide a more
accurate and less expensive means of assay-
ing the hazardous nature of a complex
mixture. More research is needed to better
define the limitations of the various
biological systems and to improve the
chemical analysis of the mutagenic sub-
fractions. While biological analysis may
be capable of identifying and aiding in the
isolation of mutagenic subfractions,
improvements are needed in the chemical
analysis in order to identify the compo-
nents of a mutagenic subfraction. If
these forms of analysis can be refined and
improved, then this type of combined
testing protocol should provide a rapid and
accurate risk assessment for any complex
mixture in the environment.
393
-------
TABLE 9. LEVEL OF MUTAGENIC ACTIVITY INDUCED BY SUBTRACTIONS OF WOOD-PRESERVING BOTTOM
SEDIMENT AS MEASURED 111 S. Typhimurium STRAINS TA 98 AND TA 100.
Sample Dose
(mg/plate)
Acid 1.0
0.5
O.I
0.01
0.05
0.005
Base 5.0
2.5
1.0
0.5
0.1
0.01
Neutral 2.5
1.0
0.5
0.1
0.05
0.01
Strain
TA 98
^ S.9
Toxic
Toxic
*70 +
*66 ±
36 +
14 ±
Toxic
*59 +
M ±
*41 1
*43 +
37 i
*63 ±
*49 +
* 58 ±
22 t
29
11
13
4
36
12
29
3
14
26
11
31
4
- S.9 + S.9
Toxic
Toxic 118 ±
28 ± 8 *238 +
20 ± 6 84 i
148 +
Toxic
19 ± 5 *480 ±
*246 +
18+3
24+4 114 ±
34+9 Toxic
27+5 171 +
111 ±
21+5 122 ±
67 1
18 t 4 122 ±
TA 100
98
146
41
106
299
66
28
123
67
36
9
32
- S.9
65 ± 5
66 ± 10
Toxic
*237 + 37
70+8
72 i 8
91 i 3
* Significant increase. (Greater than twice background).
TABLE 10. THE EFFECT OF THE ACID FRACTION OF A HOOD-PRESERVING BOTTOM SEDIMENT ON THE FREQUENCY
OF INDUCED MUTATIONS IH Aapergillus nidularis
Exposure
Dose Time
(mg/plate (Minutes)
0.05 0
0.05 15
0.05 30
0.05 40
0.05 60
TABLE 11. THE EFFECT
Exposure
Dose Time
(mg/plate) (minutes)
0.5 0
0.5 15
0.5 30
0.5 60
Number of Surviving
Cells Plated Fraction
1.5 x 107 1.00
1.1 x 107 0.73
5.3 x 106 0.39
2.2 x 106 0.14
4.0 x 105 0.02
.Mutation Frequency per 10
A B C
5.1 1.7 7.9
1.4 6.1 3.8
5.0 1.8 4.5
1.2 4.8 3.8
Survivors
Total
14
80
72
110
OF THE BASE FRACTION OF A WOOD-PRESERVING BOTTOM SEDIMENT ON THE
REQUENCY OF INDUCED MUTATIONS IN Aapergillus nidulona
Number of Surviving
Cells Plated Fraction
2.0 x 107 1.0
2.0 x 107 0.98
1.4 x 107 0.71
1.2 x 107 0.62
Mutation Frequency per 10
ABC
.
4.36 0 5.36
1.77 1.76 1.06
1.46 3.06 4.99
Survivors
Total
-
1.32
20.50
18.20
394
-------
TABLE 12. EFFECT OF THE NEUTRAL FRACTION OF A WOOD-PRESERVING BOTTOM SEDIMENT ON THE
FREQUENCY OF INDUCED MUTATIONS IN Aspergi I Ins nidlllans
Exposure
Dose Time
(ing/plate) (minutes)
0,1 0
0.1 15
0,1 18
0.1 30
0,1 45
0.1 30
0.1 140
Number of
Cells Plated
1.9 x 107
1.5 x 107
1.4 x 107
1. 1 x 107
0.90x 10'
0.47x 107
0.24x 107
Surviving Mutation Frequency per 10 Survivors
Fraction A
1.0
0.79 5.76
0.73 11.70
0.58 8.52
0.49 14.30
0.26 19.8
0.12 95.6
B
_
2.12
1.21
2.36
3.64
4.71
10.83
C
-
4.40
7.03
2.65
4.20
4.08
-..18
Total
-
31.
24.
34,
54,
71.
208,
.3
. 6
.8
,9
,0
,1
X NORWOOD SOIL (CRUDE)
.4 .« .1
DOSE/ PLATE(mg)
X NORWOOD SOIL (CRUDEI
o WOOD-PRESERVING
WASTE (BASE )
WASTE < SOIL
• (BASE - DAY 01
4 .< 8 I
DOSE/PLATE (mg)
X NORWOOD SOIL (CRUDE)
o WOOD-PRESERVIN8 WASTE
NEUTRAL)
• WASTE* SOIL
(NEUTRAL-DAY 0)
X NORWOOD SOIL (CRUDE)
o WOOO-PRESERVIN8 WASTE
(NEUTRAL)
• WASTE* SOIL
(NEUTRAL-DAY 0)
.1 .8 I
DOSE/PLATE (mg)
S ITS
DOSE/PLATE (mg)
e b. Initial Effect of Soil. Application on the Mutagenic Activity .if Neutral
of Wood-preserving Waste as Measured wfch S, Ty^hi^unur Strains IA 98 w
395
-------
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396
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18. Warner, J0 S. 1976. Determination of
aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons
in marine organisms» Anal. Chem0 48:
578.
19. Wright, A. S0 1980. The role of
metabolism in chemical mutagenesis
and chemical carcinogenesis.
Mutat. Res. 75: 215-241.
397
-------
EVALUATION OF SUBSURFACE EFFECTS
OF LONG-TERM LANDFARMING
R.L. Huddleston
Conoco, Inc.
J.E. Rucker
American Petroleum Institute
K.W. Brown and L.E. Deuel
Texas A&M University
ABSTRACT
A study has been conducted at five old petroleum industry landfam sites to evaluate the
potential for migration of key waste constituents. Results have shown that refinery oily
wastes loaded onto the soil have been degraded without appreciable migration of degradation
producte,, and metals have remained in the waste application zone.
INTRODUCTION
The addition of wastes to soil as a
treatment-disposal mechanism is an ancient
practice, but only in recent years have
there been significant efforts to manage aid
limit such additions in order to maximize
environmental protection and treatment
efficiency. The planned, controlled appli-
cation of wastes to soil for treatment-
disposal has become known as land treatment
or landfarming and is becoming an increas-
ingly utilized waste management practice,
especially for solid wastes.
One category of wastes for which land-
farming has been extensively used is oily
refinery wastes. Such wastes come from a
variety of sources including wastewater
treatment facilities, tank cleaning, or
specific process facilities. The oil in
these wastes is not effectively decomposed
in anaerobic landfill environments, and
the wastes' water content typically makes
incineration an expensive, fuel-consuming
process. Thus, landfarming has become
an increasingly important mechanism for
handling these materials. Additionally,
the aerobic biodegradation of oil in the
soil may add beneficial matter to the
soil matrix.
Raymond et al. (1975) showed that oil
applied to soils at the rate of 100 bbls/
acre resulted in no oil lost in either run-
off or leachates generated. However, they
did report significant ether extractable
materials in leachate waters, suggesting
incomplete degradation and possible mobil-
ity of some oil components.
Subsurface water quality could be
adversely affected by low redox potentials
associated with saturated soil conditions
or overloading the soil with highly bio-
degradable matter, if contaminant solubi-
lities are significantly enhanced. Fuller
(1977) reported enhanced mobilities for
As, Cr, Cu, Fe, and Zn under reducing
environments (unoxygenated). Movement of
metals through soluble metal-organic com-
plexes were also reported as a potential
means of enhanced mobility.
Applications of organics to soil tend
to increase soil acidity (Briton et al.,
1976), and most metals have increased solu-
bilities under acidic soil reactions
(Chaney, 1973; MacLeon and Dekker, 1976).
The potential for an enhanced mobility
will largely depend upon pH and buffering
capacity of the soil.
398
-------
Anions present special problems with
respect to rate of movement through soils
relative to water (Thomas and Swoboda, 1970).
The phenomenon is apparently dependent on
the cation exchange capacity in that
negatively charged clay surfaces repel
anions, effectively reducing the volume
of water needed to leach a given anion.
Numerous studies over the past few
years indicate that many oily wastes can
be safely and effectively managed by land-
farming. Data has been generated to show
that at least over the short term, waste
oil is slowly but progressively degraded
by the soil microbial flora and that oil
and metals leaching are not problems.
However, these studies have not provided
data to adequately evaluate potential long
term waste migration problems. Clearly,
the availability of such long term data
would be of considerable value in better
judging the environmental safety of land-
farming oily wastes and could apply, to
some extent, to landfarming of other wastes.
The primary objective of this study
was to determine the potential for down-
ward migration of constituents following
the long term utilization of specific sites
for land treatment of refinery waste
sludges.
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
A simple technique, whereby natural
background levels of a given parameter
are compared to values measured for
treated soils, at corresponding depth
intervals, was employed to evaluate
mobility of waste constituents or lack
thereof.
Five sites which had been used for
land treatment of oily wastes for more than
five years were selected for study. They
were selected principally on the basis of
geographical and climatological diversity,
Sampling
The scheme employed was dictated by
field conditions. All sites were cored
to a depth of 12 feet, with the exception
of site A, where consolidated parent mater-
ial was intercepted at approximatjly 48
inches. Multiple soil cores were taken
within the treatment facility and composited
with respect to a given depth interval.
Analyses were made for the parameters of
interest following transport of the samples
to the laboratory. Samples were trans-
ported and maintained in cold storage
until analyzed.
Analyses
Soil Properties: Appropriate soil
analyses were made to provide a data base
for correlative interpretation of the over-
all study results. These included pH,
Peech, 1965; specific conductance, Bower
and Wilcox, 1965; texture, Day 1965; cation
exchange capacity, Chapman, 1965a; soluble
and exchangeable cationic distribution,
Chapman, 1965b. In addition, soils were
analyzed for NCs-N, Bremner, 1965, and
chloride and sulfate by specific anion
electrode technique,
Metals : Subsamples of each composite
were digested with nitric acid and hydrogen
peroxide. The latter was added to facili-
tate the destruction of organics and oxida-
tion of the various metallic species. Fol-
lowing digestion, metals were analyzed in
accordance with EPA protocol (EPA methods
206.3, 213.1, 218.1, 245.1, 239.1, 270.2,
249.1, and 286.1). Atomic absorption
spectroscopic technique was used for speci-
fic metal analyses, with the exception of
arsenic; which was analyzed by colori-
metrlc technique following conversion to
its hydride and complexing with silver
diethyldithio-carbamate in a pyridine base.
An aliquot of the metal digest was eva-
porated to a very low volume in the presence
of a sulfuric, hydrochloric acid matrix
to purge traces of nitric from the sample
prior to arsine generation.
Organics: In addition to the above
inorganic soil properties and/or consti-
tuents, each segmented core was analyzed
specifically for total organic carbon,
Allison, 1965; and extractable oil and
grease by a modified procedure of
Dibble and Bartha, 1979.
Orpanics extracted fror the first
three depth intervals were column fraction-
ated prior to pas chromatograDhic analysis
(GC). KO attempt was made to fractionate
organics in samples from lower depths prior
to GC analyses due to relatively low ex-
tractable levels. Extracts were dried over
anhydrous Na2SO,/f and reduced to a known
volume by vacuum distillation. Methylene,
chloride was evaporated froir an aliquot, and
pravimetrically assayed to determine the
399
-------
extractable residue level. Another aliquot
was evaporated with a gentle stream of dry
nitrogen, and constituents resolubilized in
hexane for loading onto a silica gel
column, and subsequent fractionation into
saturates, aromatics, and higher condensed
polynuclear aromatics.
Fractionation was achieved by loading
a 0.2% solution of hydrocarbons onto lOg
of activated silica gel. The sample vial
was rinsed with approximately 2ml petroleum
ether, and rinse transferred to the column,
followed by elution of saturates with 25ml
of petroleum ether. The sample vial was
rinsed with 2ml of 20% methylene chloride
in petroleum ether, loaded onto the column,
followed by elution of aromatics with 50ml
of 20% methylene chloride in petroleum
ether. A final rinse of the sample vial
was made with methylene chloride and loaded
onto the column, followed by elution of
carbazoles and some higher condensed poly-
nuclear aromatics. Lastly, the silica gel
was rinsed with methanol to recover some
of the higher molecular weight materials
retained by the column. This fraction was
analyzed by High Pressure Liquid Chroma-
tograpy (HPLC).
Characteristic GC profiles were devel-
oped using a temperature programmed Tracer
Model 560GC, equipped with a flame ioniza-
tion detector. The GC was fitted with a
6ft. by I/A inch ID glass column packed with
3% OV-1 on 80/100 mesh phrochromosorb W.
Column temperature was programmed between
100°and240° C at 3° C per minute, with an
initial hold setting of 10 minutes and
final hold of 40 minutes. Quantitation was
accomplished by comparing detector response
measured electronically as an integrated
peak area, relative to the total carbon in-
jected for known materials. A myriad of
saturates, aromatics, and polynuclear aro-
matics were routinely employed in assessing
detector response.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Particle Size Distribution
Physical properties of a soil are
defined as those characteristics, processes,
or reactions of a soil which are caused by
physical forces, but for all practical
purposes integrally related to particle
size. The particle size distribution
determined for treated sites and adjacent
soils with respect to depth are shown in
Tables 1 through 5, along with their
corresponding USDA textural classifications.
Site A reflects a medium textured (loam)
surface over a clay. Treated and untreated
soils at site B ranged from medium to coarse
texture throughout the profiles. A coarse
texture (sand) dominated the profile
developed at site C. Site D was typically
medium textured, becoming coarser with
depth. Site E can best be described as a
heavy clay.
The mobility of most constituents
would be favored by open coarse textured
soils such as found at site C. Anionic
mobility may be greater in deep clay pro-
files. Textural discontinuities, such
as demonstrated at sites A,B, and D would
tend to impede water transmission and down-
ward movement of soluble constituents. The
greater macroporosity of coarse textured
soils tends to favor aeration necessary
for efficient microbial oxidation of
organics. Textural discontinuities in
high rainfall areas may prove detrimental
to degradation rates of organics as a re-
sult of lowered gaseous exchange rates.
Cationic Distribution
Profiles reflecting CEC and cation
distribution are shown in Tables 6
through 10. Some of the calcium and
magnesium reported as exchangeable cations
exceed CEC values due to sparingly soluble
sulfate and/or carbonate salts. CEC
levels generally reflect corresponding
clay contents.
Some of the treated sites have higher
CEC values than their control areas and
this is attributed to organics in the
wastes applied. High sodium saturations
are generally reflected in both treated
and untreated profiles. The data suggest
that after the utilization of these sites
in the land treatment of refinery waste
sludges there has only been a slight
alteration of the cationic distribution
towards sodium. There is some evidence
that the sodium levels were attenuated
through the land treatment of refinery
sludge at site A.
Soil Reaction
Comparative soil reactions are pre-
sented in pH profiles developed for both
untreated and treated soils at the respec-
tive sites (Figures 1 through 5). Site
400
-------
Table 1 . USDA Texture and Particle Size Distribution of the Untreated
and Treated Soils at Site A.
Site
A- Untreated
Soil
A-Treated
Soil
Depth
(cm)
0-15
15-23
23-30
30-53
53-76
76-102
102-127
127-152
0-15
15-23
23-30
30-53
53-76
76-102
102-127
127-152
Depth
(in)
0-6
6-9
9-12
12-21
21-30
30-40
40-50
50-60
0-6
6-9
9-12
12-21
21-30
30-40
40-50
50-60
USDA
Texture
SCL
L-CL
C
C
C
SCL
C
CL
SiL
C
C
C
C-CL
C
C
C
Particle Size (%)
Sand
48
44
31
24
30
46
22
36
30
44
42
4?
38
40
43
41
Silt
23
29
27
27
23
27
25
29
51
9
4
13
22
17
15
8
Clay
29
27
42
49
47
27
53
35
19
47
54
44
40
43
42
51
401
-------
Table 2 . USDA Texture and Particle Size Distribution of the Untreated
and Treated Soils at Site 15.
Site
B-Untreated
Soil
B-Treated
Soil
Depth
(cm)
0-15
15-30
30-46
46-61
61-76
76-91
91-122
122-152
152-183
183-244
244-305
305-366
0-15
15-30
30-46
46-61
61-76
76-91
91-122
122-152
152-183
183-244
244-305
305-366
Depth
(in)
0-6
6-12
12-18
18-24
24-30
30-36
36-48
48-60
60-72
72-96
96-120
120-144
0-6
6-12
12-18
18-24
24-30
30-36
36-48
48-60
60-72
72-96
96-120
120-144
USDA
Texture
L
SL
SL
S
S
S
LS
L
L
SL
SL
SL
SL
SL
L
L
LS-SL
SL
SL
SL
SL
SL-SCL
SCL
SCL
Particle Size (%)
Sand
42
72
76
93
91
94
82
41
48
66
54
55
53
54
46
43
76
75
65
65
70
62
47
48
Silt
35
17
14
3
2
2
10
37
31
21
44
43
30
30
36
41
18
19
19
17
16
18
27
26
Clay
23
11
10
4
7
4
8
22
21
13
2
2
17
16
18
16
6
6
16
18
14
20
26
26
402
-------
Table 3 . USDA Texture and Particle Size Distribution of the Untreated
and Treated Soils at Site C.
Site
Depth
(cm)
C- Untreated 0-15
Soil
C-Treated
Soil
15-30
30-46
46-61
61-76
76-91
91-122
122-152
152-183
183-244
244-305
305-366
0-15
15-30
30-46
46-61
61-76
76-91
91-122
122-152
152-183
183-244
244-305
305-366
Depth
(in)
0-6
6-12
12-18
18-24
24-30
30-36
36-48
48-60
60-72
72-96
96-120
120-144
0-6
6-12
12-18
18-24
24-30
30-36
36-48
48-60
60-72
72-96
96-120
120-144
USDA
Texture
SL
LS
S-LS
LS
SL
SL
SL
SL
SL
SL
LS
S
SL
LS
SL
LS
S
LS
LS
LS-SL
LS
LS
LS
S
Particle Size (%)
Sand
81
86
88
88
80
74
81
83
83
30
85
93
73
84
77
87
92
85
87
82
85
85
85
90
Silt
6
8
6
3
6
11
4
2
2
2
2
5
17
5
9
4
3
3
4
6
5
4
5
1
Clay
13
6
6
9
14
15
15
15
15
18
13
2
10
11
14
9
5
12
9
12
10
11
10
9
403
-------
Table 4 . USDA Texture and Particle Size Distribution of the Untreated
and Treated Soils at Site D.
Site Depth
(cm)
D-Untreated 0-10
10-20
20-30
30-46
46-61
61-76
76-91
91-122
122-152
152-183
183-244
244-305
305-366
D-Treated 0-10
Soil 10-20
20-30
30-46
46-61
61-76
76-91
91-122
122-152
152-183
183-244
244-305
305-366
Depth
(in)
0-4
4-8
8-12
12-18
18-24
24-30
30-36
36-48
48-60
60-72
72-96
96-120
120-144
0-4
4-8
8-12
12-18
18-24
24-30
30-36
36-48
48-60
60-72
72-96
96-120
120-144
USDA
Texture
SL
SL
SCL-SC
SC
SC
SC
SCL
SC
SCL
SCL
SCL
SCL
S
SCL
SCL
SCL
SCL
SCL
SCL
SCL
SCL
SCL
SCL
SL
LS
S
Particle Size (")
Sand
75
77
56
47
48
54
53
51
65
68
63
67
91
64
60
58
60
53
57
53
51
52
54
70
86
90
Silt
15
12
9
6
12
10
15
12
9
10
12
12
1
13
11
9
8
15
12
18
19
17
18
11
5
4
Clay
10
11
35
47
40
36
32
37
26
22
25
21
8
23
29
33
32
32
31
29
30
31
28
19
9
6
404
-------
Table 5 . USDA Texture and Particle Size Distribution of the Untreated and
Treated Soils at Site E.
Site
E-Untreated
Soil
E-Treated
Soil
Depth
(cm)
0-30
30-46
46-61
61-76
76-91
91-122
122-152
152-183
183-244
244-305
305-366
0-30
30-46
46-61
61-76
76-91
91-122
122-152
152-183
183-244
244-305
305-366
Depth
(in)
0-12
12-18
18-24
24-30
30-36
36-48
48-60
60-72
72-96
96-120
120-144
0-12
12-18
13-24
24-30
30-36
36-48
48-60
60-72
72-96
96-120
120-144
USDA
Texture
C
C
C
-
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
Particle Size (%)
Sand
25
20
28
-
17
21
14
11
11
16
16
25
16
16
15
18
16
18
13
15
13
16
Silt
29
32
22
-
23
21
11
7
22
18
11
25
31
29
24
21
21
18
25
24
29
26
Clay
46
48
50
-
60
58
75
82
67
66
73
50
53
55
61
61
63
64
62
61
58
58
405
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Figure 1. pH profile developed at site A.
411
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Figure 2. pH profile developed at site B.
412
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Figure 4. pH profile developed at site D.
414
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A demonstrates the typical acidifying
effect when organics undergo degradation
in soil.
For the most part the influence of
land treatment on soil pH was found to be
attenuated within the upper 3 to 6 feet.
Attenuation is reflected by convergence of
treated and native soil values.
The divergence of profiles shown for
sites B and C are attributed to coarse
soil texture and associated low buffering
capacity (CEC). Even in these cases it
should be noted that values differ generally
by less than one pH unit.
It is desirable for the soil to have
a pH between 6 and 8 in a land treatment
facility. This range is the most favorable
for soil microbial activity and for heavy
metal immobilization.
Soluble Constituents
The distribution of soluble cations
found in the soil samples (Tables 11
through 15) does not clearly relate to
migration tendencies due to the complicated
anionic interactions involving precipitory
mechanisms of less soluble species. The
presence of soluble sodium salts within
treatment facilities tended to decrease
solution levels of background calcium and
magnesium salts.
Profiles developed for the electrical
conductivities are presented in Figures 6
through 10. Values generally reflected
near surface salt accumulation in waste
treated soils and downward migration in
all but the more acid site A. The extreme
salinity noted between 1 and 3 feet (0,5
and 1m) of the control soil at site D
was indicative of a subsurface saline
seep (a natural phenomenon),
Chloride, sulfate, and nitrate anions
were measured for each depth interval
sampled (Tables 16 through 20), and
correlated to the corresponding EC value,
using the following multiple linear
regression model.
EC = bn + (Cl~) + b (SO,=) + b, (NO")
0 2 4 J J
To test how well the variability in EC
corresponds to the three anions measured,
computed values were linearly correlated
to the observed values.
Regression coefficients and the co-
efficient of determination (r^) comparing
calculated and measured EC values are
given in Table 21. The data show that
the variability of EC values can be
described by a three component anion
model when EC is adjusted to a saturated
paste value. (Saturated paste values
better approximate salt levels at field
moisture levels). Treated site E did not
conform well to a linear model (r^ = 0.33).
The variability in EC measured for a 1:1
soil:water ratio was somewhat attenuated
when converted to a saturated paste
moisture level, such that a linear model
could not resolve subtle differences below
the surface foot and a half.
The correlation of measured and cal-
culated EC values for treated site D is
shown in Figure 11. While somewhat
scattered about the idealize regression
line, the data demonstrate a strong posi-
tive correlation, supportive of the fact
that variablity in EC with depth can be
discerned by the changes in the respective
anion concentrations.
A comparison of anion concentrations
averaged over depth is given in Table 22.
Treated site A shows essentially no change
in either the distribution or total salt
loading, as reflected in the EC profile
(Figure 6). The principal salinity
increase at treated site B can be attri-
buted to chloride and sulfate salts. Salt
loading at site C is attributed to sulfates.
The saline seep sample for comparative
assay at site D somewhat pales the slight
increase in the nitrate level. Chloride
dominates the total salt increase at treated
site E; although, there was a significant
sulfate increase noted at the 0-12 depth
interval.
While it is always tenuous to extra-
polate data of this nature, it appears that
the impact of salt loading from land treat-
ment of refinery waste sludge is attenuated
with depth in properly managed facilities.
Heavy Metal Distribution
In general, trace minerals tend to have
an enhanced soluble phase in high organic-
containing soils - principally through
chelation mechanisms. Under such conditions
mobility is controlled by soil surface ad-
sorption and precipitery mechanisms.
416
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ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY (mmhos/cm)
5 10 15 20
TREAT
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Figure 6. EC profile developed at site A.
422
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ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY (mmhos/cm)
1234
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Figure 7. EC profile developed at site B.
423
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ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY (mmho*/cm)
w
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424
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Figure 9. EC profile developed at site D.
425
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ELECTRICAL CONDUCTIVITY (mmhos/cm)
0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0
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Figure 10. EC profile developed at site E.
426
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Table 21 , Regression Coefficients and Corresponding Coefficient
of Determination.
Site
A- Untreated
A-Treated
B-Untreated
B-Treated
C- Untreated
C-Treated
D- Untreated
D-Treated
E-Untreated
E-Treated
Constant
9.0
-0.3
-1.07
-1.71
0.21
0.48
0.4
5.07
0.40
1.18
ci-
1.4
-3.9
0.75
1.46
0.08
0.04
0.03
0.03
0.67
0.08
Anion Coefficient
sv
0.10
0.12
0.16
0.12
0,10
0.03
0.29
0.14
-0.06
0.03
N03
-9.2
+9.4
0.40
-2.26
0.32
1.57
0.22
-0.10
-1.04
-0.35
R2
0.98
0.91
0.77
0.86
0.96
0,99
0.87
0.75
0.85
0.33
432
-------
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Idealized Regression r »1.0
Data r =0.75
5 10
Electrical Conductivity (Calculated)
Figure 11. Correlation of observed and calculated EC values
for treated site D.
433
-------
Table 22 . Mean Cl~, SO , and NO ~ Values Averaged Over Depth for
Both Treated and Untreated Soils.
Site
A- Untreated
A-Treated
B-Untreated
B-Treated
C-Untreated
C- Treated
D-Untreated
D-Treated
E-Untreated
E-Treated
Cl"
1.91
3.38
0.67
2.51
40.3
40.4
60.8
29.5
1.48
6.00
Anion
S04=
272
258
9.54
31.6
8.58
41.2
13.7
12.8
4.25
6.68
NO ~
0.95
0.76
0.54
1.08
2.24
1.71
9.01
16.8
0.25
0.31
434
-------
Metal concentrations found as a func-
tion of depth are presented in Tables 23
through 27. Chromium was found to be
significantly higher in all treated sur-
face horizons. Lead was higher in all
but treated site E, compared to untreated
background soils. The only other element
of significance was the mercury accumulated
at treated site B.
While chromium, lead and mercury at
the one site, were accumulated in signifi-
cant quantities, only the mercury level
could be considered abnormally high relative
to naturally occuring metal concentrations.
Considering the low CEC of this site (Table
7), it probably is at a maximum safe level.
There was no evidence of downward
migration of metals, including those
normally considered as anionic in charac-
ter (As, Cr, V).
Organic Distribution
Comparative analyses of both total
organic carbon and extractable oil and
grease are given in Tables 28 through 32.
An analysis of variance (ANOVA), using
total organic carbon and oil and grease as
duplicate measures of the same parameter,
was employed to evaluate hydrocarbon
levels between treated and untreated
soils, and hydrocarbon levels between
depth intervals within sites. Hydrocarbon
levels at site A were significantly higher
in the treated soil with an F test indi-
cating the difference to be significant
at better than a 1% level. The least
significant difference (LSD) computed for
site A was used to compare oil and grease
levels with depth in the treated site.
This test suggested that oil and grease is
retained within the surface 9 inches of
soil.
The ANOVA for site B indicated that
the greater hydrocarbon levels in the
treated soil were significant at a 1%
level. Variance with depth was signifi-
cant at the 5% level. Oil and grease
at this site was attenuated within the top
2 feet of soil. No attempt was made to
split out the variability due to
technique of measuring hydrocarbons from
that of the error mean square. This
reduces the sensitivity of assessing real
differences in the hydrocarbon concentra-
tion as a function of depth.
Data evaluated for site C do not
reflect a statistical difference between
treated and untreated soil hydrocarbon
levels, although values decreased
significantly with depth. GC profiles
are currently being evaluated to determine
more accurately the penetration depth of
surface loaded hydrocarbons. Simple
comparisons to the untreated soil are not
possible due to the presence of high
hydrocarbon levels in the reference soil
to appreciable depths.
Hydrocarbons at site D (Table 31)
reflect the general trends found at sites
A and B, in that the treated soil differed
significantly from the untreated soil.
The organics were attenuated within the
surface foot of soil.
Site E (Table 32) reflected no
statistical differences due to treatment,
and correspondingly no differences with
respect to depth. These data suggest that
hydrocarbons loaded onto the soil have
degraded without an appreciable migration
of degradation products.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This study has been funded through
a cooperative agreement between the
American Petroleum Institute and the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency.
435
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REFERENCES
1. Allison, L.E. 1965. Organic Carbon.
In; Methods of Soil Analysis Part 2.
Chemical and Microbiol. Properties.
Chap. 90. C.A. Black (ed.) American
Society of Agronomy, Madison,
Wisconsin.
2. Bower, C.A. and L.V. Wilcox. 1965.
Soluble Salts. In: Methods of Soil
Analysis Part 2. Chemical and
Microbiol. Properties. Chap. 62. C.A.
Black (ed.) American Society of
Agronomy, Madison, Wisconsin.
3. Bretnner, J.M. 1965. Inorganic Forms
of Nitrogen. In; Methods of Soil
Analysis Part 2. Chemical and
Microbiol. Properties. Chap. 84.
C.A. Black (ed.) American Society of
Agronomy, Madison, Wisconsin.
4. Britton, W.A., B.A. J.A. Lawson and
D.O. Bridgham. 1976. Land
applications of food processing
wastewater. Agron. Abstr. 21 pp.
5. Chaney, R.L. 1973. Crop and food
chain effects of toxic elements in
sludges and effluents. Ini Proc. of
Joint Conf. on Recycling Municipal
Sludges and Effluents on Land.
Chanpaign, 111. U.S. EPA, U.S.D.A. and
Nat. Assoc. of State Univ. and Land
Grand Coll., Washington, D.C. pp.
129-141.
6. Chapman, H.D. 1965a. Cation Exchange
Capacity. In: Methods of Soil
Analysis Part w. Chemical and
Microbiol. Properties. Chap. 57.
C.A. Black (ed.) American Society of
Agronomy, Madison, Wisconsin.
7. Day, P.R. 1965. Particle
Fractionation and Particle Size
Analysis. In: Methods of Soil
Analysis Part 1. Physical and
Mineralogical Properties, Including
Statistics of Measurement and
Sampling. Chap. 43. C.A. Black
(ed.). American Society of Agronomy,
Madison, Wisconsin.
8. Dibble, J.T. and R. Bartha. 1979.
Leaching Aspects of Oil Sludge
Biodegration in Soil. Soil Sci.,
127:365-370.
9. Fuller, W.H. 1977. Movement of
selected metals, asbestos, and cyanide
in soil: applications to waste
disposal problems. U.S. EPA.
EPA-600/2-77-020.
10. MacLeon, A.J. and A.J. Dekker. 1976.
Lime requirement and availability of
nutrients and toxic metals to plants
grown in acid mine tailings. Can. J.
of Soil Sci. 56:27-36.
11. Peech, M. 1965. Hydrogen-Ion
Activity. In: Methods of Soil
Analysis Part 2. Chemical And
Microbiol. Properties, Chap. 60. C.A.
Black (ed.). American Society of
Agnonomy, Madison, Wisconsin.
12. Raymond, R.L., J.O. Hudson and V.W.
Jamison. 1975. Assimilation of oil
by soil bacteria. In: Proc. 40th
Annual Midyear Meeting API Refining.
13. Thomas, G.W. and A.R. Swoboda. 1970.
Anion exclusion effects on chloride
movement in soils. Soil Sci.
110-163-166.
14. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
1979. Methods of Chemical Analysis of
Water and Waste, Cincinnati, Ohio.
15. Warner, J.S. 1976. Determination of
Aliphatic and Aromatic Hydrocarbons in
Chemistry 48:578.
446
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FIELD EVALUATION ON
LAND TREATMENT OF TANNERY SLUDGES
Lam V. Ho, Hang-Tan Phung, and David E. Ross
SCS Engineers
4014 Long Beach Boulevard
Long Beach, California 90807
ABSTRACT
The study presented in this paper is designed to (1) assess potential
adverse environmental impacts of land treating tannery sludges; (2) deter-
mine the accumulation and movement of contaminants in soil; (3) optimize
site design and operational procedures; and (4) estimate the costs of full-
scale practice. The project began in August 1980, and will be completed in
August 1985. During its first 15 months, the project staff has (1) made
the site selection and acquisition; (2) obtained approval from local and
state regulatory agencies; (3) completed site design and construction; and
(4) established baseline data for sludge, soil, surface water, and ground
water in the experimental area. Preliminary data regarding the effects of
sludge application and on-site storage on soil chemical characteristics
have also been compiled.
INTRODUCTION
Approximately 40,000 to 50,000
dry tons of tannery sludges are gen-
erated annually in the United
States. These sludges have gener-
ally been disposed of in conven-
tional landfills or dumps, or spread
on land as an organic soil amendment
or fertilizer supplement.
Currently, tannery sludge is
not considered a hazardous waste by
the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA). However, if a partic-
ular sludge fails the EP toxicity
test (e.g., if Cr(VI) in the extract
is >5 mg/1), it is subject to con-
troT under the hazardous waste regu-
lations. If a sludge is classified
as a hazardous waste, it will need
to be hauled to and disposed of at
an approved hazardous waste facil-
ity. The cost for such disposal
could be very high in comparison to
costs for disposal at a nonhazardous
waste facility. High disposal costs
could force the closure of produc-
tion facilities.
Since tannery sludges are rich
in proteinaceous residues, land
treatment could become a viable
alternative to landfill ing. Land
treatment (also called landfarming,
land cultivation, land spreading, or
soil amendment) is defined as a
technique which uses naturally oc-
curring microorganisms in the soil
to biodegrade organic wastes.
Although land application of tannery
sludges has been practiced to some
extent in the United States and
other countries, only limited data
on their environmental impacts are
available. These data have been
based on short-term greenhouse
studies and small field trials.
447
-------
There has not been a definitive
field study to provide data on the
design, operation, and closure of
land treatment sites which accept
tannery sludges in accordance with
applicable state and federal regu-
lations. Thus, EPA is funding a 5-
year study on land treatment of tan-
nery sludges (from August 1980 to
August 1985) with the following
obj ect i ves :
• Assess potential adverse
environmental impacts of
land treatment.
• Determine the accumulation
and movement of contaminants
in soil.
• Optimize site design and
operational procedures.
• Estimate the costs
scale practices.
of ful 1 -
This paper reports progress
achieved during the first 15 months
of the project (August 1980 to
November 1981).
SUMMARY OF PROJECT PLANNING
Project Team
The team consists of the Tan-
ners Council of America (TCA) as
prime contractor, and SCS Engineers
(SCS), University of California at
Santa Cruz (UCSC), and Salz Leathers
(Salz) as subcontractors (see Figure
1). SCS assisted in designing the
land treatment test plot layout, was
responsible for designing the field
plot configuration, loading rates,
and application method, and conduc-
ted the soil and plant monitoring.
UCSC was responsible for monitoring
surface and ground waters, and esti-
mating water balance. Salz provided
the sludges, and contributed to
project funding and technical liai-
son. Under contract to Salz, Weber
and Associates (Weber) performed
site selection and characterization,
and designed the initial field plot
1ayout.
Permit Application
Although the proposed study is
solely research-oriented, regulatory
agencies were initially informed of
the project scope and planned acti-
vities in order to determine the
need and procedures for permitting
waste disposal activities at the
site. These agencies are the Cali-
fornia Department of Health Servi-
ces, the Central Coast Regional
Water Quality Control Board, the
Coastal Commission, and the Solid
Waste Management Board. Except for
the Coastal Commission, which re-
quested a public hearing in January
1981, all of these agencies ex-
pressed an interest in the project,
but did not require a permit for the
project work.
Land Procurement
The site selection criteria
were as fol1ows:
• Relatively close (<20 mi) to
the Salz tannery.
• Not readily accessible to
the public.
• Typical geology of the Santa
Cruz coast.
t Gentle slope (_£12 percent).
• Mature soil with a wel 1-
developed "B" horizon.
t Shallow perched water table
(controlled "worse case"
condition to facilitate
ground water monitoring).
• Owner agreeable to a long-
term lease.
One of three candidate sites
met all of the above criteria, and
was ultimately leased for the study.
The site is about 8 ha (20 ac) in
size, and is located 13 mi north of
the city of Santa Cruz, California,
and approximately 0.75 mi from the
Pacific Ocean. It is readily
448
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accessible from Santa Cruz along
paved roads, except for a short dirt
access road leading from the county
road to the site.
Equipment and Labor Arrangements
A general contractor was hired
to construct the experimental plots
according to written specifications
prepared by Weber and SCS. Equip-
ment for sludge hauling, land prep-
aration, sludge application and mix-
ing, and seeding was rented locally.
Labor for fieldwork was par-
tially provided by graduate students
under UCSC subcontract. Local la-
borers were hired as needed.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Site Geology and Soi1 Characteris-
tics
The site lies within the Scott
Creek Valley in western Santa Cruz
County, California. It is situated
on a small, almost level marine ter-
race remnant lying 107 to 122 m (350
to 400 ft) above the floor of Scott
Creek. This small level area lies
within rugged and steep mountainous
terrain on the western flank of Ben
Lomond Mountain. The low slopes
fall off abruptly into the deep,
steep-walled (MOO percent) canyons
that lie northwest, southwest, and
west of the site. Similar steep
slopes lie above the site to the
northeast.
The marine terrace remnant is
of middle Pleistocene age, and con-
sists of moderately indurated sand-
stones, siltstones, and conglomer-
ates. The bedrock, Santa Cruz Mud-
stone, is of late Miocene to early
Pliocene age, and is primarily com-
posed of well indurated fine-grained
clays, silts, and silica f^om the
skeletal remains of microorganisms.
The fine-grained Santa Cruz Mudstone
has low intergranular porosity and
permeability, and acts as an aqui-
fuge or aquiclude, except in areas
of fracture porosity. There is no
indication that any large faults or
fracture zones cross the test site.
The soils on the site have been
mapped as part of the Watsonville
and Watsonvi11e-Tierra complex
(USDA-SCS, 1980). The soils are
typically formed on alluvial and
marine terraces in coastal Santa
Cruz and San Mateo County. Both the
Tierra and Watsonville soils are
very deep (_>_! • 5 m, or 5 ft thick)
with a thick, wel1-developed B hori-
zon, and are moderately well to
somewhat poorly drained. Permeabil-
ity of both soils is very low.
Table 1 shows the chemical
characteristics of the soils prior
to sludge application. The soils
are slightly acidic, and have a mean
cation exchange capacity (CEC) of
17.1 to 20.3 meq/100 g. Mean value
of total lead (Pb) ranges from 6.8
to 8.5 ug/g, and total chromium (Cr)
from 38 to 41 ug/g. No Cr(VI) was
detected in the soil. The organic
matter content of the analyzed soil
is low. Mean total organic carbon
(TOC) ranges from 0.47 to 0.62 per-
cent. Mean total Kjeldahl nitrogen
(TKN) of the natural topsoil is only
0.22 percent, and decreases with
increasing soil depth.
Site Design and Construction
Figure 2 shows the site layout,
including fences, wells, berms,
roadways, and drainage systems.
There are a total of eight test
plots: Cj (normal rate, chrome
sludge); C2 (high rate, chrome
sludge); H} (normal rate, hair-burn
sludge); H2 (high rate, hair-burn
sludge); Mj (normal rate, mixed
sludge); M2 (high rate, mixed
sludge); M3 (exceedingly high rate,
mixed sludge); and the control plot
(no sludge). Six of the 0.20-ha
(0.50-ac) test plots (Ci, C2, Hls
H2 , M}, and M2) lie on 5 to 10 per-
cent slopes; the 0.20-ha (0.50-ac)
control plot lies on 5 percent
slope; and the 0.10-ha (0.25-ac)
plot (M3) on 3 to 4 percent slopes.
The test plots are surrounded by
berms and ditches which divert
450
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surface runoff into collection boxes
at the base of each test plot. A
system of 20-cm (8-in) PVC pipes
connects the runoff collection boxes
with concrete sedimentation ponds,
which are equipped with a V-notch
weir for discharge measurements.
Ten shallow monitoring wells
and one deep well were installed to
measure ground water level fluctua-
tions and quality. The shallow
wells, 6 to 14 m (20 to 45 ft) deep,
are downgradient from the test
plots, and extend through the ter-
race deposits several meters into
the underlying bedrock. They are
cased with slotted PVC pipe and
gravel-packed the entire depth,
except for the upper 1.5 m (5 ft),
which are grout-sealed . The deep
monitoring well is about 76 m (250
ft) deep, and is located down-slope
from the upper six test plots,
roughly 15 m (50 ft) south of plot
Sludge Characterization
To provide a basis for inter-
preting future data and calculating
application rates, Salz hair-burn
and chrome sludges were sampled four
times over a period of 12 months.
The first two sets of samples were
taken shortly after the sludges were
conveyed to the plant's storage con-
tainers. The last two sets were
taken from on-field stockpiles prior
to spreading. At the time of the
third and fourth samplings, the
hair-burn sludge was 12 and 27 days
old, and the chrome sludge was 3 and
18 days old, respectively. For each
sludge type, sludge was scooped ran-
domly at several places, and placed
in labeled glass containers. Each
sample was frozen and shipped to
SCS's laboratory in a cooler packed
with blue ice. The sludge samples
were allowed to thaw in the labora-
tory. A mixed sludge sample was
then prepared by thoroughly mixing
one part of hair-burn sludge with
three parts of chrome sludge. This
ratio represents the proportion of
each sludge type generated at Salz.
All sludge samples were tested for
moisture content, pH, electrical
conductivity (EC), sodium adsorption
ratio (SAR), TOC, TKN, nitrate-
nitrogen (NOo~-N), ammonium-nitrogen
(NH4+-N) , total Cr, and Pb.
In addition, total calcium
(Ca), magnesium (Mg), sodium (Na),
copper (Cu), mercury (Hg), nickel
(Ni), and zinc (Zn) were also deter-
mined in the third and fourth sets
of sludge samples. Analytical pro-
cedures employed for the selected
parameters are given in Table 2.
Sludge Application and Seed Broad-
cast! ng
Salz sludges are applied once
per year. Based on the chemical
analyses of the first two sets of
sludge samples, the application rate
for hair-burn sludge (plot H^) was
determined using the annual nitrogen
requirement of Sudan grass (Sorghum
sudanses, plant species selected for
the study) estimated at 224 kg N/ha
(200 Ib N/ac), and the nitrogen min-
eralization rate suggested for sew-
age sludge at 0.15, 0.06, 0.04, and
0.02 for successive years (Keeney,
et al., 1975). For chrome and mixed
sludges, the total Cr allowable
limit (i.e., 2,240 kg/ha, or 2,000
Ib/ac) was used. For test plots Cj
and Mi, it was determined that 896
kg Cr/ha (800 Ib Cr/ac) would be
added from the sludge in the first
year, and 448 kg Cr/ha (400 Ib Cr/
ac) in each of the next three con-
secutive years. For test plots H2,
G£, and M£, the rates for plots Hj,
C]^, and M}, respectively, were
doubled. Plot M3 received a triple
amount of mixed sludges over the
total Cr allowable limit. Plots \\£ ,
Co, M2, and M3 were designed to sim-
ulate conditions most likely planned
for full-scale sludge disposal
sites. Annual sludge application
rates and corresponding N and Cr
loadings are shown in Table 3.
In order to provide a balanced
macronutrient supply to Sudan grass,
276 kg/ha (246 Ib/ac) of superphos-
phate, and 338 kg/ha (302 Ib/ac) of
muriate of potash (potassium
453
-------
TABLE 2. ANALYTICAL PROCEDURES FOR SLUDGES AND SOILS
Parameter
Moi sture
PH
EC
SAR
TKN
TOC
NH4+-N
N03--N
CEC
Cr, Cu, Ni
Pb, Hg, Zn,
Ca, Mg, Na
Cr(VI)
Method of Determination
Oven-dry for 24 hr at 105°C
followed by weighing
1:1 sludge (or soil): 1^0 equilb-
rium, followed by electrometric
measuremen t
Water saturation extracts, fol-
lowed by Wheatstone bridge mea-
surement
Water saturation extracts, fol-
lowed by the determination of Na
Ca, and Mg by atomic absorption
Digestion and distillation, fol-
lowed by titration (Kjeldahl
met hod)
Bichromate oxidation, followed
by titration (Waikley-Black
met hod)
KC1 extraction, followed by dis-
tillation and titration
Cadmium reduction method
NaOAc extraction followed by
titration
HN03/HC104 digestion, followed
by atomic absorption
extraction, followed by
s-aiphenyl carbazide complexation
and spectrophotometric measurement
Reference
Gardner, 1965
Peech, 1965
Bower and
Wilcox, 1965
Richard, 1965
and EPA, 1976
EPA, 1976
Allison, 1965
Bremner , 1965
Hach, 1978
Chapman, 1965
EPA, 1976
Ba rtlett and
Kimble, 1976
454
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chloride) were added prior to sludge
incorporation to each of the eight
test plots, including the control.
Sludges are scheduled for ap-
plication during each September of
the first 4 years of the project
(before the rainy season starts).
However, because of delays caused by
site acquisition and permit ap-
proval, the first-year sludge was
not applied until after the rainy
season. Hair-burn and chrome
sludges were hauled separately to
the site, and were stockpiled on
appropriate test plots until suffi-
cient quantities were obtained. The
sludges were spread with a sludge
spreader, and mixed with the surface
soil by rototilling. Supplemental
fertilizers were applied prior to
the sludge application.
Sudan grass was selected for
the experiment because of its high N
requirement and salt-tolerant char-
acteristics. The seeds were broad-
cast after sludge application at a
rate of 34 kg/ha (30 Ib/ac) by use
of a hand-held seed spreader.
Site Mon i to ri ng
Soil, surface, an'd subsurface
waters will be monitored regularly
throughout the project life. During
the first year, monitoring activity
focused mainly on the compilation of
baseline data.
Soil Moni to ri ng--
Samples from sludge-amended
soil were taken at depths of 0 to 30
cm (0 to 1 ft), 30 to 60 cm (1 to 2
ft), and 60 to 90 cm (2 to 3 ft)
from all test plots. At each test
plot, a composite sample was made
for each depth from nine equidistant
locations. To prevent sludge con-
tamination of soil at lower depths
from loose particles falling into
the sampling holes, the top layer
was first sampled using a large
auger with a 10-cm (4-in) diameter
bucket. The area around the hole
was then cleaned to remove loose
siudge-amended soil. A smaller
auger (2.5 cm in diameter) was used
to collect soil samples at the lower
depths. When sampling was com-
pleted, the holes were plugged with
bentonite pellets and water to pre-
vent contaminated material from
entering the holes.
Soils from the original sludge
pile locations on test plots Hj, ^2>
and f\2 were sampled in the same man-
ner as described above to determine
the potential for downward migration
of organic carbon, NO-j'-N, soluble
salts, and heavy metals during o n -
site storage.
Soil samples were analyzed for
pH, CEC, SAR, electrical conductiv-
ity (EC), TOC, TKN, total Pb, Cr,
and Cr(VI). Analytical procedures
were the same as those used for
sludges (see Table 2).
Baseline Water Duality Samples--
Seven baseline surface and sub-
surface water samples were collected
and analyzed in March and May of
1981. The purpose of the sampling
was to characterize the background
chemistry of the water prior to
sludge application. The water qual-
ity data are presented in Table 4.
Water samples were collected
from the following locations:
• Sediment retention box below
Plot M-3.
t Sediment retention box below
Plots M-2, H-l, and H-2.
• Sediment retention box below
PIots C-l, C-2, and M-l.
• The deep monitoring well.
• A spring at the base of the
bowl-shaped area adjacent to
and east of the control
plot.
456
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• A cattle
near the
watering trough
site entrance gate,
• Scott Creek at a point
southwest of the gate to the
site.
All surface water samples were
collected in areas of active flow.
The samples from the sediment reten-
tion boxes were collected at the
weir overflows during a storm event
on March 25, 1981. The deep
monitoring well was sampled with a
nitrogen-charged mini-pump.
Temperature, pH, and conductiv-
ity were measured on site at the
time of sample collection. Samples
were collected in containers cleaned
according to EPA guidelines, and
packed in ice for transport back to
the laboratory. Tests for alkalin-
ity and nitrate concentration were
run within 24 hours after collec-
tion. Concentrations of major ions
and heavy metals were determined for
unfiltered samples by standard
atomic adsorption methods, as out-
lined in the EPA publication,
"Methods for Chemical Analyses of
Water and Wastes."
DISCUSSION
Sludge Characteristics
The chemical characteristics of
Salz sludges are presented in Table
5. The sludges contained high solu-
ble salts (as indicated by high EC
levels) and particularly high solu-
ble Na (as indicated by high SAR).
Land treatment of these sludges
could thus cause salt injury to
vegetation and impairment of soil
structures, resulting in poorer
drainage and increases in surface
runoff and erosion.
Mean TOC and TKN contents of
the sludges ranged from 19.0 to 31.6
percent, and from 3.9 to 4.1 per-
cent, respectively (see Table 5).
Since the total N03~-N and NH4+-N of
each sludge type accounted for about
0.2 percent, most N found in the
sludges was organic in form. A
rough estimate of the organic
C:organic N (C/N) ratio yields
values from 5 to 8, depending on
sludge type. This would suggest
that inorganic N would be released
through mineralization, once the
sludge is incorporated into the
soil. The mineralization rate of
the sludge used in this study has
not, however, been determined. The
inorganic N can be taken up by
vegetation, volatilized (e.g., NH3),
or leached through the soil (e.g.,
N03--N) .
No N03~-N was detected in the
sludge stockpiled in the field.
This would suggest that significant
denitrification and/or NH3 volatil-
ization had occurred during stock-
piling and storage.
Salz sludges were alkaline and
contained relatively high concentra-
tions of Ca, Mg, and Na. With the
exception of total Cr in chrome and
mixed sludges, concentrations of
other heavy metals in the sludges
were comparable to those found in
mineral soils (see Table 5). The
high concentrations of Cr in the
chrome and mixed sludges may limit
the useful life of land treatment
sites accepting these sludges.
Soil After Sludge Application
In the first year, the two sets
of soil data do not allow for as-
sessment of contaminant migration,
since the period between sludge in-
corporation and soil sampling was
only 2 weeks. The period was rela-
tively dry; as such, the potential
for contaminant migration in the
soil wa s ve ry 1ow.
Chemical Characteristics of Sludge-
Amended Soi1s--
Table 6 presents analytical
data on the soil samples taken
shortly after sludge incorporation.
The data will be interpreted by com-
parison with the background data
shown in Tab!e 1.
In general, N03~-N and Cr(VI)
concentrations in the sludge-amended
458
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soil were nondetectable. There was
no indication of contaminant
migration resulting from sludge
application.
With the exception of SAR, the
discussion in this section focuses
primarily on the sludge incorpora-
tion zone (0 to 30 cm, or 0 to 1
ft).
Sludge application resulted in
appreciable increases in soil pH of
the hair-burn and chrome plots.
Plots that received mixed sludge
showed slight decreases in soil pH.
These decreases are not expected
since the mixed sludge was alkaline.
Further sampling will be needed to
verify these data.
Sludge application increased
the EC and SAR values of the surface
soil (0- to 30-cm layer), irrespec-
tive of sludge type. However, these
EC levels are not sufficiently high
to pose salinity hazard to Sudan
grass, a species which is relatively
tolerant to soluble salts (Richard,
1954). As an indicator of the rela-
tive availability of exchangeable Na
in soil solution, SAR is generally
used to assess potential Na phyto-
toxicity and poor soil drainage
caused by soluble Na. Although
sludge incorporation has not re-
sulted in greatly elevated SAR's for
the surface soils, high sludge SAR's
and continual use of tannery sludge
suggest that SAR for sludge-treated
soils should be monitored periodi-
cal ly.
Some of the SAR values of
sludge-treated soils at the 30- to
60-cm and/or 60- to 90-cm depths
were found to be higher than those
in untreated soils. It is possible
that the high SAR values were a
result of the significant decrease
in Ca concentrations at these
depths, rather than increases in Na
concentrations. Further field sam-
pling will be needed to verify these
data.
The TOC concentrations in the
surface layer increased following
sludge application, while the TKN
values remained unchanged in most
cases. These TKN concentrations
appear to be low, indicating that
the effect of the first sludge
application on soil TKN levels was
insignificant.
Total Pb in the surface soil
did not change, while total Cr con-
centrations in the surface soils
treated with chrome and mixed
sludges increased considerably fol-
lowing sludge incorporation. These
Cr levels, however, were not appre-
ciably higher than those commonly
reported for mineral soils.
Migration of Contaminants from
SIudge Stock piling--
At locations where hair-burn
and chrome sludges were stockpiled,
soluble salt and water contents in
the first and second layers were
higher than those found in other
locations of the same test plots
(see Table 7). There was no indica-
tion of N03~-N, Cr, or Pb migration,
Since N03~-N levels in the sludges
were low, the data suggest that
short-term stockpiling of sludge in
the field prior to spreading would
not result in NOo~-N migration to
1 ower soil depths.
CONCLUSION
The first 15 months of this
project have been devoted to:
Site select i on
tion.
and acquisi-
• Permit approvals.
• Site design and construc-
tion.
• Establishment of baseline
data for sludge, soil, sur-
face water, and ground water
in the experimental area.
The project experienced a slow
start, but is steadily progressing.
The data reported in this paper will
be used as a basis for discussion of
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462
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findings compiled within the next 3-
1/2 years.
REFERENCES
1. Allison, L. E. Organic Car-
bon. In: Methods of Soil
Analysi s, Part 2. Black , C.
A., ed. Amer. Soc. Agron.,
Inc., Madison, Wisconsin,
1965. pp. 1367-1378.
2. Bartlett, R. J., and J. M. Kim-
ble. Behavior of Chromium in
Soils: II Hexavalent Forms.
J. Environ. Dual., 5:383-386,
1976.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Bower, C. A., and L. V. Wilcox.
Soluble Salts. In: Methods of
Soil Analysis, Part 2. Black,
C. A., ed. Amer. Soc. Agron.,
Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, 1965.
pp. 1179-1237.
Bremner, J. M. Inorganic Forms
of Nitrogen. In: Methods of
Soil Analysis, Part 2. Black,
C. A., ed. Amer. Soc. Agron.,
Inc., Madison, Wisconsin, 1965.
pp. 1179-1237.
Chapman, H. D. Cation-
Exchange-Capacity. In:
Methods of Soil Analysis, Part
2 . Black, C. A., ed. Amer .
Soc . Agron,
Wisconsin,
, Inc., Madison,
1965. pp. 891-901
Environmental Protection
Agency. Methods for Chemical
Analysis of Water and Wastes.
EPA-625/6-74-003a , 1976. 298
pp.
fia rdner
In:
Part
Ame r
son ,
127.
W. H. Water Content.
Methods of Soil Analysis,
1 . Bl ack , C. A., ed .
Soc. Agron., Inc., Madi-
Wisconsin, 1965. pp. 82-
10,
11
12,
Keeney, n. R., K. W. Lee, and
L. M. Walsh. Guidelines for
the Application of Wastewater
Sludge to Agricultural Land in
Wisconsin. Tech. Bull. 88.
Dept. Nat. Res., Madison, Wis-
consin, 1975. 36 pp.
Peech, M. Hydrogen-Ion Activ-
ity. In: Methods of Soil
Analysi s, Part 2 . Black , C.
A., ed. Amer. Soc. Agron.,
Inc., Madison, Wisconsin,
1965. pp. 914-926.
Richard, L. A., ed.
and Improvement of
Al kali SoiIs. U.S.
Agric. Handbook No.
i ngton , D.C. , 1954.
D i a g n o s i s
Saline and
Dept.
60, Wash-
160 pp.
U.S. nepartment of Agriculture.
Soil Conservation Service, Soil
Survey of Santa Cruz County,
California. National Coopera-
tive Soil Survey, USDA and Uni-
versity of California Agricul-
tural Experiment Station, 1980.
148 pp.
Hack Chemical Company. Waste-
water Analysis Handbook. Love-
land, Colorado, 1978. 631 pp.
463
-------
LEACHATE QUALITY IMPROVEMENTS AFTER TOP SEALING
William W. Beck, Jr.
Alison L. Dunn
Grover H. Emrich
SMC MARTIN INC.
Valley Forge, PA 19482
ABSTRACT
The landfill in Windham, Connecticut was operated from the late 1940s
until 1979. In 1976, it was shown to be generating leachate and to be
contaminating ground water moving downgradient toward a public water
supply reservoir. In 1978-1980, SMC Martin designed and implemented a
closure plan for the landfill which included regrading, installation
of an impermeable PVC top seal, and revegetation. Total closure costs
amounted to $0.44 per square foot. During subsequent monitoring of
ground-water quality, reductions of up to 80 percent were observed in
most constituents sampled at a well downgradient. At the same time,
the area of the plume of contamination, based on contour maps of
specific conductance, was found to have been reduced by 30 percent.
It is concluded that the top seal installed over the landfill has
effectively reduced generation of leachate and resulted in an accel-
erated rate of water quality improvement for the area.
INTRODUCTION
SMC Martin, under contract to
U.S. EPA (#68-03-2519) developed
and implemented a program of reme-
dial action at an inoperative waste
disposal site and monitored the
effects of such action on water
quality. Based on a number of
physical and institutional criteria
(landfill size, accessibility,
representativeness; existence of a
serious pollution problem; availa-
bility of basic engineering and
geologic data for the site; avail-
ability of co-funding; freedom from
litigation), an extensive evalu-
ation of more than 400 landfills
was conducted and the Windham,
Connecticut landfill selected as
the most suitable for implemen-
tation of the project.
After a preliminary inves-
tigation of site conditions,
several possible remedial actions
were evaluated. The principal
purpose of remediation was to
reduce the generation of leachate
at the landfill and minimize its
impact on surface and ground-water
quality. The methods considered
included surface diversion ditches,
a slurry trench cutoff wall, a
subsurface drainage system or a
network of wells designed to lower
the water table, and an impermeable
top seal. This last was found to
be the most practical and cost
effective for the site and was
applied to the landfill in con-
junction with regrading and reveg-
etation. This paper reviews physi-
cal conditions at the landfill and
the specifics of landfill closure
464
-------
and discusses water quality improve-
ments that resulted from remediation.
PHYSICAL SETTING AND EXISTING
CONDITIONS
Windham Landfill is located in
east-central Connecticut, just
north of the City of Willimantic
(Figure 1), on a site framed by the
Windham Airport to the south and
southeast, Mansfield Hollow reser-
voir to the east and northeast, and
Willimantic reservoir to the west
(Figure 2). Both reservoirs are
situated on the Natchaug River.
The stage in Mansfield Hollow
reservoir, operated by the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers for flood con-
trol, is generally 6 meters
(20 feet) higher than in Williman-
tic reservoir, a public water
supply.
Subsurface materials in the
area consist of granite gneiss
bedrock overlain by more than
100 feet of fine-grained, poorly-
sorted stratified glacial drift.
Surface topography is highly ir-
regular, marked by the hummocks and
kettles characteristic of glacial
terrain. Many surface depressions
between the landfill and Williman-
tic reservoir are filled with small
ponds.
Ground water occurs under
water-table conditions in the
unconsolidated drift at a depth of
7.5 to 9 meters (25 to 30 feet)
near the landfill. Two types of
material were distinguished during
drilling: a buff-colored, poorly-
sorted medium to fine-grained sand
and gravel near the surface, and a
gray, fine-grained sand and silt
occurring below a depth of about
7.5 meters (25 feet). These
materials are highly heterogeneous
and only moderately permeable. An
aquifer test performed in July 1978
yielded values of transmissivity
between 1 and 10 m^/day (10 and
100 ft2/day). The estimated
velocity of water in the formation
is 0.2 ft/day. Water is recharged
to the area by infiltration of
precipitation and by seepage from
Mansfield Hollow reservoir. It
flows northwestward from Mansfield
Hollow reservoir to the east and a
high area south of the airport and
discharges into Willimantic
reservoir.
The Windham Landfill began as
an open-burning dump adjacent to a
pond in the 1940s. The pond was
eventually filled in and the wastes
covered with 5 to 6 m (15-20 ft) of
demolition materials. Landfill
operation continued in excavated
trenches west of the old fill. In
1978, the site consisted of two
mounded fill areas separated by a
drainage pipe for the airport,
occupying a total area of 10 hec-
tares (25 acres).
SITE INVESTIGATIONS PRIOR TO CLOSURE
An initial investigation was
conducted at the Windham Landfill
site in 1975 and 1976 under the
direction of the Connecticut
Department of Environmental Pro-
tection (Griswold and Fuss, Inc.,
1976). Further background data
were gathered by SMC Martin during
a drilling and sampling program
from 1977 to 1979 (A. W. Martin
Associates, Inc., 1978; Emrich and
Beck, 1979).
Results from this phase of the
study indicated that the thickness
of fill underlying the older east-
ern section of the site reached
15 m (50 ft) with 6 m (20 ft) of
refuse occurring below the water
table. The newer western section
had a total thickness of 10 m
(33 ft) occurring entirely above
the water table. A plume of con-
tamination, defined by means of an
electrical resistivity survey and
ground-water sampling, was found to
emanate from the landfill and
extend west-northwest and down-
gradient to the Willimantic reser-
voir. Chemical analyses of ground
water from two wells sampled in
May 1979, one upgradient and one
downgradient from the landfill, are
reproduced in Table 1.
465
-------
oVERNON
STORKS
O
O
HARTFORD
O MANCHESTER
0JUTONBURY
CONNECTICUT
TOWN OF WINDHAM
Figure 1. Location of the Windham Landfill, Windhara, Connecticut.
OM
a to-ii- mi utwntM
Figure 2. Location of monitoring points at the Windham Landfill,
Windham, Connecticut.
466
-------
LANDFILL CLOSURE: METHOD AND COSTS
The closure plan developed by
SMC Martin for Windham Landfill was
designed to effectively seal out
vertical seepage to the landfill
and to meet requirements of the
Connecticut Department of Environ-
mental Protection. The plan in-
cluded regrading of the landfill,
excavation of surface diversion
ditches around the landfill,
installation of an impermeable
cover over the entire surface of
the landfill and under the diver-
sion ditches, and revegetation.
The landfill cover actually con-
sists of four layers (Figure 3): an
intermediate sand and gravel cover
immediately above the regraded
waste materials, a 10-cm (4-in)
sand bed designed to protect the
overlying membrane, a 20-mil flex-
ible PVC membrane, and a 45-cm (18-
in) final cover of sand and gravel.
Sewage sludge and composted leaves
were subsequently harrowed into the
final cover and seeded with grass.
The closure was begun in July 1979
and completed in March 1980.
The costs involved in the
closure of the Windham Landfill
have been summarized in Table 2.
Total costs amounted to approxi-
mately 44C per square foot, with
the cost of the liner representing
80 percent of the total. It
should be noted that sand and
gravel used in the intermediate
and final covers were obtained free
of charge from nearby borrow areas.
MONITORING
The monitoring network in-
stalled in and around the landfill
during the course of this project
is depicted in Figure 2. It in-
cludes the following:
1. Twenty-eight monitor
wells in and around the
landfill to obtain ground-
water samples and ground-water
level measurements.
2. Three pairs of suction
lysimeters installed in each
of the two landfill sections
and upgradient from the land-
fill to obtain samples of soil
moisture and leachate from two
depths in the unsaturated
zone.
3. Four pan lysimeters,
including three in the land-
fill and one in sand and
gravel, to check on the rate'
of vertical infiltration.
4. Two surface ponds down-
gradient from the landfill to
obtain samples for analysis
and additional water-level
measurements.
From February to July 1979,
water levels were measured weekly
and samples taken monthly in ex-
isting wells and lysimeters. From
July 1980 to the present, water
level measurements have been made
and samples taken on a bimonthly
basis. Temperature, pH and spe-
cific conductance were measured on-
site in all samples. Laboratory
analyses were made for nine other
parameters: total solids, alka-
linity, chloride, total organic
carbon, iron, manganese, sodium,
copper, and lead.
WATER QUALITY IMPROVEMENTS AFTER
CLOSURE
Inspection of water quality
records generated during the mon-
itoring program indicates that
substantial abatement of pollution
from the landfill has been
achieved.
Samples from Well 111, located
downgradient from the landfill, are
representative of long-term trends
in ground-water chemistry given the
present understanding of local
hydrogeology. Temporal fluctu-
ations' of several water quality
parameters in Well #11 between
February 1979 (before remedial
actions) and November 1981 are
shown in Figure 3. These indicate
a general decrease in specific
467
-------
TABLE 1
CHEMICAL PARAMETERS OF GROUND WATER
UPGRADIENT AND DOWNGRADIENT FROM THE LANDFILL
BEFORE CLOSURE (MAY 16, 1979)
Well #1
Parameters (upgradient)
Temperature (°C)
PH
Specific Conductance
(jumhos)
Total Solids (mg/1)
Alkalinity (mg/1)
Chloride (mg/1)
Total Organic Carbon (mg/1)
Iron (mg/1)
Manganese (mg/1)
Sodium (mg/1)
Copper (mg/1)
Lead (mg/1)
11
7.2
200
368
25
15
6.2
2.83
0.23
3.7
0.03
<1D.03
Well #2
(Downgradient)
12
6.4
1000
738
376
90
28.0
176.00
2.05
45.0
0.03
<0.03
TABLE 2
CLOSURE COSTS FOR THE
WINDHAM, CONNECTICUT LANDFILL
Item
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Grading and
Compaction
Sand Blanket
Liner
Final Sand and
Gravel Cover
Seeding
Costs,
Total
105,000
48,000
219,000
80,000
22,000
in Dollars
Per Acre
4,200
1,920
8,760
3,200
880
Per Square
Foot
0.096
0.044
0.201
0.073
0.020
6. TOTAL
474,000
18,960
0.435
468
-------
SPECIFIC KC
CONDUCTANCE no
TOTAL IOLIDS
I »«MI
ALKALINITV
I •« / 1 I
MANGANESE
(B1J/I)
LC9
1BO-
an
OJO-
TOTAL OMANIC B.
CARBON
TEMKKAtuKE
•C
OJO
•O.A
FI8UNE 3. FLUCTUATION OF CHEMICAL PARAMETERS IN GROUND WATER SAMPLE AT WELL II.
FEBRUARY 1979 TO NOVEMBER 1*81
469
-------
conductance, total solids, alka-
linity, chloride, sodium, and
manganese, and a slight increase in
pH. The iron content fluctuated
but did not exhibit a distinct
trend, and total organic carbon
increased slightly. The changes
which occurred in each parameter
between May 16, 1979 and Novem-
ber 11, 1981 have been summarized
in Table 3 as percentages of the
May 1979 value.
The degree of water quality
improvement which has occurred is
clearly illustrated in a comparison
of Figures 4, 5, and 6. In these
figures, values of specific con-
ductance measured on three differ-
ent dates have been contoured to
depict the plume of contamination
spreading west-northwest from the
landfill. Background values of
specific conductance, measured at a
well south of the airport, range
from 100 to 400 umhos/cm. Ground
water exhibiting a specific con-
ductance higher than 500 umhos/cm
has been assumed to be contaminated
by leachate. Between May 1979 and
May 1981, there was a 30 percent
reduction in the area of contami-
nated ground water, but the degree
of contamination beneath the east-
ern section of the landfill, where
waste materials where partially
saturated with ground water, was
still very high. By November 1981,
however, the plume had receded even
further and conductivities measured
beneath the eastern half of the
landfill had decreased by 30 percent
from their May 1979 values.
As part of an interim report
to the Environmental Protection
Agency, SMC Martin presented an
estimate of the reduction in
leachate production beneath the
landfill. This calculation, based
on water volumes measured in the
pan lysimeters and chemical anal-
yses of samples from the suction
lysimeters, is reproduced in
Tables 4 and 5. It indicates that
there has been an average reduction
of 96 percent in the mass of con-
stituents contributed to ground
water from the landfill.
CONCLUSION
In November 1981, water
quality in the area surrounding
Windham Landfill had been monitored
for 34 months, including 20 months
since top-sealing of the landfill
had been completed. During that
time, substantial reductions in
constituent levels were observed in
wells downgradient from the land-
fill , and the plume of contamina-
tion emanating from the fill
appeared to recede both in area and
in intensity. It can be concluded
that a significant decrease in the
mass-loading of ground water down-
gradient and of the Willimantic
reservoir by the Windham Landfill
has been achieved.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This paper addresses one phase
of a multiphase project being
conducted by SMC Martin under
U.S. EPA Contract No. 68-03-2519,
Donald E. Sanning, Project Officer.
Other phases involved the selection
of an abandoned waste disposal site
for study; the production of Guidance
Manual for Minimizing Pollution
from Waste Disposal Sites (EPA-
600/2-27-142), a comprehensive
discussion of remedial measures and
estimates of their costs; the
design and implementatLon of
remedial neutralization procedures
at the Windham, CT Landfill, and
the implementation of a monitoring
program to determine the effective-
ness of the procedures.
REFERENCES
1. A.W. Martin Associates, Inc.,
1978. Hydrogenologic Assessment
of Remedial Measures Proposed
for the Windham Landfill, Town
of Windham, Connecticut.
Report prepared for the
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio, EPA
Contract No. 68-03-2519, 25 p.
2. Emrich, Grover H. and William
W. Beck, Jr., 1979. Remedial
Action Alternatives for Munic-
ipal Solid Waste Landfill
470
-------
TABLE 3
CHEMICAL PARAMETERS OF GROUND WATER
AT WELL #11, May 16, 1979 and November 17, 1981
Parameters
PH
Specific Conductance
(umhos)
Total Solids (mg/1)
Alkalinity (mg/1)
Chloride (mg/1)
Total Organic Carbon
Iron (mg/1)
Manganese (mg/1)
Sodium (mg/1)
Copper (mg/1)
Lead (mg/1)
May 16, 1979
6.8
200
238
55
33
(mg/1) 6.1
1.21
0.90
17.0
0.03
^0.03
Nov. 17, 1981
7.4
85
87
22
21
7.7
0.47
0.74
2.72
0.01
^0.03
Percent
Change
+ 8.8
-57.5
-63.4
-60.0
-36.4
+26.2
-61.2
-17.8
-84.0
-66.7
~~*
o
(E
UJ
KEY
CONTROL POINT
VCCIFIC COMOUCUMCC
t«ncr«»kM/cn )
> tsoo
IOOO-Z500
I» 00-1000
MOO -IIOO
too-iooo
FIGURE 4.
DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIFIC CONDUCTANCE, MAY 16, l»7t
471
-------
KEY
CONTROL POINT
VCCJFIC CONDUCTANCE
(micr*M
> MOO
aooo-25oo
IIOO-1000
MOO -I5OO
»00-IOOO
FIGURE S
DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIFIC CONDUCTANCE, MAY 19, 1981
KEY
CONTROL MINT
SPCClflC CONDUCTANCE
l*icr»k*4/c> )
> MOO
2000-2SOO
IJ00-IOOO
1000-i too
too-1000
FIGURE 6.
DISTRIBUTION OF SPECIFIC CONDUCTANCE, NOVEMBER 17, 1981
472
-------
TABLE 4. MASS LOADING OF THE WINDHAM RESERVOIR
BY THE WINDHAM LANDFILL*
BEFORE CLOSURE
Old Landfill
New Landfill
Hydraulic Load:
15,000 gpd recharge
+12,000 gpd ground water
27,000 gpd
x 8,34
225,000 Ibs H20/day
23,000 gpd recharge
x 8.34 Ibs/gallon
191,800 Ibs/day
Total Load
Constituent
TOC
Total Ions**
Sodium
Chloride
Iron
Manganese
mg/1
242
4,212
85
80
61.3
4.5
Ibs/day
54
948
19
18
14
1
mg/1
663
8,736
580
510
270
3.5
Ibs/day
127
1,677
111
98
52
.7
Ibs/day
181
2,625
130
116
66
1.7
ibs/yr
661,000
958,000
47,600
42,300
24,000
615
* Based on chemical analyses from March 1979 MP 124 and 126;
background concentration of all constituents negligible (MP 128)
** Specific Conductance x 1.56 - Total Ions
TABLE 5.
MASS LOADING OF THE WINDHAM RESERVOIR
BY THE WINDHAM LANDFILL*
AFTER CLOSURE
Constituent
TOC
Total Ions**
Sodium
Chloride
Iron
Manganese
Old Landfill
™3Zi
43.3
2808
32.2
73
14.1
Q.20
Ibs/day
4.33
280.61
3.22
7.30
1.41
Q.02
New Landfill
mg/1
3.6
7800
290
312
51.2
0.11
Ibs/day
0
0
0
0
0
0
Total Load
Ibs/day
4.33
280.61
3.22
7.30
1.41
0.02
Ibs/year
1580.45
102422.65
1175.30
2664.5
514.65
7.3
% Reduction
in Total Load
Between 1979
and 1981
99.8
89.3
97.5
93.7
97.8
98.8
Average: 96.2
Hydraulic Load: 12,000 gpd ground water
(no recharge)
x 8.34
100,080 Ibs H20/day
(no ground water)
(no recharge)
5Ibs HjO/day
* Based on chemical analyses from March 1981 for MP 124
and May 1981 for MP 126.
** Specific Conductance x 1.56 •« Total Ions.
473
-------
Sites, MERL/SHWRD U.S. EPA
Hazardous Waste Symposium,
EPA-600/9-79-023, p. 324-342.
3. Emrich, Grover H., William W.
Beck, Jr., and Andrews L.
Tolman, 1980. Top-sealing to
Minimize Leachate Generation.
MERL/SHWRD U.S. EPA Hazardous
Waste Symposium, EPA-600/9-80-
010, p. 274-283.
4. Emrich, Grover H. and William
W. Beck, Jr., 1981. Top-
sealing to Minimize Leachate
Generation - Status Report,
MERL/SHWRD U.S. EPA Hazardous
Waste Symposium, EPA-600/9-81-
002b, p. 291-297.
5. Griswold and Fuss, Inc., 1976.
Ground-Water Impact Study at
the Solid Waste Disposal Area,
Town of Windham, Connecticut.
Report prepared for the State
of Connecticut, Department of
Environmental Protection,
Solid Waste Section, 54 p.
6. Sanning, Donald E., 1981.
Surface Sealing to Minimize
Leachate Generation at Uncon-
trolled Hazardous Waste
Sites, unpublished manuscript.
U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, Municipal Environ-
mental Research Laboratory,
Cincinnati, Ohio, 16 p.
474
-------
EVALUATION OF LANDFILL REMEDIAL ACTION
ALTERNATIVES THROUGH GROUNDWATER MODELING
Charles R. Cole
Battelle
Pacific Northwest Laboratory
Richland, Washington 99352
ABSTRACT
This is a preliminary paper describing a groundwater modeling study currently in
progress for the LaBounty disposal site in Charles City, Iowa. This study is being
funded by the Solid and Hazardous Waste Research Division of EPA and has as its objec-
tive, the use of mathematical modeling technology to predict and evaluate the effective-
ness of existing and proposed remedial action alternatives at the LaBounty landfill.
This paper discusses the approach being taken, the progress to date, and presents some
of the initial monitoring data gathered prior to and subsequent to the installation of a
clay cap at the site.
INTRODUCTION
The LaBounty landfill was an active
chemical waste disposal site from 1953
through 1977. During this period it is
estimated that some 6.4 million cubic feet
of chemical waste were disposed in this
3.44 hectare (8.5 acre) site located in
the flood plain of the Cedar River in
Charles City, Iowa (see Figure 1). Waste
consisted primarily of arsenical sludge
and organic wastes associated with the
manufacture of feed additives and veteri-
nary Pharmaceuticals. Disposal ceased in
December 1977 following studies by the
Iowa Department of Environmental Quality
(IDEQ) and Iowa Geologic Survey (IGS) and
the discovery by EPA Region VII of ortho-
nitroanaline (ONA), a compound used in
the manufacture of a poultry growth stimu-
lant, in the water from shallow alluvial
wells along the Cedar River in Waterloo,
Iowa which is approximately 105 rivers
kilometers (65 mi) downstream from Charles
City and the LaBounty landfill site.
The LaBounty landfill has been under
intensive investigation since that dis-
covery [see the bibliography of documents
regarding LaBounty prepared for IDEQ,
Hickok (1)] because the Cedar River and
the Cedar Valley aquifer, which underlies
the shallow alluvial aquifer at the dis-
posal site, together supply drinking water
to over 300,000 people, about one-third
the population of Iowa. Contaminant load-
ing of the Cedar River occasionally
exceeds federal guidelines for arsenic
(the major pollutant at LaBounty in terms
of disposal mass, see Table I). There
are also significant loaaings with
organics, ONA and 1,1,2-trichlorethane
(TCE). These significant river loadings
together with analyses of LaBounty leach-
ate, which indicate the presence of up to
36 compounds and metals of which 28 are
priority pollutants, has caused the site
to be identified as a Superfund priority
canidate by the IDEQ in the event that
the company fails to complete all neces-
sary remedial actions.
Local contamination of the upper
portion of the Cedar Valley Aquifer in
the vicinity of the LaBounty dump has
occurred. The Cedar Valley aquifer,
which underlies this alluvial system, is
not currently thought to be in danger of
regional contamination, Munter (3),
because the site is located in the
475
-------
s_
O)
i.
Ol
Q.
E
O
S-
QJ 03
T3 r—
O Q-
01
O +->
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ro -i-
o -a
o c
O)
s_
3
en
476
-------
TABLE I. ESTIMATE FOR MAJOR COMPONENTS
OF LABOUNTY WASTE, HICKOK (2)
Chemical
Amount Kg
Arsenic
Orthonitroanaline
Nitrobenzene
1,1,2-Trichlorethane
Phenol
2,750,000
(6,000,000)
680,000
(1,500,000)
127,000
(280,000)
32,000
(70,000)
12,300
(27,000)
discharge zone of the alluvial system.
The alluvial system is also separated
from the lower Cedar Valley aquifer by a
thick sequence of limestone and dolomite
interbedded with shale. The artesian
head in the lower Cedar Valley aquifer is
up to 15 feet greater than that of the
alluvial system.
A portion of the wastes are satu-
rated which results in leachate formation.
The shallow alluvial groundwater system
then transports leachate from the land-
fill to the Cedar River. The driving
forces for this saturated condition, and
leachate production, has not yet been
defined. Possibilities include precipi-
tation and infiltration, and flow of
groundwater through the wastes. Leachate
may also form as rainwater percolates
through wastes in the unsaturated zone.
The remedial program undertaken attempts
first to limit the driving force and thus
reduce or eliminate leachate production.
Additionally, leachate may be collected
or portions of the waste may be excavated.
Current Status and Plans At LaBounty
EPA Region VII required Salsbury
Laboratories to install an effective
monitoring system at LaBounty and to
design and implement interim remedial
measures aimed at final closure of the
disposal site.
The remedial activities at LaBounty
are being implemented in phases separated
by appropriate monitoring periods in order
to gauge the effectiveness of each reme-
dial action. Actions completed thus far
include:
• installation of a network of moni-
toring wells (completed in September
1979),
• initiation of monitoring in October
1979 in order to obtain baseline
data on the site,
• installation of a two foot thick
clay cap with an erosion control
cover, surface water runoff ditches,
and other erosion controls at the
toe of the landfill to protect
against the Cedar River floods (com-
pleted in November 1980),
• continued monitoring of the site to
gather data on the effectiveness of
the initial capping and surface
water diversion actions.
Additional activities of interest to
researchers at LaBounty, include efforts
to evaluate the feasibility of various
methods for in situ stabilization of con-
taminants, and the groundwater modeling
effort described in this paper.
Efforts on the groundwater modeling
phase are in the initial stages at the
time of this writing. A discussion of
the objectives, approach and progress to
date should prove valuable since it will
illustrate how groundwater modeling tech-
nology can be used to evaluate various
remedial action alternatives by providing
a means to predict the effectiveness of
various proposed remedial activities.
The objective of the groundwater
modeling effort at LaBounty is to develop
and calibrate a 3-dimensional model of
the site through the application of an
existing 3-dimensional groundwater flow
and transport code, Gupta (4), based on
the extensive site characterization and
monitoring data that has been gathered
during previous efforts. The groundwater
model of the LaBounty site, once devel-
oped, will then be used to predict the
eventual effectiveness of the already
477
-------
implemented clay cap, erosion control, and
surface water diversion measures, as well
as, any future remedial actions that might
be required such as:
• upgradient cutoff wall,
• downgradient intercepting wall with
pumping and treatment,
• limited excavation,
• limited bottom lining via grouting,
• in situ stabilization,
• biodegradation, and
• leachate collection and treatment.
APPROACH
The overall objective of site resto-
ration efforts is to minimize health and
environmental effects from residual con-
tamination. In situations where leachate
serves as a major transport mechanism,
this objective can be met by minimizing
or eliminating leachate where possible.
Hence, there is great value in first
determining the importance of the leachate
mechanism and then the likely effect on
leachate quantity and quality of various
proposed engineering measures. The basic
issues involved in such a determination
are discussed by Dawson and Brown (5).
As noted there, modeling has proven to be
an effective means in aiding the analysis.
Models for groundwater, surface-
water, and atmospheric transport, can be
used to predict the transfer, transforma-
tion, and transport of chemical substances
released from hazardous waste disposal
sites. Predictions from these models,
regarding the intensity and duration of
environmental exposure to chemical con-
taminants, can then be used, directly or
in conjunction with public health and
environmental criteria and standards, to
investigate the effectiveness of various
remedial action alternatives prior to
their implementation.
Mathematical models (actually general
purpose computer codes) for describing
fluid flow and contaminant transport in
air, surface-water and groundwater have
been developed, tested and employed to
solve a wide variety of contamination
problems over the last two decades. The
use of these mathematical models to
assess and design remedial action for
chemical waste sites, is described by
Cole and Dawson (6).
Models can only be a limited repre-
sentation of any real system. However,
they allow one to examine an entire system
by providing a means to organize and
incorporate expert understanding of these
complex systems with the generally limited
and expensive field data in a form that
can be tested against monitoring observa-
tions of system response to various driv-
ing forces. Disagreements between model
and observation can be used to guide
further field studies or to cause initial
interpretations of the system to be modi-
fied in plausible ways. Models, in gen-
eral, are not static; they must be dynamic
unless the system being modeled is very
simple. A model acts as a storehouse for
all the pertinent information assimilated
on the system, and our understanding of
the important processes or mechanisms
which occur in the system. A model can
be instructive in the sense that under-
standing of the processes at the site can
be improved; and data deficiencies can be
identified. Continued monitoring, model
updating and maintenance, is an integral
part of any effort involving models.
Models provide one with the ability
to organize, interpret, and better under-
stand what is presently occurring at a
site, and in addition, they provide the
ability to predict what will occur in the
foreseeable future. It is these capa-
bilities that are of particular value in
the evaluation of landfill remedial action
alternatives. One should be cautioned,
however, that mathematical modeling is
simply a tool and like any other tool can
be misused. The use of mathematical
models requires some expertise. Model
output, as well as the model itself always
needs careful evaluation by competent pro-
fessionals familiar with the data on the
site and the physical and chemical mecha-
nisms at work for the site being evaluated.
PROGRESS
The stages for this project coincide
nicely with the basic steps involved in
any mathematical modeling effort and
include:
478
-------
1. Definition of the problem and
objectives.
2. Collection and assessment of data on
the system.
3. Formulation of a conceptual model of
the system.
4. Selection of the computer codes(s)
that will be applied to model the
system.
5. Translation of the conceptual model
and data on the system into the form
required by the codes being utilized
to model the system.
6. Calibration and validation of the
model of the system with currently
available data on the system.
7. Analysis of the sensitivity of the
model to input data and interpreta-
tion errors.
8. Use of the model as a predictive or
investigative tool.
As indicated earlier, the groundwater
modeling effort is in the initial stages.
The definition of the problem and objec-
tives is complete. The already installed
clay cap, erosion control cover, and sur-
face runoff diversions at the site, pre-
clude the need to consider the air and
overland contaminant transport pathways
in any modeling effort at the site.
Although contamination of the Cedar River
(the surface water pathway) occasionally
exceeds federal guidelines, the ground-
water system at LaBounty is the primary
concern since it is the source of the
river contamination. The problem and
objective are, thus, to develop a model
of the LaBounty landfill site that can be
used to predict the movement of contami-
nants from the waste source through the
shallow alluvial groundwater system to
the Cedar River and/or the regional Cedar
Valley aquifer. This model must be cap-
able of simulating the effects of the
already implemented remedial actions, as
well as, the additional alternative reme-
dial actions discussed previously.
Complete monitoring data has been
made available by the EPA Regional VII
office, along with copies of the many
reports and site characterization data
that have been generated on and collected
at LaBounty respectively during the pre-
vious site evaluation and characterization
efforts. These reports and data, in con-
junction with a field trip to Charles City
for inspection of the site and discussions
with the Salsbury, IDEQ, EPA Region VII,
and NEIC personel familiar with the
LaBounty site and hydrology, have been
used to formulate an initial conceptual
model of the site.
Initial Conceptual Model
The initial conceptual model of the
groundwater system at the LaBounty site,
based on an independent analysis of the
data and site, corresponds in most details
with those of Munter (3) and Sisk (7).
The potential contours for the alluvial
aquifer system at LaBounty are shown in
Figure 1. These contours indicate ground-
water movement from the west through the
landfill area and then off to the Cedar
River in a diverging pattern to the north-
east, east ana southwest. As can be seen
from the potential levels, for the time
period shown in Figure 1, the Cedar River
acts as a discharge site for the alluvial
system. There are other time periods dur-
ing flooding when the river is a source
of recharge waters for the alluvial sys-
tem, since the flood waters cover the
alluvial system to the toe of the capped
landfill (see Figure 1).
The cross section in Figure 2, from
Munter (3) and Sisk (7), shows precipita-
tion and infiltration as sources for
infiltrating recharge waters to both the
alluvial and upper bedrock (upper Cedar
Valley) aquifer systems. These infiltrat-
ing waters served as a source for leachate
production for wastes which lay in the
unsaturated zone above the water table,
at least prior to the installation of the
clay cap.
According to the data collected by
Hickok (8), some wastes are disposed of
below the water table, see Figure 2. These
wastes will serve as a continual source
of leachate until the contaminants in
these areas have completely leached or the
groundwater level is lowered.
Also illustrated in Figure 2 is the
fact that the shallow Cedar Valley bedrock
aquifer underlaying the alluvium, is dis-
charging to the Cedar River through the
479
-------
V-6/ZOW -»
a-6/zow -»
c
3
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o
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Ol
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o
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CL
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O)
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480
-------
alluvial system and thus serves as an
additional recharge source for the allu-
vial system and therefore could poten-
tially serve to supply enough water to
the alluvial aquifer to keep some portion
of the wastes below the water table even
if a shallow upgradient cutoff wall were
installed to divert all alluvial water
upgradient of the landfill.
Another important aspect in the ini-
tial conceptual model is illustrated in
Figure 3 from Munter (3). Figure 3 illus-
trates the interpreted arsenic contaminant
plume for the same cross section as shown
in Figure 2. The contaminant plume
appears to have migrated downward into
the shallow Cedar Valley bedrock aquifer
against an upward potential gradient (see
Figure 2). One potential explanation
involves density gradient arguments which
reason that relatively fresh waters,
either from meteoric or alluvial aquifer
sources, upon moving through the gypsum
sludge wastes (which contain the contami-
nants) become high in total dissolved
solids and thus denser than the waters
migrating upward from the Cedar Valley
aquifer. Downward migration continues
until dispersive forces have diluted this
denser stream to the point that density
gradients cease to overide upward poten-
tial gradients. Other potential explana-
tions for this migration might involve
arguments related to dispersion, resolu-
tion, or contamination as a result of
reversals in potentials prior to the
monitoring period, such as ponding in the
borrow pits which previously characterized
the LaBounty site.
Based on the initial conceptual model
discussed above, the Coupled Flow Energy
and Solute Transport code (CFEST), Gupta
(4), was selected for use in preparing a
groundwater flow and transport model of
the LaBounty site. CFEST is a fully three
dimensional finite element code and is an
extension of the FE3DGW groundwater flow
code, Gupta et al. (9). CFEST solves the
coupled set of mathematical equations
which describe groundwater flow as well
as solute and heat transport. CFEST can
also account for effects related to den-
sity gradients resulting from temperature
or solute concentrations.
A two stage modeling effort is envi-
sioned. A regional groundwater flow model
of the scale shown in the second level in
Figure 1, will be used to define ground-
water boundary conditions for the more
detailed groundwater flow and transport
model of the scale shown in the third
level of Figure 1. Translation of the raw
data to the form required by the CFEST
code for these two scales has begun.
ANALYSIS OF MONITORING DATA
The monitoring data from the monitor-
ing wells and stations was key punched
checked and plotted from October 1979
through August 1981. Figure 4 shows
example arsenic contamination and water
level history plots for a representative
monitoring we 11.
The contaminant concentration his-
tory plots, which cover the time period
of approximately one year before installa-
tion of the clay cap and one year after
the installation of the clay cap, were
qualitatively analyzed to determine
whether any trends could be discerned in
these concentration time histories which
would indicate the effectiveness of the
capping in reducing groundwater contamina-
tion at the site. Figure 5 illustrates
the results of this qualitative analysis
for arsenic.
This initial, very qualitative analy-
sis (through August 1981) reveals no clear
trends in groundwater contaminant concen-
trations. Groundwater systems are complex
and additionally generally respond slowly
to changes in system parameters so that
the effect of any decrease in infiltration
and subsequent leaching may simply take
longer than the current period of monitor-
ing to manifest itself in the form of
significantly reduced groundwater concen-
tration levels. This is essentially the
same conclusion that Sanning (10) reached
regarding judging the effectiveness of
the sealing operation at LaBounty. "In a
complex hydrologic situation 6 months of
post remedial action monitoring has not
proven to be adequate to determine effec-
tiveness." The model of LaBounty, once
developed, can be used to predict when or
if the clay cap will be effective in
reducing groundwater contamination.
It must be remembered, however, that
the capping, erosion controls, and surface
water diversions at LaBounty were neces-
sary for and have been successful in
481
-------
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I/I
s-
C
<«
cn
c/l
3
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e
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ui o
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O
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482
-------
o.
a.
O
O
l/l
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102
101
100
200
300 400
TIME (DAYS)
WELL M0979A
500
600
700
1010
1000
970
S 980
970
960
100
200
I
I
300 400
TIME (DAYS)
WELL M0979A
500
600
700
Figure 4. Example plots of the LaBounty mom'torrng system data for concentration
and water level histories (time zero is October 1, 1979).
483
-------
(O
+->
C.
O
s.
O)
-a
o
s-
cn
a> to
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4-> 3
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+->
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QQ
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484
-------
eliminating exposure pathways via air sus-
pension of wastes, uptake by plants, over-
land transport, and surface water runoff.
REFERENCES
1. Hickok, Eugene A., and Associates.
1981. "List of Documents, Salsbury
Laboratories, Charles City, Iowa."
For: Iowa Department of Environ-
mental Quality, Des Moines, Iowa.
2. Hickok, Eugene A., and Associates.
1977. "Waste Characteristics,
LaBounty Site, Salsbury Labora-
tories, Charles City, Iowa." For:
Iowa Department of Environmental
Quality, Des Moines, Iowa.
3. Munter, J. A. 1980. "Evaluation of
the Extent of Hazardous Waste Con-
tamination in the Charles City
Area," Iowa Geologic Survey, Iowa
City, Iowa.
4. Gupta, S. K., C. R. Cole,
C. T. Kincaid and F. E. Kaszeta.
1980. "Description and Applications
of the FE3DGW and CFEST Three-
Dimensional Finite-Element Models."
In: Proceedings, Workshop on Numer-
ical Modeling of Thermohydrological
Flow in Fractured Rock Masses,
LBL-11566, Earth Sciences Division,
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory,
University California, Berkeley,
California.
5. Dawson, G. W., and S. M. Brown.
1981. "Risk Assessment as a Means
of Evaluating Remedial Action Alter-
natives," ASCS preprint 81-534,
St. Louis, Missouri.
6. Cole, C. R., and G. W. Dawson.
1981. "The Use of Mathematical
Models to Assess and Design Remedial
Action for Chemical waste Sites."
Presented at: 2nd World Congress of
Chemical Engineering and World
Chemical Exposition, BN-SA-1362,
Battelle Northwest Laboratories,
Richland, Washington.
7. Sisk, S. W. 1981. "Rainfall
Effects on Leachate Production at
the LaBounty Site, Charles City,
Iowa," April 6, 1981 letter from
S. W. Sisk to M. Steincamp, EPA
Region VII, Kansas City, Kansas.
8. Hickok, Eugene A., and Associates.
1977. "Soil Characteristics,
LaBounty Site, Salsbury Labora-
tories, Charles City, Iowa." For:
Iowa Department of Environmental
Quality, Des Moines, Iowa.
9. Gupta, S. K., C. R. Cole and
F. W. Bond. 1979. "Finite-Element
Three-Dimensional (FE3DGW)—Formula-
tion, Program Listings and Users'
Manual," PNL-2939, Battelle, Pacific
Northwest Laboratory, Richland,
Washington.
10. Sanning, D. E. 1981. "Surface
Sealing to Minimize Leachate Genera-
tion at Uncontrolled Hazardous Waste
Sites." Published in the Proceed-
ings of: National Conference on
Management of Uncontrolled Hazardous
Waste Sites, Washington D.C.
485
-------
CASE STUDY OF REPAIRING ERODED LANDFILL COVER
R. J. Lutton, V. H. Torrey III, and J. Fowler
Geotechnical Laboratory
U.S. Army Engineer Waterways Experiment Station
9 Vickstmrg, MS 39180
ABSTRACT
This paper emphasizes the need for expedient, inexpensive techniques for repairing
landfill covers by reviewing some methods used recently. Repair and maintenance plans are
expected to receive increased attention in the future.
INTRODUCTION
This paper summarizes a portion of a
study of covers for solid and hazardous
waste by the U.S. Army Engineer Waterways
Experiment Station (WES). From 1977 to
1978 this study was concentrated on assem-
bling and developing guidance on the
design, construction, and evaluation of
covers (1,2). As an extension of these
basic efforts, the study has subsequently
concentrated on methods of predicting perco-
lation through covers (3) in recognition of
the importance to design. More recently
other efforts are underway in addressing
problems that may develop on or within the
cover including those subsequent to closure
of the landfill. The most extensive effort
presently is in investigating the use of
the geotextiles not only for construction
of new covers but for use in remedial ac-
tion. This paper reviews the experience at
one landfill where geotextiles were used as
a part of the necessary repairs.
HISTORY OF POSTCLOSURE PROBLEMS
The closure of the Windham municipal
landfill in 1979 and 1980 was carried out
as an EPA-sponsored demonstration project
(Figure 1). The details of this previous
work have been reviewed in previous sym-
posia (4,5,6) and also in another paper in
this symposium. The primary feature of the
closure cover (Figure 2) is an impermeable
PVC membrane, which is overlain and
protected by locally available gravelly,
sandy soil. A topsoil was produced from
aged sewage sludge to upgrade the sandy
soil for suppo'rting vegetation. The clo-
sure cover was designed to block percola-
tion that was generating leachate and con-
tributing to a groundwater pollution
problem.
Placement of Cover
Section B of the landfill (northeast
half) was covered and seeded in September
and October 1979. Section A on the south-
west was still being covered at this time
although the engineers reported that about
one-third was completed as far as placement
of the membrane and gravelly sand. This
covering operation continued intermittently
into the winter. Covering was completed
and seeding accomplished on A in March
1980. The covers on sections A and B are
approximately the same except for the aged
condition of the sludge (see CAUSES OF
PROBLEMS). The contractor described the
condition of vegetation on both A and B in
June 1980 as so lush as to make the mowing
of grass difficult.
Cover Erosion
According to the engineers, erosion
of the cover on section A was first noted
during an inspection in April, one month
after seeding. The membrane was exposed in
the swale between A and B and at the
486
-------
Figure 1. View to south across landfill showing locations of repairs on section A cover.
. .
• &
. '
0 • •
'
SLUDGE
FINAL COVER
•„
• '.'&•' 0 -^ '<>•'
INTERMEDLATE COVER
'• O ' ' ' ' ' '" '
'Q ''£> '
Figure 2. Original cover on landfill.
northwest corner of A. Figures 3 and 4
show the scars as they existed several
months later and the locations are indica-
ted on Figure 1. A visit was made by a WES
engineer in November 1980 to examine the
cover deterioration and to recommend reme-
dial action according to the guidance being
developed in the cover design project
(1,2). At the time of this visit two
specific problems were identified. First,
there were relatively deep erosion scars
(Locations 1-4 on Figure 1) located in
paths of concentrated drainage, three of
which exposed the membrane. These scars
were the same ones noted in April. Second,
along the steep north slope of section A,
there was a separate problem (Location 5
on Figure 1) best described as shallow,
rill erosion. It was also apparent that
vegetation though successful on B had degen-
erated on section A, and this deficiency
facilitated the erosion.
Each deep erosion scar (Figures 3 and
4) physically consisted of bare membrane
over a width of about 1 m between abrupt,
steep sides of the original cover soil.
The scar in the swale between sections A
and B was clearly localized along a path of
drainage convergence and concentration, not
only from the immediate flanks but also
from the back side of the landfill.
487
-------
Figure 3. View south along erosion scar in swale (Location 1).
Those scars located to the west
(Locations 2 and 3 on Figure 1) apparently
represented intermediate stages. The
lesser severity here seemed to correlate
with the configuration and extent of the
drainage area, i.e. these features were
located in drainageways for only subtly
apparent watersheds of small size in com-
parison with the two slopes and runway area
above the swale between A and B. The least
severe of the scars (Location 4) was a 2-m-
wide strip free of sludge and consisting of
a concentration of pebbles and cobbles at
the surface. Apparently the sandy matrix
originally present had been preferentially
removed by the downslope migration of water
on and below the soil surface.
Very little difference could be found
in the condition of erosion scars during
WES visits in April and August 1981, as
compared with the condition in the previ-
ous November. The implication was that
the concentrated erosion and exposure of
the membrane along drainageways was not
continuous but instead probably had devel-
oped in response to one or a few heavy
storms starting in March or April 1980.
The second problem, rill erosion
(Figure 5), had preferentially removed
broad strips of sewage sludge along the
slope of A. These bare strips converged
down the slope to almost complete denuda-
tion near the base. At the time of the
visit in November ground frost was aggravat-
ing the situation. Needle ice was
observed to be present during the morning
and to disappear after exposure to sun-
light. This ground ice had the effect of
bulking the sludge and making it even more
susceptible to erosion. On the subsequent
WES visits in April and August 1981, it was
observed that the rill erosion had pro-
gressed and the sludge had been removed
from most of the north slope of section A.
The failure of vegetation in the previous
year probably made this progressive dete-
rioration inevitable.
CAUSES OF PROBLEMS
The problems with the cover on sec-
tion A are directly attributable to the
failure of vegetation and to the effects of
488
-------
Figure 4. View south along erosion scar (Location 2).
heavy rainfall events. Grass was estab-
lished early and continued to grow on
section B, but on A appreciable erosion
along drainage paths had occurred immedi-
ately after seeding. Then the failure of
vegetation in the summer left the sludge
topsoil particularly susceptible to rill
erosion. The contractor has suggested that
this early failure of vegetation probably
reflects the relatively short aging of
sludge used on section A, in contrast to
well-aged sludge used on B (roughly two
months versus more than one year). A con-
tributing factor appears to have been the
intermittent formation of ground ice, which
tended to bulk the sewage sludge to a condi-
tion more susceptible to erosion.
Table 1 shows the history of heavy
precipitation from the completion of sec-
tion A through the focusing of attention on
the problems. The concentrated erosion in
drainageways was apparently associated
with one or a few, particularly intense
storms. On the other hand, the broad de-
nudation of the north slope of section A
was apparently a progressive deterioration
resulting not only from several individual
storm events but also from the ice-bulking
phenomena. The fact that somewhat gentler
slopes on section B, where vegetation was
reasonably successful, experienced much
less erosion confirms the importance of
vegetation. Apparently a healthy stand of
grass on section A would have prevented
most of the slope cover deterioration.
PROBLEM POTENTIAL
The problems developed at Windham
landfill were relatively minor as far as
repair costs, threat to the environment,
489
-------
Figure 5. View southwest along eroded slope (Location 5).
TABLE 1. HEAVY PRECIPITATION ON COVER*
Date
11 March
18 March
22 March
26-31 March
10 April
23 April
29 April
mid-June
30 June
6 July
30 July
3 August
18 September
4 October
26 October
11 November
3.25 (1.28)
2.62 (1.03)
10.41 (4.10)
*• '
(harrowed and seeded A)
5.41 (2.13)
(scars discovered)
3.00 (1.18)
(grass growing well)
2.67 (1.05)
2.92 (1.15)
9.53 (3.75)
3.18 (1.25)
2.82 (1.11)
4.47 (1.76)
5.21 (2.05)
(inspected cover)
* Only daily precipitation exceeding 2.5 cm
(1.0 in) according to NOAA Climatological
Data, Mansfield Hollow Lake, Connecticut,
March to mid-November 1980.
and interference with operations. However,
a considerable potential for problems is
manifested in this case. The increasing
usage of impermeable membranes to intercept
and divert percolating waters on waste
landfills and trenches indicates that such
problems will be occurring more frequently
in the future. In addition, the use of
impermeable membranes in cover appears to
be a special design that is inherently
conducive to such erosion effects. There-
fore, the recognition of this potential
problem and the understanding of quick,
early action to repair damage and to pre-
vent further occurrences are helpful. The
evaluation of the problems and the recom-
mendations for remedial action at Windham
landfill have been emphasized accordingly.
The methods of repair are presented here
as options for consideration for use in
future problems that may be expected to
develop on such cover systems.
COVER REPAIRS
All repairs at Windham addressed two
concerns, correction of the immediate
490
-------
.1
Figure 6. View northeast along repaired slope (Location 5).
condition and prevention of a recurrence of
the same problem in the future. Repairs
were accomplished on section A in October
1981. The repair work was designed to cor-
rect the problems as defined and evaluated
in the previous visits to the site and to
serve as possible prototypes for repairing
any future problems of this nature on land-
fills elsewhere, particularly those in
which an impermeable membrane is a basic
element.
Repair of Eroded Slope
The repair of the denuded north slope
of section A was accomplished by placement
of a layer of rock tailings across the
entire deteriorated section. This coarse
material (Figure 6) is expected to provide
permanent and stable protection against
further erosion. An alternative plan to
repair the cover according to the original
design, i.e., to replace the missing sewage
sludge and then reseed, might have been
more attractive in the spring when vegeta-
tion could have been more confidently
started. The boundary between the gravel
slope protection and the old vegetated
portion of the cover located upslope should
be inspected in the future for potential
deterioration. However, the decrease
in slope at the top should substantially
reduce the tendency for erosion of the
remaining sludge.
Repair of Erosion Scars
The repair of the erosion concen-
trated in drainageways was viewed with more
concern since erosion there represented
more than simply the consequence of a fail-
ure of vegetation. The use of impermeable
membranes in closure covers may be inher-
ently vulnerable to the development of such
erosion. Clearly there is an important
limitation on the amount of water that can
infiltrate even permeable soils such as the
gravelly sand at Windham landfill, i.e.,
the soil will become saturated quickly.
The average runoff coefficient in this set-
ting will be unusually high and erosion
will be a common threat.
Correction of the deteriorated con-
dition at location 1 in the swale was
491
-------
r^'"%'^ f^'\ ^'v 'z^^s^£f'*&&* **^T:
^Jftfyj^ ^ *^, *> ^^ _ _ ^^ ."'J* . *• **!*%* T.*lft^»w
^A ' *v-?*
^^ :^--
Figure 7. View south along swale showing placement of geotextile over backfill.
accomplished by simply backfilling to the
original grade line with freely draining
gravelly sand. Prevention of a recurrence
of the same phenomenon was addressed by
placing a geotextile sheet over and beyond
the regraded volume (Figure T) to preserve
the backfill and adjacent portions of the
original cover by preventing the migration
of fines. The geotextile sheet is com-
posed of woven polypropylene yarn and has
about 20 percent open area in size equiva-
lent to that of U.S. Standard Sieve No. 70.
The geotextile was covered in turn with a
layer of rock tailing (Figure 8) to sta-
bilize the channel for surface drainage.
The scars at locations 2 and 3 were
repaired by backfilling with free drain-
ing rock tailings. These permeable chan-
nels- facilitate seepage from adjacent
areas. The center line of each repaired
strip was kept lower than the flanks so
that the surface water will not be di-
verted to the side into new paths
susceptible to erosion. The coarse
rock tailings are expected to reduce
the velocities of surface water and
seepage water sufficiently to pre-
vent erosion.
A third technique was used on the
least deteriorated of the four scars,
where the erosional process apparently
involved a partial removal of the fines of
the cover soil. It was decided that the
best course here was to overlay the scar
with more gravel to complete the process
that seemed to be taking place naturally,
i. e., an open, highly permeable channel
was formed to convey drainage from sur-
rounding areas without the threat of re-
moval of fines.
Cost of Repairs
The cost of repair of the cover at
Windham was only fractional in comparison
with the original cost of the closure
cover. The importance, however, is brought
out by consideration of the extent to which
deterioration had developed within only a
few months of completion of the job. It is
reasonable to assume that the deterioration
would have continued to a lesser extent if
it had been left unattended. The repair
cost breakdown is shown in Table 2. Obvi-
ously, costs will vary considerably
492
-------
Figure 8. View north along swale showing placement of rock tailings to complete repair.
TABLE 2. COSTS OF MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT
Rock Tailings (860 tons, metric)
3
Sand and Gravel (67 ra )
o
Geotextile (1003 m )
Dozer Rental with Operator
$ 5334
484
1700
1232
a
b
c
d
(41 hours)
Loader Rental with Operator
(11 hours)
Other
495
100
$ 9345
depending upon the circumstances. Organiza-
tions with equipment and personnel available
may be able to handle such repair work in
house. In any case, comparable repair work
should be accomplished for less than the
cost incurred in this special repair study.
Despite the modest cost of repairs,
it is obvious that such deterioration
should be avoided to the extent possible in
future design. Translated into cover
design features, this concern amounts to
placing considerable attention on:
Configuration for areal drainage.
Drainage system layout.
Slopes of drainageways.
Age and condition of sludge
(where sludge is used).
e. Conditioning and fertilizing of
soil.
f. Incorporation of topsoil or scar-
ification of subsoil interface.
g. Time of seeding.
h. Frequent early postcompletion
inspection.
In anticipation of the unexpected, the
closure plan should include an item for
expedient repair.
FUTURE INVESTIGATIONS
Repair of the Windham landfill cover
was regarded as an opportunity to evaluate
one use of geotextiles in the cover over
493
-------
solid and hazardous waste. Geotextiles are
a promising class of materials for use not
only in primary cover construction but also
for repairs on deteriorated covers. This
subject is currently a major thrust of our
cover design studies, and the results of
the state-of-the-art review and new devel-
opmental work will be reported in the
future.
REFERENCES
1. Lutton, R. J., G. L. Regan, and L. W.
Jones. 1979. Design and Construction
of Covers for Solid Waste Landfills.
EPA-600/2-79-165, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio.
250 pp.
2. Lutton, R. J. 1980. Evaluating Cover
Systems for Solid and Hazardous
Waste. SW-867, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Washington, B.C.
57 pp.
3. Perrier, E. R., and A. C. Gibson.
1980. Hydrologic Simulation on Solid
Waste Disposal Sites. SW-868, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, Wash-
ington, D.C. Ill pp.
4. Emrich, G. H., and W. W. Beck, Jr.
1979. Remedial Action Alternatives
for Municipal Solid Waste Landfill
Sites. EPA-600/9-79-023, U.S. En-
vironmental Protection Agency, Cincin-
nati, Ohio. pp. 324-342.
5. Emrich, G. H., W. W. Beck, Jr., and
A. L. Tolman. 1980. Top-Sealing to
Minimize Leachate Generation.
EPA-600/9-80-010, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio.
pp. 274-283.
6. Emrich, G. H. and W. W. Beck, Jr.
1981. Top Sealing to Minimize Leach-
ate Generation - Status Report. EPA-
600/9-81-002, U.S. Environmental Pro-
tection Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio.
pp. 291-297.
494
-------
RECLAMATION OF ASH DISPOSAL AREAS
by
Dr. Wladyslaw Wysoski
Poltegor
Wroclaw, Poland 51-616
and
Ronald D. Hill
Solid and Hazardous Waste Research Division
Cincinnati, OH 45268
ABSTRACT
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been conducting a cooperative research
project with Poltegor, the Central Research and Design Institute for Openpit Mining,
Wroclaw, Poland. This project has dealt with developing methods to vegetatively reclaim
ash disposal ponds. Ash produced from the combustion of bituminous and lignite coals
has been investigated. A series of greenhouse pot experiments were conducted. Based on
the results a series of 120 field plot experiments were installed. Nine different ash
treatments and four plant combinations were included. These treatments were evaluated
over a five-year period. The addition of 10-20 cm of fertile soil to the ash gave the
best results. Fertilization was critical for plant establishment. The 120 plots were
later over planted with barley to determine if an agricultural crop could be established
on pretreated ash dumps. After two years those areas that had received organic matter
as a conditioning step produced the highest yields. A six-year companion study of tree
growth in ash was also conducted. The particular species of tree grown was the most
important factor in survival in bituminous ash, whereas, the ash treatment was most
important in lignite ash.
INTRODUCTION
The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency has been conducting a cooperative
research project in Poland with Poltegor,
the Central Research and Design Institute
for Openpit Mining. This project has
dealt with developing methods to reclaim
and vegetate ash disposal ponds. Ashes
produced from coal fired power plants
create major solid waste disposal problems
in both the United States and Poland. The
magnitude of this problem is illustrated
in Table 1.
As noted both bituminous and lignite
coals are burned in Polish power plants.
In Poland ashes are classified by the type
of combusted coal and the chemical compo-
sition of the ash. For example, ash from
lignite can be divided into three classes
according to its chemical composition:
1. sulphate - calcium from the Konin
lignite region,
2. silicate - aluminum from the
Miocene deposit of Turoszaw, and
3. calcium - aluminum from the
Miocene desposits of Belchatow.
From the reclamation standpoint, the
method of ash disposal is important. When
the ash is disposed by hydraulic transpor-
tation, the disposal area is characterized
by having a dike of mineral soil, and
level top. Considerable fractionation
taking place during settling results in a
stratified structure within the ash
bed.There is also considerable
cementation. When the dry ash is
pneumatically disposed, belt transported,
or hauled by trucks, the disposal area has
a level surface and heterogeneous chemical
and grain size composition.
495
-------
TABLE 1. ASH PRODUCTION
(million metric tons and cubic meters)
Poland
Bituminous
Lignite
Total
USA
Total
1977
tons mil cubicTmeters mil tons
1990
miTcUb i c meters
17.5
12
29.5
---- estimated data ----
30 30 50
24 35 70
54 65 120
296 125 537
Hydraulic transport is more favorable
from the reclamation viewpoint since con-
siderable amounts of toxic boron and
chlorides are leached from the ash and the
pH is lower (8-9 as compared to 12-12.8,
for dry deposition) as a result of the
salts being leached.
The chemical and physical properties
of typical Polish ashes can be seen in
Table 2. The small grain size of the
ashes makes them very susceptible to wind
and water erosion. In addition they have
unfavorable soil/gas properties, low water
holding capacity, and poor nutrients
sorptive properties. Silica is the main
component of ashes, however, considerable
amounts of aluminum oxide (ashes from
Turoszaw), calcium (ashes from Konin), and
iron (bituminous ashes) are found. Fresh
ashes are highly alkaline with a pH up to
12.8. Upon aging, salts are leached from
the ash and the pH decreases. Except for
potassium and boron the nurient content is
low. Toxic levels of boron and sulphur,
as well as magnesium and iron, are some-
times found. Bituminous ashes may contain
relatively high concentrations of
P205, but under highly alkaline condi-
tions, it is not available to plants.
Chloride concentration up to 2 percent by
weight has been found in some ashes. This
level of chloride inhibits plant germin-
ation and growth.
As noted, both the physical and
chemical properties of ash make it a dif-
ficult material to reclaim by revegetation.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
The objective of this investigation
was to solve the following problems:
(1) Control of air and water erosion from
ash disposal areas; (2) Vegetation of ash
disposal areas with grass and legumes;
(3) Reclamation of ash disposal areas for
forest production; and (4) Reclamation of
ash disposal areas for agricultural culti-
vation.
RESEARCH PLAN
Two ash disposal sites were selected
for study. The first area was located at
the Halemba power plant which is fired
with bituminous coal mined underground
from the Upper Silesia Coal Region. The
second area was located at the Konin power
plant which is fired with lignite coal
mined by surface extraction methods from
the Konin Basin.
Both power plants hydraulically trans-
ported their slag and fly ash to earth
diked basins (4.6 m high). The earth
dikes at Halemba were raised to a second
level with ash.
Pot Experiments
In order to select the treatments to
be applied to the ash in field tests, a
series of greenhouse pot experiments were
conducted. Twenty-seven different treat-
ments were evaluated utilizing White Mus-
tard (Synapis alba) as the test plant.
Each treatment was replicated four times.
The results of pot studies are shown in
Tables 3 and 4. The different treatments
are compared on the basis of dry mass of
plant material produced (average of four
replications) with the control pot (fer-
tile soil + NPK) being rated as 100.
Details of these studies are available in
reference 1.
496
-------
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497
-------
TABLE 3. RESULTS OF POT EXPERIMENTS WITH HALEMBA ASH
Treatment Rating
1. control I - fertile soil + NPK 100.0
2. ash + NPK + m + 1 cm layer of silt 89.3
3. ash + NPK + low moor peat 31.4 g/pot 88.3
4. ash + NPK + m - at 80% max. water capacity 85.6
5. ash + NPK + m + low moor peat 31.4 g/pot 81.9
6. ash + NPK + m - strongly pressed 81.4
7. ash + NPK + m + light soil (25% of volume) 80.8
8. ash + NPK + m + high moor peat 31.4 g/pot 79.7
9. ash + NPK + m + green manure from legumes 80.5 g/pot 78.5
10. ash + NPK + m + high moor peat 31.4 g/pot 78.5
11. ash + NPK + m + green manure from cereals 80.5 g/pot 75.4
12. ash + 2 (NPK Mg) 74.2
13. ash + NPK Mg 72.6
14. ash + 2 (NPK Mg) + high moor peat 31.4 g/pot + sulphur 71.8
10 g/pot
15. ash + NPK + m 70.1
16. ash + NPK + m + sulphuric acid 125 ml/pot 68.6
17. ash + NPK + m + gypsum 31.4 g/pot 66.9
18. ash + NPK + m + high moor peat 31.4 g/pot + sulphur 54.2
10 g/pot
19. ash + NPK + m + low moor peat 31.4 g/pot + sulphur 47.7
10 g/pot
20. ash + 2 (NPK Mg) + 2 m + low moor peat 31.4 g/pot 42.3
21. ash + low moor peat 31.4 g/pot 38.4
22. ash + NPK + m + green manure from cereals 322 g/pot 34.1
23. ash + 25% of barren river sand 33.3
24. ash + high moor peat 31.4 g/pot 32.8
25. ash + NPK + m + green manure from legumes 322 g/pot 13.6
26. control III = pure ash 12.4
27. control II = washed barren river sand 7.3
Note: m - microelements
NPK - Nitrogen, Potash and Potassium fertilizer
498
-------
TABLE 4. RESULTS POT EXPERIMENT WITH KONIN ASH
Treatment Rating
1. control I = fertile soil + NPK & Mg 100.0
2. ash + NPK + m + low moor peat 31.4 g/pot 59.9
3. ash + NPK + m 57.6
4. ash + NPK + m + high moor peat 31.4 g/pot 52.6
5. ash + NPK + m + 1 cm layer of silt 51.1
6. control III = pure ash 44.1
7. ash + NPK Mg 43.5
8. ash + NPK + m + light soil - 25% capacity 42.9
9. ash + NPK + m + high moor peat 31.4 g/pot 40.1
10. ash + NPK + m + green manure from cereals 31.4 g/pot 38.7
11. ash + NPK + m + low moor peat 31.4 g/pot 31.1
12. ash + NPK + m + sulphuric acid 1 n 125 ml/pot 31.1
13. ash + 25% of barren river sand 26.0
14, ash + low moor peat 31.4 g/pot 20.3
15. ash + high moor peat 31.4 g/pot 20.3
16. ash + NPK + m + green manure from legumes 80.5 g/pot 18.9
17. ash + NPK + m + gypsum 31.4 g/pot 14.1
18. ash + NPK + m + strongly pressed 14.1
19. ash + NPK + m - at 80% max. water capacity 8.4
20. control II = washed barren river sand 7.3
21. ash + 2 (NPK Mg) + 2 m + low moor peat 31.4 g/pot 6.8
22. ash + NPK + m + low moor peat 31.4 g/pot + sulphur 10 g/pot 3.4
23. ash + NPK + m + high moor peat 31.4 g/pot + sulphur 10 g/pot 2.5
24. ash + 2 (NPK MG) + 2 m + high moor peat 31.4 g/pot 2.3
25. ash + NPK + m + green manure from cereals 322 g/pot 2.3
26. ash + 2 (NPK Mg) 1.7
27. ash + NPK + m + green manure from legumes 322 g/pot 1.1
Note: m - microelements
NPK - Nitrogen, Potash and Potassium fertiziler
499
-------
Results of the pot experiments indi-
cated that methods to improve alkaline
soil conditions such as addition of sul-
phuric acid, flowers of sulfur, and gypsum
were successful to a limited degree. It
was also evident that the Konin ash was a
more difficult material on which to estab-
lish vegetation than was the Halemba ash.
Field Experiments-Grasses and Legumes
Based upon the results of the pot
experiments, a field study was designed.
Nine different ash treatments designed to
change the soil properties, plus a control
were included (Table 5). In addition four
plant combinations were tested. Each plot
was replicated four times. Thus, a total
of 120 plots of 4 x 5 m were utilized.
Covering the ash with a thick layer of
soil (greater than 30 cm) had been shown
by other investigators (2)(3) to be an
effective method of establishing vegeta-
tion on ash. Since layers of this thick-
ness are very costly and had already been
proven successful, this study concentrated
on thinner layers, i.e., 20, 10, and 5
cm.
Some NPK fertilizer was applied to the
ash when treatment took place. More was
applied during sowing of the seed and as
topdressing. In the following years the
plots were fertilized in the spring and
after the first cutting. The amount of
NPK applied was determined from the pot
study and from analysis of soil samples.
Different amounts were used at Halemba and
Konin. Details of the fertilization pro-
gram are given in reference 1.
The four seed mixtures used in the
field trials are shown in Table 6. Seed
bed preparation was begun by loosening the
ash. At Halemba mechanical equipment was
used for this purpose, while at Konin it
was necessary to loosen the ash with
explosives. The amendments and initial
portions of fertilizer were rototilled
into the ash to a depth of 20 cm. After
6-10 days the remaining mineral fertilizer
was raked in. A few days later the var-
ious seed mixtures were broadcast, raked
in, and rolled.
Cuttings were taken from the plot in
the spring and fall. Dry matter yields
were determined and analyses of plant
matter were made to determine the uptake
of heavy metals by the plants. Five years
of data were collected.
TABLE 5. ASH TREATMENT PLOTS
1. Covering of ash with fertile soil layer of 20, 10 or 5 cm plus addition of
NPK fertilizer.
2. Covering of ash with 1 cm layer of bentonite (100 m-Vha) plus NPK
fertilizer (Halemba only).
3. Covering of ash with 5 cm layer of tertiary sand (500 +/ha) mixed with
coal plus NPK fertilizer (Konin only).
4. Mixing of low moor peat (10 Mg/ha dry basis) plus NPK fertilizer.
5. Mixing of garden peat (10 Mg/ha dry basis) plus NPK fertilizer.
6. Mixing of farm manure (20 Mg/ha) plus NPK fertilizer.
7. Mixing of corn green manure plus NPK fertilizer with double dose of
phosphate.
8. Addition of NPK fertilizer only.
9. Addition of NPK fertilizer with double dose of phosphate.
10. Control - no treatment.
r 500 _
-------
TABLE 6. SEED MIXTURES USED IN FIELD TRIALS
Seed Mix 1
Seeding rate
a) Halemba
alfalfa (Medicago Sativa)
white melilot (Melilotus albus)
b) Konin
sainfoin (Onobrichis viciaefolia)
crown vetch (Coronilla varia)
Seed Mix 2
kg/ha
Grass mixture
meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis)
orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata)
smooth bromegrass (Bromus inermis)
meadow grass (Poa pratensis)
creeping fescue (Festuca rubra)
white clover (Trifolium repens)
black medic (Medicago Lupulina)
Total
Total
white melilot (Melilotus albus)
tall rye-grass (Arrhenatherum elatius)
bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera)
Total
Seed Mix 3
alfalfa (Medicago sativa)
orchard grass (Dactylis glomerata)
Total
Seed Mix 4
50 kg/ha
10 kg/ha
white melilot (Melilotus albus)
60 kg/ha
140 kg/ha
70 kg/ha
210 kg/ha
12 kg/ha
4 kg/ha
12 kg/ha
5 kg/ha
17 kg/ha
3 kg/ha
7
5 kg/ha
13 kg/ha
4 kg/ha
82 kg/ha
36 kg/ha
6 kg/ha
42 kg/ha
50 kg/ha
501
-------
Field Experiments - Agricultural Crops
One object of this research study was
to determine if an agricultural crop could
be grown on the reclaimed ash. It was
highly unlikely that a crop could be sown
directly into ash. A more promising tech-
nique was to build up the ash into a
material with suitable physical and chemi-
cal soil properties by utilizing soil
amendments and plants. After several
years of this management, an agricultural
crop could be planted. The 120 field test
plots used in the earlier study were per-
fect for such a project. The ten treat-
ments in the earlier study could be used
to determine which were best for preparing
the ash for later use for growing agricul-
tural crops.
Winter barley (Hordeum vulgare) was
selected as the test crop. Deep-rooted
crops were unsuitable because of the thin
soil layer that had been formed. In the
fall of 1979 the plots were plowed and
harrowed, and fertilizer was applied
(P205-90 kg/ha, K?0 - 100 kg/ha).
Winter barley (200 kg/ha) was seeded and
lightly harrowed. Details are available
in reference 4.
The barley crop was harvested in 1980
and 1981 and the dry matter yield was
measured.
Field Experiments - Forest Culture
The field test on forest cultivation
included the evaluation of twelve trees
and shrub species (Table 7). These
species were selected because of their
previous use in vegetating disturbed
land. The trees were planted in pits dug
in the ash. The size of the pits and
treatments are shown in Table 8. The
willow and poplar cuttings were not placed
in pits, but were planted in ash that had
been top dressed similar to grass plots 1
(20 cm soil), 2, 3, and 8 in Table 5.
The criteria used to assess the vigor
and growth of the trees and shrubs were:
(1) to determine the survival rate of each
species, and (2) to measure the increase
in height. Visual observations of the
plants were made for signs of disease and
stress. These observations and measure-
ments were made each May and September
over a six-year period. Details of the
tree and shrub studies are available in
references 1 and 4.
Other Studies
During the course of the study, soil
samples were taken and analyzed from each
of the grass plots to determine the
changes that were occurring in the soil/
ash with time. Results of this study are
available in reference 1.
During the establishment of grasses
and trees, tests were made to determine if
a thin layer of latex sprayed on the ash
surface would reduce the amount of blowing
dust that damages young plants. It was
found that the latex successfully agglom-
erates ash particles forming a flexible
cover about 0.5 cm thick, which survived
until the first frost. Frost and snow
destroyed the cover. The period of
control with latex is long enough to pro-
tect against windblown dust before the
plants germinate and their roots consoli-
date the surface layer. Thin layers of
latex (less than 0.10 mm) increased grass
and legume production because it hindered
evaporation. Thicker layers interfered
with seed germination.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
Grasses and Legumes
The total dry matter yields obtained
from the various plots for the 1975-1980
period are shown in Table 9. As noted the
10-20 cm of fertile soil gave the best
results. The data also show that fertili-
zation is critical for plant establish-
ment.
A grass and legume combination was the
best seed mixture at Halemba while medic
with orchard grass was the best at Konin.
Agricultural Crops
The barley yields for 1981 are pre-
sented in Table 10. It should be noted
that during the 1977-1980 period (before
barley was planted) half of the plots were
fertilized and the other half were not.
Results of the test indicate that a grass-
legume cover could sustain itself without
further fertilization, but the yield was
lower.
As noted in Table 10, the barley
yields were higher on plots that had
received organic matter (fertile soil and
plant) as a conditioning step. The yields
502
-------
1
on the bituminous ash were also higher
than those on the lignite ash.
Forest Culture
Six years of data have been collected
on tree and shrub growth and survival.
The survival data are summarized in Table
11. Survival was not affected by the pit
treatment at Halemba, the major difference
was due to the particular species grown.
Trees at this site were also impacted by
airborne fluorine and S02 from nearby
industry. They were also subject to
disease, which may have been a result of
their stressed condition. The pit treat-
ment made a major difference in tree sur-
vival at Konin. The mixture of ash with
soil and soil alone gave the best
results. Losses at Konin were attributed
to the toxic nature of the ash,
atmospheric pollution, and rabbits eating
the young trees.
Growth increments were measured for
those trees and shrubs that did survive.
As noted in Table 11, the pit treatment
did not make a major difference in growth
at Halemba, but did at Konin. The gray
alder had the greatest growth rate at
Halemba, while locust was the best at
Konin.
TABLE 7. SPECIES OF TREES AND SHRUBS GROWN ON ASH
Poplar robusta I (Populus robusta Schn.)
Poplar robusta II (Populus robusta Schn.)
White birch (Betula verrucosa Ehrh.)
Gray alder (Alnus incana Moench.)
Black alder (Alnus glutinosa Geerth.)
Locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.)
Larch (Larix decidue Mill.)
Pea shrub (Caragana arborescens Lam.)
Gray willow (Salix cinerea cross with Salix viminalis)
Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides)
Willow cuttings (Salix alba cross with Salix fragiles)
TABLE 8. ASH MIXTURES USED IN TREE PITS
I. Fertile soil and ash mixed in proportions of 1:3 plus NP
Ila. Ash mixed with bentonite 9:1 plus NP (Halemba only)
lib. Ash mixed with tertiary sand intermixed with coal
3:1 plus NP (Konin only)
III. Ash mixed with peat (8 kg peat mixed with 1 m3 ash)
plus NP
IV. Ash plus NP
V. Fertile soil plus NP (Konin only)
Note: NP - Nitrogen and potash fertilizer
Poplars
Other Trees
Bushes
Pit Size
0.7 m x 0.7 m x 0.7 m
0.5 m x 0.5 m x 0.5 m
0.3 m x 0,3 m x 0.3 m
503
-------
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TABLE 11. SURVIVAL AND GROWTH OF TREES AND SHRUBS ON ASHES FROM
BITUMINOUS AND LIGNITE COAL
Increment3
Halemba
in height
ash from
bituminous
cm Survival
Pit treatment (see Table 8)
I
Ha
lib
III
IV
V
Species of trees and shrubs
Poplar I
Poplar II
White birch
Gray alder
Black alder
Black locust
Larch
Pea shrub
Willow
Sea buckthorn
Willow cuttings
Poplar cuttings
Average
0.33
0.34
-
0.32
0.32
—
0.17
0.20
0.11
0.74
0.63
0.45
0.37
0.37
0.25
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0.14
0.20
0.33
_
-
-
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-
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H
H
L
L
M
H
M
H
M
-
L
L
and surviva
coal
Konin
lignite
cm
0.38
-
0.36
0.28
0.26
0.38
0.37
0.30
0.47
0.21
0.48
0.67
0.07
0.35
0.14
0.25
-
0.24
0.33
lb
Survival
_
-
-
-
-
-
M
M
L
H
L
H
L
H
M
M
-
L
a Increment of growth during sixth year
b Survival: H - High, M - Moderate, L - Low
506
-------
'Acknowledgements
This project is J-5-533-12 of the Sci-
entific Activities Overseas - Special
Foreign Currency Program of the Environ-
mental Protection Agency. The final
report for the project should be available
in December 1982.
REFERENCES
1. Wysocki, Wladyslaw. Reclamation of
Alkaline Ash Piles and Protection of
Their Environment Against Dusting.
USEPA Publication EPA-600/7-79-128,
Cincinnati, Ohio, July 1979.
2. Hodgson, D. R. and Townsend, W. N.
The Amelioration and Revegetation of
Pulverized Fuel Ash. In: Ecology and
Reclamation of Devastated Land.
Edited by R. J. Hutnik and G. Davis,
Gordon and Breach Publishing, New
York, 1973, pp. 247-271.
3. Maly, V. K Otazce Zemedelski
Rekultivace Slozist Elektraren. In:
Vedecke Prace Vyzkumneho Ustavu
Melioraci, Praha 1969, No. 10, pp.
91-108.
4. Wysocki, Wladyslaw. Reclamation of
Alkaline Ash. Interim Report to EPA
for period October 1, 1979 to November
30, 1980, USEPA, Cincinnati, Ohio,
November 1980.
507
-------
REMEDIAL ACTION RESOURCE DOCUMENT:
BUILDING ON THE EPA TRD'S
By
John R. Ehrenfeld and Jeffrey M. Bass
Arthur D. Little, Inc.
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02140
ABSTRACT
For several years, the Municipal Environmental Research Laboratory in Cincinnati
(MERL-Cin.) has been involved in a program to develop approaches for the design of en-
vironmentally-safe treatment, storage and disposal facilities (TSDF) for hazardous wastes.
One important facet of this program has been the collection of information on these
technologies and its dissemination to a broad community of interests. This paper de-
scribes a project which utilized this information to prepare a background document for
the technologically related subject of remedial responses at uncontrolled hazardous waste
disposal sites.
With the passage of the Comprehensive
Environmental Response Compensation and
Liability Act (CERCLA) Public Law 96-510,
federal, state and private sector interests
have become deeply involved in remedial
actions at uncontrolled disposal sites.
More specifically, to meet statutory re-
quirements, the National Contingency Plan
(NCP) must provide a means to make cost-
effective choices for remedial actions at
priority disposal sites. At the time this
abstract was prepared, the draft NCP
(October, 1981) set forth a decision-making
process by which the On-Scene Coordinator
(OSC) can determine objectives for remedial
action at a given site, set forth alter-
natives to achieve those objectives, and
select the most cost-effective approach.
The latter steps, as well as a number
'of considerations earlier in the priority
setting and decision-making process,
require a broad background on the tech-
nologies available for remedial response,
their applicability to the site in question,
costs, and other related information. Much
of this background is available in the body
of knowledge developed under the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Public
Law 92-580, program for application to con-
trolled facilities. The project described
in this paper extracts information from
that source and molds it into a context
applicable to remedial actions at uncon-
trolled hazardous waste sites.
The major sources of information for
this project are eleven Technical Resource
Documents (TRD) prepared by MERL-Cin.
describing different aspects of hazardous
waste disposal sites. These eleven TRDs
are:
Evaluating Cover Systems for Solid and
Hazardous Waste (PB-81-166-340)*
Hydrologic Simulation on Solid Waste
Disposal Sites (PB-81-166-332)*
Landfill and Surface Impoundment Per-
formance Evaluation (PB-81-166-357)*
Lining of Waste Impoundment and
Disposal Facilities (PB-81-166-365)*
Management of Hazardous Waste Leachate
(PB-81-189-359)*
Guide to the Disposal of Chemically
Stabilized and Solidified Wastes
(PB-81-181-505)*
Closure of Hazardous Waste Surface
Impoundment (PB-81-166-894)*
Hazardous Waste Land Treatment
(PB-81-182-107)*
508
-------
10.
Soil Properties, Classification and
Hydraulic Conductivity testing
Methods for the Prediction of Leachate
Plume Migration and Mixing
11. Landfill Closure Manual.
*Draft copies are available through
NTIS. Final copies of the eleven
TRDs should be available in 1982.
In addition, the work draws extensively
from an EPA study of the cost of remedial
action unit operations-'- and an EPA report
on remedial techniques. The emphasis
is on using readily available information;
some limited examination of the general
literature has been done to cover subjects
not described in the primary references.
Current remedial activities are examined on
a sampled basis.
The overall technological framework
has been designed to cover a broad range of
approaches to the several major types of
problems arising at uncontrolled sites.
Table I shows the techniques included ar-
ranged by five major problem areas.
Emphasis was placed on those techniques
which have been used in practice in set-
tings comparable to uncontrolled disposal
sites, but techniques which are still
evolving are also described. Key factors
in the discussion of each technique or
group of related techniques are:
• applicability to the problems and
dependence on site specific
characteristics
• state-of-the-art; reference to
known applications
• engineering performance data;
what can be expected
• design data requirements; what
must be known in order to develop
a conceptual design and form en-
gineering plans and specifications
SCS Engineers, Costs of Remedial Responsa
Actions at Uncontrolled Hazardous Waste
Sites; EPA Contract No. 68-01-4885;
undated draft.
2
JRB Associates, Inc., Manual For Remedial
Actions At Waste Disposal Sites; EPA
Contract No. 68-01-4839; dated draft
final report, June 1980.
• post closure care requirements
• cost
To the extent practical, the discus-
sions will separate the techniques into
discrete unit operations to facilitate
tailoring composite approaches for each
site-specific case. Much of the background
cost information exists in this general type
of format. This format will also simplify
future update.
Inclusion of design data requirements
should support a more integrated view of
the overall remedial action process, par-
ticularly in designing the remedial inves-
tigation called for in the latest NCP draft.
By anticipating the engineering data needs
of a variety of potential remedial ap-
proaches, field studies can be configured
to gather these data as well as data to
describe the nature and extent of the
problem at a site.
The initial step, a careful review of
the existing EPA resource documents, indi-
cates that much of the information on the
operation and closure of controlled
treatment, storage and disposal facilities
is directly transferable to the context of
remedial actions or can be translated with
little effort to that context. The tech-
nical areas of most direct application to
remedial situations covered in the eleven
TRDs include:
• leachate collection and treatment
• waste solidification/stabilization
• cover systems
• runoff controls
• site closure
• post closure care and monitoring
Technologies designed for the collection
and treatment of leachate at a RCRA-
permitted secure landfill, for example,
could be applied to the treatment of
contaminated groundwater. At such a facility
leachate is collected before it can con-
taminate groundwater. It is then treated
and safely discharged downgradient. At an
uncontrolled site groundwater is often
already contaminated. Collection of
contaminated groundwater, however, can be
accomplished through pumping and subsurface
drains just as leachate is collected at
controlled facilities. Once contaminated
509
-------
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groundwater is collected, it can be treated
in the same manner as dilute leachate.
The leachate treatment technologies
discussed in the TRDs can also be applied
to the direct treatment of aqueous waste
from surface impoundments, tanks, or drums.
Various biological treatment techniques,
for example, which are used at RCRA-
permitted facilities for leachate treatment,
could be applied to directly treat certain
organic wastes at uncontrolled sites.
These wastes are more concentrated than
leachate, but similar treatment techniques
may be applicable. Although the informa-
tion on leachate collection and treatment
was intended for controlled facilities, it
is directly applicable to similar situa-
tions at uncontrolled facilities.
Contaminated soils represent another
set of problems not found at controlled
sites. Waste solidification and stabili-
zation techniques, as described in the TRDs,
could be used to reduce the soil's poten-
tial hazard. In some cases, then, it might
be possible to utilize the stabilized
materials for berms or similar surface
water diversion means. In others the
stabilized materials might be landfilled
on-site, in conjunction with groundwater
controls (impermeable barriers, pumping,
subsurface drains), and surface covers or
caps. In either case, using techniques
developed for controlled hazardous waste
management, the remedial response design
might avoid the need for removal to a
separate controlled site.
The report includes similar examples
of applications of the other major tech-
nical areas covered in the TRDs. For
remedial approaches such as on-site incin-
eration, not extensively described in the
TRDs, other recent EPA and general refer-
ences were used.
511
-------
HANDBOOK FOR REMEDIAL ACTIONS AT WASTE DISPOSAL SITES
Paul J. Rogoshewski and Roger S. Wetzel
JRB Associates
McLean, Virginia 22102
Donald E. Banning
EPA Municipal Environmental Research Laboratory
Cincinnati, Ohio 45219
ABSTRACT
EPA has sponsored the development of a handbook on remedial actions for use by technical
personnel involved with the clean-up of hazardous waste sites. The handbook explains the
nature of contamination at waste disposal sites and describes some of the remedial actions
that can be applied for the clean-up of each contaminated medium. This paper highlights
the information contained in the handbook and briefly describes how it can be used0 Reme-
dial actions are designed to control, contain, treat or remove contaminants from uncon-
trolled hazardous waste sites„ Remedial actions are divided into surface controls,
groundwater controls, leachate controls, direct treatment methods, gas migration controls,
techniques for contaminated water and sewer lines, and methods for contaminated sediment
removal. This paper also describes the remedial action decision-making process and the
utility of the handbook.
INTRODUCTION
The effects of improper disposal of
our nation's hazardous waste have become
the environmental problem of the eighties.
To deal with this problem, Congress enacted
two major pieces of legislation, the
Resource Conversation and Recovery Act of
1976 (RCRA) and the Comprehensive Environ-
mental Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, nicknamed
"Superfund." RCRA deals mainly with the
regulation of active facilities engaged in
the storage, transportation, treatment
and/or disposal of hazardous wastes.
Superfund provides a mechanism and funding
for the clean-up of abandoned hazardous
waste sites that are polluting the environ-
ment and are threatening public health and
safety.
Research to identify the active faci-
lities and the abandoned sites has uncov-
ered thousands, many requiring some form
of upgrading or remedial action. Under
the CERCLA program, EPA has addressed prob-
lems of limited resources for clean-up by
prioritizing the inactive sites by degree
of hazardo EPA has selected 115 sites that
are considered most hazardous and in need
of remedial action^ These prioritized
sites occur in forty-four States and terri-
tories of the UoS., as shown in Figure 10
A total of $1.2 billion dollars has been
allocated for the clean-up of these sites,
In addition, regulation of hazardous waste
disposal facilities under RCRA will result
in closure/post closure costs estimated to
be over $300 million annually„
The costs of remedial actions,
along with the severity of the problem
itself, have prompted EPA to initiate
research into state-of-the-art and
advanced techniques for the purpose of
facilitating remedial efforts at hazardous
waste siteso One of these research efforts
has been the development of the "Handbook
for Remedial Actions_at Uncontrolled Haz-
ardous Waste Sites0" This document is
512
-------
Figure 1. Map of Superfund sitesc
geared for technical personnel in govern-
ment, consulting, and industry involved in
the clean-up of hazardous waste disposal
sites, industrial surface impoundments, and
industrial and combined landfills. It rep-
resents the most complete work on remedial
actions done to date<>
The objectives of the handbook are
twofold: (1) to provide the reader with a
generalized understanding of the pollutant
pathways involved in a waste disposal site,
the remedial actions as they apply to con-
trolling pollution with respect to these
pathways, and the process of selecting
remedial actions at a waste site; and (2)
to provide detailed information on specific
remedial actions including applications,
state-of-the-art, design, construction,
and/or operating considerations, advan-
tages, disadvantages, and costs0
With this information, the reader can
then develop a preliminary remedial action
plan and cost estimate,,
The remainder of the paper will high-
light some of the information contained in
the handbook.
THE NATURE OF CONTAMINATION AT HAZARDOUS
WASTE DISPOSAL SITES
Land-disposed waste materials, whether
disposed in landfills, surface impound-
ments, or other types of land disposal, are
subject to various transport processes
which may lead to environmental contamina-
tion. These transport processes involve
an initial transformation to a more mobile
phase, usually by solubilization, volatili-
zation, or a chemical or biochemical reac-
tion to form soluble or gaseous reaction
products. Figure 2 presents a simplified
view of the processes involved in pollutant
transport. Volatile and water soluble com-
ponents can also be formed from microbial
degradation and chemical reactions with
other wastes. Oftentimes, chemical and
biochemical reactions can cause explosions
and fires resulting in emissions of parti-
culates to the atmosphere as well as com-
bustion productso Particulates can also be
entrained by surface runoff coming into
contact with the waste material„ Wastes
have the potential to be mobilized in any
phase, given the right conditions.
When transport mechanisms predominate,
the waste materials may migrate outside a
disposal site and pollute the groundwater,
surface water, air, and terrestrial and
benthic environments. Water plays an espe-
cially important role in the mobilization
and transport of waste materials from the
disposal site to these different media.
Leachate may travel downward vertical-
ly to contaminate groundwater, or it may
travel laterally and emerge as surface
seepage, depending on local geology. It is
important to recognize the hydraulic rela-
tionship between groundwater and surface
water, and that either can contaminate the
other, given the right conditions.
The establishment of an effective
remedial action plan for a polluting waste
disposal site must take into account all of
the pathways involved in the transport of
AIRBORNE /VOLATIUZATJ
PARTICULATES
Figure 2. Hazardous waste transport
processeso
513
-------
contaminants through the environment and to
receptors.
TABLE 1. SURFACE CONTROLS
REMEDIAL ACTIONS
Remedial actions include methods to
remove, control, treat, destroy, or contain
improperly disposed hazardous wastes. The
"Handbook for Remedial Actions" categorizes
well over 50 of these techniques into seven
major groupings, as follows:
• Surface controls
• Groundwater controls
• Leachate controls
• Direct treatment methods
• Gas migration controls
• Techniques for contaminated sewer
lines
• Methods for contaminated sediment
removal
Descriptions for specific techniques under
each category include applications, state-
of-the-art, design and operating considera-
tions, advantages, disadvantages, unit
capital and operating costs, and example
costing scenarios„
A summary description of the tech-
niques under each category is given below:
Surface Controls
Surface controls are those remedial
techniques designed to reduce surface water
infiltration and control runoff at waste
disposal siteso They also serve to reduce
erosion and stabilize the surface of cov-
ered landfills. These controls minimize
hazardous leachate generation and reduce
off-site erosive transport of cover mater-
ials and exposed wastes0 Surface control
measures include surface sealing, runoff
diversion, collection, and treatment sys-
tems. Table 1 is a summary of the tech-
niques that fall under the Surface Control
category.
Most surface controls are common meth-
ods used to control runoff, erosion, and
flooding in developed areas. Surface seal-
Method
Surface Seal (A)
Diversion and
Collection
(A)
Ditches,
Diversions,
Waterways (A)
Chutes and
Downpipea (Ai
Levees (A)
Seepage Basins &
Ditches (A)
Sedimentation
Basins/Ponds (A)
Character is tics/ Remarks
Expensive; high upkeep; very hard to place; highly
effective; approximately 20-year life
production
fairly effective; temporary structures: prevents
Inexpensive; low upkeep, very easy to place;
fairly effective; temporary structures, no special
tools or material required
Moderately expensive; high upkeep; permanent
structures, guard against flooding; effective
Moderately expensive; high upkeep, easy placement,
fairly effective; permanent structures, prone to
clogging
Inexpensive; low upkeep; easy placement; fairly
effective; easy to design and install, permanent
structures
(A) - Coflmcrcially available
ing, or capping, is a specialized technique
by which waste disposal sites are covered
by various materials to prevent surface
water infiltration, control erosion, and
isolate and contain contaminated waste and
volatiles. A variety of impermeable cover
materials and sealing techniques are avail-
able for such purposes. The choice of
sealing material and method of application
is dictated by site-specific factors such
as local availability and costs of cover
materials, desired functions of cover ma-
terials, the nature of the wastes being
covered, local climate and hydrogeology,
and projected future use of the site in
question. A typical cap, or surface seal,
is shown in Figure 30
CLOVER, VETCH ft RYEGRASS
Figure 3. Cross sectional of a clay capc
514
-------
Groundwater Controls
Groundwater that has been contaminated
by an uncontrolled waste disposal site can
be dealt with in a number of ways. Imper-
meable barriers constructed of bentonite
slurry, cement or chemical grouts, or
steel sheet piling can be installed verti-
cally to (1) prevent groundwater from mi-
grating away from the site; or (2) divert
groundwater so that contact with waste
materials is prevented. In recent years,
because of its relatively low cost and
effectiveness, the slurry wall technique
has largely replaced other methods such as
grout curtain cut-offs0 The change in the
groundwater table produced by these barrier
methods is shown in Figure 4.
Another conceptual method of dealing
with contaminated groundwater is to allow
it to flow through permeable treatment beds
(limestone, for example) in which the con-
taminants would be removed as the ground-
water flowed through the bed0
The pumping of groundwater with subse-
quent surface treatment may be possible in
some sites, except this is a continuous
process with operating costs that will ac-
cumulate to a major expense over a period
of years. Pumping of groundwater can be
designed to lower the groundwater table in
the area of a disposal site, as shown in
Figure 5.
Bioreclamation is an in-place ground-
water treatment technique based on the con-
BEFORE PUMPING
AFTER PUMPING
Figure A. Lowering of water table
by barrier wall.
Figure 5. Lowering the water table to elim-
inate contact with a disposal
site
cept of utilizing microbial organisms com-
bined with aeration and nutrient addition
to accelerate biodegradation of ground-
water contaminants. It has been previously
demonstrated to be an effective method of
clean-up for underground hydrocarbon
spills, and may prove applicable to hazard-
ous waste sites as well. A summary of the
above groundwater control technologies is
given in Table 20
Leachate Controls
Leachate controls are designed to con-
tain or intercept leachate before it con-
tacts groundwater underlying a hazardous
waste site. Leachate collection systems
consist of a series of drains which inter-
cept the leachate and channel it to a sump,
wetwell or appropriate surface collection
point. The drains may consist of open
ditches or trenches which may or may not
include pipes or tile drains. The sump,
wetwell or other collection basin is also
part of the collection system and from here
515
-------
TABLE 2o GROUNDWATER CONTROLS
Method
Impermeable
Barriers
Slurry Walls (A)
Grout Curtains
(A)
Sheet Piling (A)
Permeable
Treatment Beds (Z
Groundwacer
Pumping
Water Table
Adjustment (A)
Plume
Containment (A)
Contaminated
Water Treatment
(A)
Bioreclamation
(A)
Characteristics /Remarks
tion
longlasting
Very expensive; very low upkeep; fairly effective;
companies
Inexpensive ; very low upkeep; very easy to place;
fairly effective; used to stop formation of H.W.
Expensive; high upkeep; easy to place; marginally
effective; prone to ponding; sensitive
Lowering of water table to avoid leschate forma-
tion and for treatment
Inexpensive; high upkeep; easy to place; fairly
effective; reliable when properly monitored; has
a large construction flexibility
Expensive; high upkeep; easy to place; fairly
effective; very flexible as far as design and
operation are concerned
Expensive; high upkeep; easy to place; fairly
effective; highly flexible and reliable
Inexpensive; high upkeep; easy to place; fairly
effective; fast, *afe, doesn't remove all contain-
inants
(A) - Conmercially available
(B) - Research and development acage
the water is pumped to treatment„ Leachate
treatment will be highly variable depending
on the composition and strength of the
leachate.
Bottom sealing is a developing, but as
yet unproven, remedial technology for un-
controlled sites. Slurries or grouts may
be injected under the site to form a bottom
seal under certain limited conditions.
Specialized techniques of directional dril-
ling, kerf cutting, and fracturing tech-
niques may alsobe required. The above
techniques are summarized in Table 30
Direct Treatment Methods
Direct treatment of hazardous wastes
involves one or more of the following
approaches:
• Physical removal of the wastes to a
better engineered or environmental-
ly less sensitive area (excavation,
hydraulic dredging, and land dis-
posal) ;
• Physical removal followed by waste
stabilization (solidification and
encapsulation);
• Waste destruction (incineration,
wet air oxidation, molten salt,
microwave plasma detoxification and
microbial degradation);
• Chemical waste treatment within the
site (neutralization and solution
mining).
Many of these direct treatment methods
are not fully developed and the applica-
tions and process reliability are not well
demonstrated. Use of these techniques for
waste treatment will require considerable
research and pilot plant testing. Others
such as excavation and land disposal are
widely used0 In addition, the combined
costs of excavation (or dredging) with sub-
sequent treatment can be exorbitant if a
large volume of wastes is involved. A
summary of direct treatment methods is
given in Table 4.
Gas Migration Controls
Gas migration controls are aimed at
limiting both the lateral movement and
atmospheric emissions of toxic vapors. The
degree of control varies, from passive pipe
and trench vents affording the least level
of control, to induced ventilation systems
with gas collection and treatment prior to
discharges Various configurations of pipe
vents are shown in Figure 6» A summary
of gas migration control techniques is pre-
sented in Table 5.
TABLE 3o LEACHATE CONTROLS
Method
Subsurface Drains
(A)
Drainage Ditches
(A)
Liners (A)
Leachate
Treatment (A)
Bottom Sealing (B)
Characteristics /Remarks
Expensive; high upkeep; easy to place; fairly
effective; system requires continuous and careful
monitoring, fairly reliable, considerable flexibi-
lity available
Inexpensive; extremely high upkeep; easy Co place;
fairly effective; requires extensive maintenance;
useful in collecting side seepage and runoff
Expensive; moderate upkeep; very hard placement;
fairly effective; virtually impossible to use on
existing sites, complicated and difficult to place,
Highly dependent: on the method, strength of the
waste, and desired output
Still in the R&D stage
(A) - Commercially available
(B) - Research and development stage
516
-------
TABLE 40 DIRECT TREATMENT METHODS
Hydraulic
Land Disposal (A)
Wet Air
Oxidation (A)
Cement-Based
Solidification (A/
Solidiflcation(A)
Solidification (A>
Solidification (B>
Self -Cement ing
(B)
Encapsulation (B)
(C)
Solution Mining
Neutr a 1 iiat ion/
Detoxification (C)
Mlcrobial
Degradation (C)
Other Direct
Treatment
Techniques
Molten Salt (C)
Plaaaa Reduction
(C)
Chara e cs
{
waste disposal; backhoe and dragline are typical
excavation tools
Includes surface impoundments, land-filling, and
disposal form
or gaseous state; expensive; causes air pollution;
sludges
Involves sealing waste in Portland cement; effec-
tive, but tends to leach
medium; creates a porous solid that must b« either
landfilled or sealed
or polyethylene; forma a stable solid which isn't
leach— prone ; expena ive
substance famed is biodegradable and will readily
release pollutants
to be solidified; expensive, forms a stable solid
expensive; very stable
very stable; yet to be attempted on a large scale
Flood the land disposal area with a solvent and
Joints; ln«xp*naiv«; only amenable to certain waates
Inject the land disposal area with a substance that
iBBMbillZM or destroy* pollutant; Mist have a
degradabie w«c«; expensive
Seeding a va*te with microorganism* to achieve
degradation; sensitive; expensive
Techniques u**d to control vaate froaj refuse siLea
Combustion of waates with salt; th* salt reacts
with undesirable waste by-products; expansive
Any organic waste may be destroyed; done by
severing bonds In waste material
TABLE 50 GAS MIGRATION CONTROLS
(A) - Co«wrcUlly available
(B) - Research mad development stage
(C) - Conceptual
TO ATMOSPHERE
OR TREATMENT
•LOW PERMEABILITY
SOIL
•4-6" SLOTTED
PVC PIPE
-GRAVEL
(A) ATMOSPHERIC (B) ATMOSPHERIC
VENT VENT
MUSHROOM TOP "U" TOP
(C) FORCED
VENTILATION
Gas Barriers (A)
Gas Collection
Systems (A)
Gas Treatment
Systems (B)
fairly effective, forced ventilation is by far th
effective; induced draft is by far the Tiost effec
tive method (over atmospheric dissipation, which
Highly dependent on the materials used, expensive
tive, and easy to upkeep, but can oniy be aopliet
to a 5- to 6-acre site; manifold collection syste
Is more complicated, costly, and requires a great
deal of upkeep
Highly dependent on the method used; site specs w
designate the method; generally expensive
e
is
m
ill
Figure 6. Design configurations of pipe
vents.
(A) - Coimercially available
(B) - Research and development: stage
Techniques for Contaminated Water and Sewer
Lines
Sanitary sewers and municipal water
mains located down gradient from hazardous
waste disposal sites may become contaminat-
ed by infiltration of leachate or polluted
groundwater through cracks, ruptures, or
poorly sealed joints in piping„
When contamination of sewers or water
lines occurs, two basic remedial options
are available: (1) in-place cleaning and
repair, or (2) removal and replacement,,
The specific options available for
dealing with contaminated water and sewer
pipes are summarized in Table 6.
Methods for Contaminated Sediment Removal
Remedial techniques for contaminated
sediments generally involve removal and sub-
sequent disposal of the sediments. Sedi-
ment removal methods include well-estab-
lished mechanical excavation and hydraulic
dreding techniques. Dredged materials
("spoil") management includes techniques
for drying, physical processing, chemical
treatment, and disposal. Dredging in wet-
lands may require revegetation of the area0
A summary of the methods used for
dealing with contaminated sediments is
given in Table 7 0
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CHOOSING THE BEST ALTERNATIVE
TABLE 6. TECHNIQUES FOR CONTAMINATED WATER
AND SEWER LINES
In-Situ Cleaning
Mechanical and
Hydraulic
Scouring (A)
Bucket Dredging
and Suction
Cleaning (A)
Chemical
Leak Detection
and Repair (A)
Pipeline
Inspection (A)
Grouting (A)
Pipe Relining
Removal and
Replacement (A)
Methods used to clean, ins
Buckets are dragged along
thus dredging them; also s
clean sewer lines of toxic
Foams and gels that absorb
flushed
Location — repairing meth
Several different techniqu
as using dyes, audiophone
In-situ treatment of pipe
a gel-like grout
Very simple and inexpensiv
pipes; effective results
Very expensive; when no ot
pect, and repair clogged
the base of sewer pipes
uction can be used co
liquid and debris
and bind liquid pollu-
es are available, such
leak detectors, etc.
cracks or ruptures with
e sealing alternative;
her alternative Is left
(A) - Commercially available
(B) - Research and development stage
TABLE 7. METHODS FOR CONTAMINATED SEDIMENT
REMOVAL
Method
Mechanical
Dredging (A)
Low-Turbidity
Hydraulic
Dredging (A)
Dredge Spoil
Management (A)
De water ing and
Transport (A)
Storage and
Dispoaal (A)
Treatment (A)
Revegetacion (A)
Characteristics/Remarks
A viable alternative for shallow small streams; if
water flow Isn't detoured excessive turbidity
results; limited use
This is an expensive undertaking, utilizes well
established technology; effective, requires a good
deal of equipment
Methods for dewatering, transporting, storing,
treating and disposing of contaminated sediments
Solidifying slurry and loading it on barge, train
or truck such that it can be transported to
treatment
Pumped slurry is placed in a containment basin for
either permanent disposal or temporary storage
Dewatering and stabilization of slurry such that it
is suitable for land disposal
When marshland is dredged, it must be refilled with
clean fill and revegetated Co insure ecological
integrity
(A) - CoraMrcially available
In order to select the most approp-
riate remedial action(s) for a waste dis-
posal site, a thorough evaluation of waste-
associated problems, site characteristics
and remedial action options is required„
For any given site, one must go through the
process of comparing site characteristics
with remedial action options to determine
which options are best in terms of feasi-
bility, effectiveness and cost.
A summary of this procedure follows:
(1) Evaluate nature and extent of
contaminat ion» Prior to the selection of
any remedial program for an existing site,
it is necessary to have at least a general
indication of the extent of contamination
at the site. Data on groundwater, surface
water, soil, biota and air contamination
must be developed if this was not previous-
ly done for the site0 Monitoring of these
various media will allow a more detailed
assessment of the nature and extent of
pollution0
(2) Collect data on physical charac-
teristics of the site. Since the selection
of remedial actions is highly site-specif-
ic, physical characteristics are important
criteria for selection of the best remedial
approacheso It is best to collect as much
necessary site-specific information as
early as possible in the remedial action
selection process. In addition to provid-
ing more detailed information on specific
media, this data should include general
site characteristics which may indirectly
affect the choice of remedial measures.
Characteristics include quantity and homo-
geneity of waste material, the climate of
the area, subsurface geology, aquifer char-
acteristics and uses, proximity to various
receptors, existing land use, and others0
Soils and geology at the perimeter of a
site used for assessment of the feasibility
for slurry trench and grout curtain cut-off
methods would normally fall in this cate-
gory. However, this information is gener-
ally gathered after remedial options are
identified.
(3) Determine remedial options. For
each environmental medium that is contamin-
ated, a given set of options exists that
may be applicable for a particular site.
Some potentially applicable remedial
518
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options have been addressed in earlier sec-
tions o In the Handbook, remedial tech-
niques are listed in several tables accord-
ing to the contaminated environmental media
which are to be remedied or controlled —
surface water, groundwater, air/soil pores,
soil/sediments, waste materials, and con-
taminated sewer and water pipelines. Each
technique presented can be applied to treat
the contaminated medium, directly or indir-
ectly, or control the transport of contam-
inants away from the site. In addition to
summaries of techniques by the media for
which they are applied, the Handbook gives
functions and applications or restrictions
for each technique. This information
should help give guidance on remedial
action selection0 Each technique listed is
cross-referenced within the manual so that
additional information on a given technique
may be found more easily.
(4) Adjust remedial options to
reflect physical characteristics and
select the best option,. Site physical
characteristics developed previously can be
compared to the applications and restric-
tions for each remedial technique to
assess feasibility. Each technique can be
evaluated and ranked in relative order
based on a consideration of effectiveness
and costs in addition to engineering feasi-
bility. In this step, certain remedial
actions will be excluded because of infeas-
ibility, while others will be singled out
as most appropriate. This process should
result in selection of on* or two remedial
measures best suited for application to
each specific medium. At this point, a
preliminary remedial action plan (Step 5)
can be compiled0
(5) Recommend specific alternative.
This general model is applicable only for
preparing a preliminary remedial action
plan. Because of the tremendous environ-
mental impact of polluting waste disposal
sites and high costs for site clean-up,
the need for a more detailed analysis of
each remedial measure is paramount before
final recommendations can be made. The
preliminary plan is, nevertheless, a use-
ful planning tool for remedial action im-
plementation0
USING THE HANDBOOK
Examples of situations where the Hand-
book would provide useful input include the
following:
Reference document for site inves-
tigators
Planning tool for Federal, state
and local governments
Introduction to remedial actions
for public interest groups
Reference document for design and
cost estimating for engineering
firms
Reference document for industries
owning or operating hazardous
waste disposal sites
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Project Officer for the Handbook
effort was Mr. Paul Des Rosiers, EPA Office
of Research and Development. Co-Project
Monitors were Mr. Michael Kllpatrick of the
Hazardous Waste Enforcement Task Force and
Mr. John Frisco of EPA Region II. The
Handbook for Remedial Actions was drafted
by JRB Associates under the direction of
Mro Paul Rogoshewski. Mr. Donald Banning,
Municipal Environmental Research Laborato-
ry, provided technical review and guidance.
Peer review was conducted by WAPORA, Inc.,
Best Environmental Service and Technology,
Ltd., Environmental Resources Management,
Inc., Midland—Ross Corporation, and Rollins
Environmental Services.
The authors would also like to thank
Mr0 William Librizzi, EPA Region IV, Mr,
Glenn Shira, Office of Environmental En-
gineering and Technology, and Mr. Clarence
demons, Center for Environmental Research
Information.
REFERENCES
1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency0
1980. The Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act Subtitle C - Hazardous
Waste Management: Regulatory Analysis.
Office of Solid Waste, April 30, 1980,
2. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency0
1982. Handbook for Remedial Actions at
Uncontrolled Hazardous Waste Sites,
Municipal Environmental Research Labor-
atory, Cincinnati, Ohio0
519
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SUPERFUND: COPING WITH ORPHANED HAZARDOUS WASTE SITES AND SPILLS*
Roger C. Dower and Edward J. Yang
Environmental Law Institute
Washington, D.C. 20036
ABSTRACT
In response to one of the most pressing environmental problems of the decade,
Congress enacted the Comprehensive, Environmental Response, Compensation and
Liability Act (Superfund) in 1980. The purpose of this legislation was to
address unadequacies in the existing common law and federal and state
regulatory structure for coping with cleanup of "orphaned" or abandoned
hazardous waste sites and hazardous waste spills. This paper presents a
preliminary qualitative economic assessment of Superfund. In particular, the
papers shows how cost/benefit concepts can be used to shed light on the
ability of the act to achieve its stated goals. Further, economic analysis is
shown to provide some insights on appropriate Superfund regulation design.
The article concludes that unless opposing incentives are adopted, Superfund
may inhibit the flow of information on the existance of sites or spills or at
least achieve less than expected benefits. In addition, several important
economic relationships are identified that will affect the costs of Superfund
and its ultimate impact.
Of the range of problems presented
by hazardous wastes, perhaps none are
more difficult to cope with than those
associated with past dumping practices
and accidental spills or discharges.
More than 30,000 chemical waste
dumpsites may currently exist, and as
many as 2,000 of those may pose a
significant risk to businesses,
residents and wildlife located near the
site. (1) Although responsible parties
have often made efforts to locate and
clean-up such sites, at least two
factors limit the number of sites to
which this applies. First, waste sites
are often "orphaned" to the extent that
the original responsible party is no
longer known or that the current or past
owner is not able to cover financially
the clean-up costs and potential
compensation damages. Second, a strong
incentive exists for responsible firms
or individuals to withhold information
on a particular site; if they withhold
the data and are not caught, they are
far better off.
In addition, if toxic wastes were
accidently spilled or discharged, few
avenues, until recently, were available
for individuals or the government to
mitigate potential environmental and
health risks. Particularly given the
heavy information requirements to bring
common law actions. Though several
federal statutes provided some basis for
action, they were limited in their
scope. Finally, given the potentially
high costs of volunteering information
on a spill or discharge versus the low
probability of being caught and held
liable if a party withholds relevant
data, there was little incentive to come
forward and take responsibility for an
accident.
In direct response to these, and
other problems, Congress enacted the
Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation and Liability Act in the
fall of 1980 (hereafter referred to as
Superfund). In essence, the bill
provided broad federal government
520
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emergency response authority for
hazardous waste spills and provided
tools for coping with orphaned sites.
This paper will describe the statutory
shortcomings that led to the enactment
of Superfund and will then review the
Act in light of those limitations.
After establishing the statutory
background the analysis will then
attempt to cast Superfund in a
qualitative cost/benefit framework.
This will demonstrate the usefulness of
such an approach for identifying the
critical policy questions to be
considered before promulgating Superfund
regulations.
BACKGROUND
The law existing before Superfund
was inadequate for cleaning up abandoned
hazardous waste sites. Although at
least 21 federal statutes provided some
authority for controlling hazardous
waste sites,(2) with the major
provisions being in the Clean Water Act
(CWA) (3) and the Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act (RCRA), (4) the federal
government was limited in its ability to
respond to dangerous hazardous waste
disposal sites or to require the
responsible parties to take clean-up
actions. Recovering the government's
costs associated with cleaning up a
dangerous site was in most circumstances
nearly impossible. In addition, the
government could not compel companies
and individuals to disclose the history
of their waste dumping practices and the
location of their dumpsites, further
restricting its ability to identify the
sites in need of remedial action and as
well as to build cases against the
responsible parties. These points are
discussed in more detail below.
Response Authority
Before the passage of Superfund,
three sections of statutory law provided
some limited response authority.
Section 311 of the Clean Water Act
allows the government to take remedial
action, or require the responsible
parties to do so, for spills of oil or
approximately 300 designated hazardous
chemicals in navigable waters. This
response authority is characterized by
several notable deficiencies. First, it
applies to only a small portion of the
actually hazardous chemicals; some
observers claim that several thousand
chemicals should be considered
sufficiently dangerous to be included
among those chemicals for which the
government has response authority.(5)
Second, spills into navigable waters
constitute only a small portion of the
hazardous releases into the environment;
spills often contaminate groundwater,
soil, or air without affecting navigable
waters and cannot be addressed under
this section of the Clean Water Act.
Finally, as of May, 1980, the fund used
to finance the government's initial
clean-up operations under Section 311
was virtually depleted.(6).
Section 504 of the Clean Water Act
(7) (CWA) also provides broad authority
for response, enabling the government to
provide assistance in any pollution
emergency. However, the $10 million
designated to be placed in a fund for
providing such assistance was never
appropriated; in any case this amount
would have been too small to cope with
the hundreds of abandoned hazardous
waste sites.
Section 7003 of RCRA permits the
government to bring an enforcement
action against any person contributing
to the release of hazardous waste which
presents an imminent and substantial
endangerment to public health and the
environment. Although intended to
address directly the problem of spills
and orphaned sites, the judicial
proceedings under this provisions are
cumbersome, slow, and expensive.
Further, it requires that the government
identify the responsible parties before
bringing suit and that such parties have
the resources necessary for cleaning a
site up before any remedial action could
be taken. Under this process remedial
action could have taken several years.
Cost Recovery
Before Superfund the government
could not recover emergency response
costs of all hazardous waste
contamination incidents. Sections 311
and 504 of the Clean Water Act (CWA)
empowered the government to recover only
those costs associated with cleaning up
spills in navigable waters of oil or the
designated hazardous substances;
521
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recovery was obtained through civil
actions. Because of the dependence on
the judicial system, years could pass
before the government would be
reimbursed for the expenditures made to
clean up a spill. Thus, the
government's ability to recover costs
was limited to a relatively narrow
subset of potentially dangerous spills,
and was subject to the normal delays
found in judicial proceedings.
Reporting and Notification
Although requirements for reporting
spills and notifying authorities about
hazardous waste contamination of the
environment existed before the passage
of Superfund, they were not broad enough
to cover all hazardous wastes. The only
spills that responsible parties were
required to report were those where oil
and designated chemical substances were
spilled in navigable waters.
Summary
In summary, statutory law existing
before the passage of Superfund left
serious institutional and legal gaps.
More than 21 federal statutes pertained
to hazardous waste management, but the
only spills that were required to be
reported to government officials were
those of oil or a limited number of
hazardous chemicals which contaminated
navigable waters. Many other spills,
either those of different substances or
those not contaminating navigable
waters, were never disclosed so that
authorities and pollution victims were
unable to take action to force clean-up
and compensation payments. Similarly,
the government had authority for
cleaning up and recovering costs only
for those spills covered under Section
311 of the CWA, which left out a large
number of sites. Even for spills
covered under Section 311, EPA was given
inadequate resources to finance clean-up
operations. Judicial proceedings to
force clean-up of spills often took
years to resolve. Superfund and the
many versions which preceded it sought
to address these issues. The approach
taken in Superfund to resolve each of
these problems is described below.
PROVISIONS OF SUPERFUNO
Superfund expands the scope of
government response authority to cover
more substances—not only those under
CWA, but also substances listed under
specific sections of RCRA, the Clean Air
Act, and the Toxic Substances Control
Act. In addition, the government can
designate additional hazardous
substances if needed. In general,
response authority is provided for "any
pollutant or contaminant which may
present an imminent and substantial
danger to the public health or
welfare."(8) With the exception of
certain statutorily excluded substances,
such as most petroleum fractions and
various forms of natural gas, response
authority under Superfund appears to
include a broad class of substances.
Response Authority
Superfund authorizes the federal
and state governments to undertake
removal and remedial actions necessary
to protect public health and welfare or
the environment.(9) The government is
to broaden the scope of the National
Contingency Plan developed under the
Clean Water Act to respond to releases
or to substantial threats of releases of
hazardous substances. The sole
exception is if the President determines
that the party responsible for the
release will conduct the removal or
remedial actions properly. The
responses include, but are not limited
to, containing or treating the wastes at
the site and providing alternative water
supplies and monitoring.
Funding of governmental response
efforts comes from the Hazardous
Substance Response Trust Fund. This
fund will contain 1.6 billion dollars
over a 5-year period, of which 12.5%
will come from government general
revenues and 87.5% from taxes on
industry. The taxes are to be levied on
feedstocks, inorganic chemicals, and
oil.(10)
Cost Recovery: The Liability Provisions
Considerable controversy surrounded
the development of the liability
provisions of Superfund. The original
Senate version would have authorized the
522
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recovery of removal costs incurred by
the government or any person by
mandating strict, joint and several
liabilitity against parties involved in
the generation, transport, or disposal
of hazardous wastes.(11) The
responsible parties would also have been
liable for certain other damages, such
as resource restoration and
replacement. The final bill makes no
mention of strict, joint and several
liability and does not provide victims
with direct access to federal courts.
On further examination, however, the
liability provisions may be, due to
precedents in interpreting similar
wording in other statutes, very close to
strict, joint and several liability.
Strict liability is the holding of
parties involved in a disposal process
liable regardless of nay negligence.
The standard of liability in the new law
is intended to be the same as that
imposed in Section 311 of the Clean
Water Act, which has been interpreted to
be strict liability.(12) Certain
specifically enumerated defenses are
available, namely showing that the
release was caused by (1) an act of God,
(2) an act of war, or (3) an act or
omission of an independent third party;
however, the third party defense is
narrowly defined to exclude the actions
of employees, agents or contractors.(13)
This would make a generator liable for
the actions of its transporters and
disposers. The weight of this evidence,
particularly the precedent of the
interpretation of similar language in
Section 311 of CWA, suggests that
Superfund applies strict liability to
parties involved in hazardous waste
management.
Whether the parties involved in
hazardous waste disposal will be held
jointly and severally liable is a more
difficult question. Joint and several
liability could make any participant
liable in an action, regardless of the
extent of participation. For example,
under these liability rules a single
generator could be held liable for all
costs and damages caused by the combined
wastes disposed at one site by several
generators. Costs could be recovered
from one generator while distribution of
the costs and damages among the other
contributing parties is left to future
law suits. Support for assuming that
parties involved in hazardous waste
management are jointly and severally
liable under Superfund is found in the
language of the Act which states
"nothing in (it) shall affect or modify
in any way the obligations or
liabilities under other Federal or State
law, including common law, with respect
to releases in hazardous
substances."(14) According to the
Department of Justice, common law
provides for joint and several liability
where the act or omission of the
responsible parties results in an
indivisible injury.(15) Further support
for holding the parties jointly and
severally liable is found in several
pending suits in which the Department of
Justice interprets Section 311 of the
Clean Water Act as applying joint and
several liability.(16) The issue of
whether joint and several liability will
be imposed on parties contributing to a
hazardous waste site will be developed
and clarified through case law.
Reporting and Notification
Superfund establishes requirements
for reporting and notifying authorities
about unpermitted hazardous waste
facilities and hazardous substance
spills (Section 102). It requires any
person in charge of a vessel or facility
that is releasing hazardous substances
that are equal to, or greter than, a
given quantity to report immediately the
release to the National Response
Center. Failure to do so exposes the
person to the threat of up to $10,000 in
fines or up to one year imprisonment, or
both (Section 103).
Under Superfund, the existence of
unpermitted facilities must be reported
to EPA within 180 days of the law's
enactment. Failure to report these
facilities may result in up to $10,000
in fines, or one year imprisonment, or
both, for may person involved in the
hazardous waste site. In addition,
Superfund prohibits any person from
knowingly destroying records that
specify, in accordance with EPA
regulations, the location of and
hazardous constitutents present in a
facility. This prohibiton applies for
50 years after the enactment of the Act,
or 50 years after establishment of a
523
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record, whichever is later. Any person
who violates this requirement may be
fined up to $20,000, or imprisoned for
up to 1 year, or both.(17)
COST/BENEFIT ANALYSIS
The problem of coping with past
disposal practices is a classic case of
an externality. Before RCRA and
Superfund, few regulatory or economic
incentives existed for generators,
transporters, and disposers of hazardous
wastes to take precautions against
adverse health and environmental
effects. In addition, high transaction
costs in terms of informational
uncertainty and identification of
responsible parties led to fewer
negotiations between affected parties
before an activity commenced and fewer
tort actions after the fact. Therefore,
costs imposed by hazardous waste
activities were not internalized by the
responsible party, and the level of
safety reached in dealing with hazardous
wastes did not fully reflect society's
risk preferences. These transaction
costs were exacerbated by problem sites
where a financially viable owner no
longer existed.
In many respects Superfund directly
addresses the root causes of the
externalities associated with hazardous
wastes. It implicitly recognizes the
role played by transaction costs in
inhibiting economic/legal transactions
that would internalize the social costs
of unsafely disposed and treated
wastes. High costs resulting from
informational uncertainties (i-e«. the
location of past dump sites, current
spills, and composition of the wastes)
are intended to be lessened through the
notification requirements. This
intention corresponds to a theoretical
argument that in the case of uncertainty
over the least cost avoidance of an
externality, responsibility for
avoidance should be placed with the
party who can estimate these costs most
cheaply, in this case, generators,
transporters, and disposers of
wastes.(18) The liability provisions,
to the extent that they are interpreted
as meaning strict, joint and several
liability, also shift the burden of
transaction costs to the private
sector. The effects of uncertainty
concerning exact casual relationships is
somewht mitigated in favor of the
damaged party and the use of the fund
does not require the identification of
all of the responsible parties.
Reviewing Superfund within a
cost/benefit framework can be done at
two different levels. First, one could
evaluate the relative value of the Act
itself. That is, the marginal costs and
benefits of Superfund could be compared
to other options available to Congress
to determine if the chosen route
maximizes net benefits. Alternatively,
one could take Superfund as a given and
assess alternative agency actions within
the Act to assure tht costs and benefits
are equated at the margin for each
selected action. The latter approach is
clearly more relevant for the EPA in the
sense that it must choose among
alternatives that fit within the
legislative mandate; the more detailed
and restrictive the Act is, the less
flexibility EPA has in determining
efficient regulatory and implementation
policies. This paper offers a general
analysis that applies at both levels
mentioned above. By identifying the
major cost and benefit elements of the
Act, some specific concerns in revising
Superfund and in implementing its
requirements can be isolated. For
example, cost/benefit concepts can be
used to organize regulatory program
information in order to determine its
effectiveness in addressing problems
such as data requirements and
uncertainties and gaps or overlaps with
existing legislative or market
mechanisms.
Benefits
The general class of benefits from
Superfund is the value of damages
avoided from improperly disposed
wasts. These benefits are generated
through several avenues. Shortened
clean-up response time for dangerous
sites or spills is expected to lessen
potential damages. For example, the
benefit of controlling a site that has
been leaking a particular substance that
harms surrounding plant life is defined
by the value of the difference in plant
damages averted as the result of acting
promptly. The liability provisions
create an additional incentive for the
524
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firms handling hazardous wastes to be
more cautious. Benefits therefore
result in the present and future as
firms re-design or close existing sites
and as they incorporate better control
technologies to reduce their potential
liability. Again, the benefits are
defined in terms of the value of damages
avoided as a result of these actions.
The earlier discussion isolates two
specific classes of damages from
hazardous wastes: health (chronic and
acute) and natural resource (including
wildlife). Because Superfund permits
the government to seek compensation for
natural resource damages as well clean-
up costs, reduced natural resource
damage and reduced clean-up costs are
direct benefits from the program. Even
though Superfund does not explicitly
address personal injury damages, there
will be health benefits from the Act.
To the extent that the internalization
of other social cost elements acts to
induce safer behavior on the part of
firms, health damages will also be
averted.
Benefits from the fund mechanism
and tax scheme are more difficult to
generalize. On one hand, that part of
the act represents solely an income
transfer mechanism and the only benefits
that accrue are those that result from
the emergency response authority and
increased compensation payments to
injured parties. Where the money comes
from is of little interest from an
efficienty standpoint. On the other
hand, the tax does act as a partial
incentive to control hazardous waste
streams. It states, in essence, that a
firm must buy the right to generate
wastes. Ideally, some firms, depending
on their cost structures, would pay the
tax, and others would opt for changing
production processes and not generating
wastes. The limitations of this
incentive from the Superfund scheme will
be discussed later. At this point, it
is sufficient to note the possibility of
some benefits resulting directly from
the taxing authority of the act.
Actual estimation of the benefits
from Superfund involves a process
similar to the estimation of benefits
from any other regulatory program.
Estimates must be made of: 1) the
change in ambient environmental
concentrations—for Superfund this means
the difference in the number of
uncontrolled or cleaned up sites now and
in the future; 2) the change in the
number of exposed individuals and
natural resources (acres of land, or
numbers of animals) resulting from
Superfund;
3) the change in the level and type of
exposure experienced by the population
(for example, ten fewer people will be
exposed to contaminated groundwater);
4) the relationship between the level of
exposure and resulting health or damage
effects—for health effects, exposure
will be defined in terms of dosage—for
resource damages, the relationship will
be defined as level and duration of
exposure to toxic chemcial; 5) the
change in number of adverse health or
natural resource damages—for example,
as a resuslt of Superfund there will be
5 fewer nortal cancers each year for the
30 years and 2000 fewer destroyed
wetland breeding habitats; and 6) the
economic value of the change in health
and natural resource damages.
Obtaining numerical estimates for
each stage of the computational
procedure is thwarted by data,
methodology and technology uncertainties
that are common to any benefit
assessment. In addition, there are
several problems with obtaining accurate
estimates that are somewhat, but not
entirely, unique to hazardous wastes.
These will be briefly discussed in turn.
Conducting a prospective rather
than retrospective analysis is always
complicated by having to superimpose a
regulatory program, in this case a
legal/economic/regulatory scheme, on
existing patterns of behavior at the
individual and market level. Where the
regulation specifies a particular target
level, predicting the number of sites
that each year will be brought under
control by the government can be
approximated by the amount of funds
available for clean-up actions and the
average clean-up cost per site. The
number of future sites or spills, the
clean-up of which will be avoided
because of more cautious industry
behavior, requires a number of
assumptions. These would include, for
example, the ultimate effect of the tax
525
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on producer behavior, the degree of
change in the level of uncertainty and
therefore transaction costs associated
with bringing personal injury actions,
and the extent to which the costs
internalized through recovery of clean-
up and natural resource damage costs
accurately reflect true social costs.
Computation of economic values is
made difficult by the wide variety of
potential damages within the two general
classes of benefits. Some of these
benefits may be reflected in property
value changes for land located near or
next to a site.(19) Estimates of
property value changes that have
occurred at a few known sites could be
used to value expected benefits if the
degree of change could be characterized
by size of site, type of chemicals,
location, geo-physical variables, etc.
The value of expected health benefits,
assuming health effects can be
quantified, could be estimated by one of
the several techniques. Of course, the
relevant uncertainties still hold. The
problems of placing values on benefits
to future generations of clean-up
activities resulting from Superfund have
already been mentioned and are
complicated by the selection of an
appropriate discount rate.
Short of computing dollar values
for the positive effects of SUperfund, a
less demanding measure of effectiveness
could be designed that would provide
useful information to the policymaker.
For example, it may be possible to
define a series of categories for
orphaned hazardous waste sites that
reflect varying degrees of health or
environmental risks. For example, sites
that pose a large risk of causing human
health effects would be placed in a
higher class than sites which have a
risk of destroying the productive
capacity of surrounding land, but not of
damaging health. The effectiveness of
Superfund, or alternative implementation
strategies, could then be measured in
terms of the number of sites or spills
in each class that were controlled or
averted. As will be discussed later,
this type of approach might be useful in
a cost/effectiveness analysis.
Costs
In general terms, the costs of
Superfund are: the change in clean-up
and restoration costs; direct costs to
firms of reporting and notifying EPA of
spills; increased compensation costs to
firms resulting from common actions
involving personal damages; and the fund
tax. Ideally, estimates of private
costs accruing to the firms should be
translated into social costs, i.e.,
estimates of consumer and producer
surplus losses. The most important
steps are summarized generally below.
1) Estimte the number of sites or
spills that will require clean-up action
at each point in time. 2) Estimate the
costs associated with those operations
including restoration costs and natural
resource damage costs, compensation for
which can be obtained through the fund
and, later, responsible parties. Most
likely these cost estimates would only
be approximated by the average cost of
clean-up per site. A further refinement
would allow estimates based on certain
site characteristics such as size or
type of wastes. 3) Estimate the total
costs of the clean-up operation.
4) Estimate the shift in the cost or
production functions of affected firms.
5) Estimate the resulting shifts in the
supply and demand of the goods, the
production of which generates hazardous
wastes.
If each step is carried out
properly, it is possible to determine
how much of the costs of Superfund are
passed onto consumers in the form of
higher prices, and therefore consumer
surplus losses, and how much are pased
on to stockholders or input suppliers.
But inadequate data, complex market
relationships and methodological
uncertainties interact to limit the
accuracy and usefulness of cost
estimates. Although these problems
characterize almost any cost assessment
for a regulatory program, the different
type of incentives in Superfund further
conplicate the analysis. Predicting the
net effect of the liability provisions
of the Act on producer behavior is a
particularly difficult task. Yet, it is
this mix of producer responses that
determines not only how much less waste
will be produced or more cautious
disposal techniques will be applied, but
526
-------
also whether firms will comply with the
notification provisions or try to
conceal potentially hazardous sits or
spills.
Although it is not possible to
evaluate all of the specific
cost/producer response relationships
that are important from the standpoint
of understanding the cost elements of
Superfund and their impact, two
particularly interesting and potentially
critical effects are discussed in more
detail below. The first looks at the
effect of cost changes on market
structure brought on by the change in
liability provisions. This relationship
will determine, in part, the disposal
facility capacity shortfall, an issue of
current interest at EPA. The second
briefly looks at the relationship
between compliance costs and the level
of compliance. This often neglected
interplay ultimately determines one
major part of the benefits and costs of
regulatory programs and has a
significant role in selecting optimal
implementation mechanisms.
Types of Liabilities and Changes in
Market Structure
To predict the economic impacts on
market structure of imposing strict,
joint, and several liability, it is
necessary to determine their effect on
the cost functions of relevant firms.
Although there may be several types of
structural changes, the focus of this
section is on the choice of disposing
on-site or off -site. (20)
Assume, for simplicity, that the
total cost function of a representative
firm generating hazardous wastes is
given by:
n
(1) ..... TC =£ XiWi
+ YW + ZW
with wy = f(cy;i
cY'2(lTy,i' V2
})
where X are the production inputs, other
than hazardous waste disposal; Y is the
waste disposed by generator; Z is the
waste dispossed by outside service; Wi
are the input prices or unit costs; Ci 1
are expenditures on constructing and
maintaining a disposal facility; Ci,2are
expenditures for health and
environmental damages due to improper
release of the hazardous wastes (i=y and
Z);TT^ ,1 is the probability of improper
release (i=y and z); and 711,2 is the
probability of being held liable.
Some of the more important
relationship within the function are:
>0
>0
>o
ac.;
where j = 1,2
The total cost function includes
disposal service as an input into
producing a given output, with on-site
and off-site disposal services as
substitutes. The cost of either service
consists of construction, operating and
maintenance costs and the expected value
of restoration costs and health and
environmental damages if the wastes are
improperly released. The latter cost is
an inverse function of the disposal cost
element since as disposal expenditures
increase, the probability of a release
of hazardous wastes decreases (assuming
increased expenditures mean safer
sites).
In the absence of Superfund, where
high transaction costs limit the
liability of irresponsible disposers,
assuming on-site and off-site disposal
costs are the same, generators may often
opt for contracting the disposal to
outside services. This is because the
probability of being held liable is
smaller with outside disposal (^y, 2was
usually smaller than7rz ,2 ); the less
the generator has to do with the wastes
the better. This conclusion is
especially true if the off-site disposer
thinks that the probability of being
caught and held liable is insignificant,
and does not incorporate the expected
value of the damages into the price the
disposer charges (Wz ).
The introduction of strict
liability through Superfund causesirj.,2
to increse, since the disposer is
responsible for the damages regardless
of the amount of care taken. The
generator may now be more hesitant to
dispose of the waste on-site although
527
-------
the option of using an outside disposer
is also less attractive if the
likelihood of being held liable is
reflected in the higher price. The net
outcome (holding all other variables
constant), depends on the relative
probabilities of being caught. (TTV 2 vs
TTZ,2) • J '
Joint and several liability
introduces the term Wx to the
generator's cost function:
2....TC = +w
where W = f (T3,CZ ,2 ,) and ir3is
113 : the probability that the
party who contracted for off-site
disposal is held jointly liable for
damages caused by the contractor either
because the transporters and disposers
cannot shoulder the cost of damages or
simply because a court apportionment is
made.The cost of outside disposal is now
represented by the last two elements in
equation (2).
The damage expenditures, Cz,2,
appears in both parts of the costs of
outside disposal. In the first
expression, liability influences the
price the disposer charges as a risk
premium, i.e., the amount the disposer
must be rewarded for accepting the risk
of a spill or leak. The actual premium
is difficult to predict and would
depend, in part, on risk adverseness of
the particular firm. The second
expression shows that damage costs can
be a direct cost to the generator under
joint liability.
If the generator attempts to
minimize costs, the addition of the last
term increases the incentive for on-site
disposal of wastes, holding all other
variables constant. For those firms
that have no current on-site capacity,
the total costs of constructing,
operating and maintaining a site must be
compared to the sum of the last two
terms in equation (2). If the final
decision is to continue to use off-site,
the generator will seek to minimize the
probability of being held jointly or
severally liable. This might be
accomplished through contract terms that
stipulate various proper management
techniques or selecting responsible
disposers. This will, in turn, increase
off-site disposal costs and generate a
further incentive to dispose on-site.
It is possible to imagine at least
two specific types of responses to the
increased incentive to dispose on-site.
First, generators can construct new
facilities on their own property or
expand existing capacity. The fact that
most generators have sites adjacent to
production sources points to many
advantages of this approach such as
proximity, complementarity to existing
production technology and total control
over disposal firms. Such vertical
integration can allow the firm to
control the entire process of disposal
and maintain, if necessary, economies of
scale by accepting outside wastes. In
addition, it is possible that hazardous
waste disposal firms will be forced to
horizontally integrate. This might
occur if only large firms could put
together adequate financial resources to
meet potential liability payments or
insurance premiums. The importance of
this latter element is growing as
generators demand that contractors carry
insurance to cover spills or accidents.
Of course, the actual effects of
changes in the industry's cost function
can only be determined empirically.
Although it seems safe to assert that
the increased costs of disposal (through
increased probability of being held
liable for a spill or leak) will tend to
concentrate the disposal industry and
lead to increased on-site disposal, the
degree of these shifts is difficult to
predict in the absence of good data.
While it may rarely be feasible to
conduct such a detailed analysis of
every regulatory alternative, it is
important to understand, if only in
qualitative terms, the major
interactions that characterize
regulatory cost elements.
Incentives to Provide Information
It was suggested earlier that the
benefits and costs of Superfund would
depend partially on the degree of
compliance with the regulations
promulgated under the act. Although
analyses of regulatory costs and
benefits normally assume 100%
compliance, there are at least two
important reasons for incorporating some
528
-------
assessment of potential noncompliance.
A model that allows for less than full
compliance will, in many instances, (1)
provide a more realistic picture of the
likely effects and (2) identify certain
behavioral relationships that, if taken
more explicitly into account, would
result in greater benefits at less
cost. The private decision process that
will determine compliance with the
notification and reporting sections of
Superfund is abstacted below and several
important issues highlighted. (21)
A firm deciding whether or not to
comply with the Superfund notification
requirements will compare the private
costs and benefits of doing so with the
costs and benefits of noncompliance.
Simply put, the firm's decision -making
process will be:
(3) C + Ci + C2 >7r (C +
noncompliance
+ Pn)
(4) C +
Pn) compliance
where :
+ C2 <7T (C +
C = Damage claims
Cl = Clean up costs
C2 = Reporting and notification costs
Pn = Penalties
TI = Probability of detection
The left hand side of these
relationships represent the costs
associated with notifying the government
of the existence of a site or s spill
occurrence. Assuming that once reported
all sites are cleaned up, a complying
firm will bear the costs of monitoring,
remedial measures, and damage
compensation payments awarded through
the courts, as well as the notification
costs themselves. The right hand sides
of (3) and (4) are noncompliance costs
and are shown as expected values. That
is, there is some probability (T) that
failure to comply will result in having
to pay clean-up and damage costs as well
as a penalty or fine for not complying.
Clearly, the decision to comply or not
depends, assuming equal clean-up and
damage costs either way, on the
probability of being caught and on the
level of the fine and penalty. Under
Superfund, there is a maximum penalty of
$20,000 ($10,000 for failure to notify
EPA of the existence of a site and
$10,000 for failure to establish an
adequate insurance fund) and one year in
jail for both offenses. In addition,
and perhaps more importantly, violators
of Superfund requirements are no longer
subject to any limit on their liability,
For example, if the expected clean-
up costs and claims are $2 million and
the penalty is $20,000, the probability
of detection must exceed 0.997 for the
owners of the abandoned site to have an
incentive to reveal information about
the site. Even if one accounts for the
fear of imprisonment, loss of corporate
image or liability limits, the balance
still generally tips in favor of not
revealing the abandoned sites, unless it
is almost certain that the site will be
detected. In addition, the reporting
costs are not included; but inclusion
would only serve to buttress the
incentive for noncompliance. As the
expected claims and clean-up costs rise,
the firms' incentive to further reveal
sites declines. This argument can be
illustrated using data on several
hazardous waste dump site case
studies.(22) Although the releases
discussed in these cases occurred before
Superfund, they provide some evidence of
the likely magnitudes of the relevant
compliance/noncompliance cost
elements. Clean-up costs and
compensation payments, where available,
are presented in Table 1 for four
sites. Again, reporting and
notification costs are not included. As
in the previous example, assuming
maximum fines of $20,000, the
probability of being caught would have
to be over 9Q% in all the cases for the
disposer to be indifferent between
compliance or noncompliance. Further,
if one were to asume a detection
probability of 30%, (23) the intangible
costs (loss of corporate prestige,
serving a jail term, etc.) would have to
be valued at a low of $585,150 in the
Dover, N.J. case to $7 million in the
Bui lit County case to lead to
compliance. These figures could also be
interpreted as the fine or penalty level
that would make the disposers
indifferent.
529
-------
It should be clear that the cost
figures used in these two examples
provide only a very rough gauge on which
to judge the incentive structure of
Superfund. Additionally, the compliance
model itself abstacts from reality in
several important respects. Most
notably, a large percent of individuals
and companies comply with the law even
though a strictly rational decision
model would suggest otherwise.
Nevertheless, the model serves several
important purposes.
First, it demonstrates the possible
strong incentives for the private sector
not to comply with Superfund reporting
and notification requirements.
Second the model provides a crude
method by which the level of compliance
can be more explicitly taken into
account in regulatory policy analyses,
asuming data on the cost and probability
elements (the latter, of course, could
be subjected to sensitivity analysis to
determine its importance).
Third, it highlights the critical
role played by other policy control
varibles, which though carefully
considered by Agencies, are not often
made part of a formal analysis.
Certainly, a more complete and realistic
analysis would provide for simultaneous
manipulation of the standard level,
fines, penalties, and the enforcement
level to design optimal regulatory
programs.
Fourth, and finally, the compliance
model suggest alternative means of
structuring the requirements of
Superfund that would meet the goals of
the Act at potentially lower costs.
This might include, for example, placing
strict limits on the liability of
disposers who comply (lowering the
private costs of compensation and clean-
up) or using economic incentives to
induce owners or operators of sites to
voluntarily reveal information (this
option actually adds a negative cost
element to the model, offsetting the
positive costs). Of course, these
alterntives would have to be judged in a
cost/benefit analysis to determine if
the costs of the incentives to the
government or society are offset by
increased compliance and therefore
greater damages avoided or benefits.
530
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TABLE 1 COSTS HAZARDOUS WASTE SPILLS: SELECTED CASES
Case Chemical
Volume
Compensation
for
Clean up
Cost ($)
Health and
Environment
Damage ($)
Bullitt Organic
County, KY Compounds
Chester, PA Hazardous
Materials
North
Carolina
Dover, NJ
PCBs
Organic
chemicals
17,006
drums
50,000
30,000
gallons
5,500
barrels
3,148,000
1,250,000-
3,000,000
1,580,000
49,350
210,000
Not quantified
531
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FOOTNOTES
(1) Douglas M. Costle, Foresight vs. Fear: Learning the Right Lesson
from Love Canal. Portland, Maine: Remarks prepared for the Maine
Hazardous Waste Conference, May 30, 1980.
(2) Durwood Zaelke, Attorney, Land and Natural Resources Division, U.S.
Department of Justice. Materials for Workshop on Investigation and
Control of Hazardous Waste Sites. Prepared for a workshop at the
National Enforcement Investigations Center, Denver, Colorado, April
30 - May 2, 1979.
(3) 33 U.S.C. Section 1251.
(4) 42 U.S.C. Section 6901.
(5) The Need for Additional Legislation on Hazardous Chemicals:, Hearing
on H.R. 85. Before the Water Resources Subcommittee of the House
Committee on Public Works and Transportation, 96th Cong., 2d Sess.
(1980) (Statement by Kenneth S. Kamlet).
(6) U.S. Senate Committee on Environmental and Public Works.
Environmental Emergency Response Act. Report No. 96-848, Washington,
D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, July 11, 1980.
(7) 33 U.S.C. section 1364
(8) Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act
(CERCLA) Section 104 (a) (1) (B).
(9) CERCLA, Section 104.
(10) 26 U.S.C. 4611, 26 U.S.C. 4661.
(11) S. 1480.
(12) See Testimony by Rep. Florio, Congressional Record, Dec. 3, 1980, p.
H-ll 781.
(13) CERCLA, Section 107 (b).
(14) "Superfund - How It Will Work, What It Will Cost," Chemical Week,
December 17, 1980, pp. 38-41.
(15) See, Testimony by Rep. Florio, Congressional Record December 3, 1980,
p. H-11787; and Letter by Alan A. Parker, Assistant Attorney General,
U.S. Department of Justice, Congressional Record, December 3, 1980,
p.H 11788.
(16) Ibid.
(17) CERCLA, Section 103 (d).
(18) Calabresi, Guido, and A. Douglas Melamed, "Property Rules, Liability
Rules, and Inalienability: One View of the Cathedral, " Harvard Law
Review, 85, No.6 (April 1972), pp. 1089-1128.
(19) The theory and practical application of property value studies is
reviewed in: The Benefits of Environmental Improvement, (Johns
532
-------
Hopkins University Press, 1979)
(20) For the rest of this section, the term off-site will be used to refer
to facilities owned and operated independently of a generator.
(21) The issue of noncompliance in hazardous waste regulation is studied
in: Ed Yang and Roger Dower, "Compliance vs. Noncompliance: The
Case of Hazardous Waste Disposal," Forthcoming in Environmental
Professional.
(22) See, Environmental Law Institute, Economic Analysis and Risk
Management: An Application to Hazardous Wastes, Environmental
Projection Agency .Solid and Hazardous Waste Research Division,
1981. In this report the costs associated with illegal and abandoned
hazardous waste dump sites are described in some detail.
533
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COSTS OF REMEDIAL ACTIONS AT UNCONTROLLED
HAZARDOUS WASTE SITES
James J. Walsh
Dennis P. Gillespie
SCS Engineers
Covington, Kentucky 41017
Howard L. Rishel
Sheila M. Kennedy
SCS Engineers
Long Beach, California 90807
ABSTRACT
Subsequent to passage of the 1980 Superfund legislation, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and other enforcement officials have been faced with the di-
lemma of selecting appropriate remedial action scenarios for uncontrolled hazardous waste
disposal sites. This paper summarizes the contents of a document which can aid enforce-
ment officials in their Superfund related decision making process. The project's report
outlines the steps to be taken in costing alternative remedial action unit operations,
and combining these unit operations to yield relative cost data for an entire remedial
action scenario. This paper contains typical remedial action unit operation costs for
each of 21 remedial actions. Examples are provided of the costing methodology for re-
medial action at each of a medium sized landfill and medium sized surface impoundment.
Lastly, an example has been included for compiling the costs of an entire remedial action
scenario (consisting of multiple unit operations) at a specific site.
INTRODUCTION
In December 1980, the U.S. Congress
enacted the Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
(CERCLA, also known as Superfund or P.L.
96-510). This Act was proposed to provide
funds for the EPA to assist in the mitiga-
tion of pollution problems at uncontrolled
hazardous waste sites through the use of
remedial actions. The responsible offices
within EPA (the Oil and Special Materials
Division and the Office of Enforcement)
requested the Office of Research and De-
velopment to provide technical information
to support this process. As part of this
effort, SCS Engineers was contracted to
review, compile, update, and integrate
existing data on the costs of such remedial
action. This was to be done in terms of
discrete unit operations which could then
be assembled into complete remedial action
scenarios.
This type of review-and-update approach
was considered more appropriate than addi-
tional conceptual design efforts since
much conceptual design work had already
been performed. The design work which
does exist, however, was found to be some-
what scattered and incomplete, and often
inconsistent in methodology. Much of it
was also found to be somewhat out of date,
and vague either about the methods used
to arrive at a cost figure, or about what
components the cost figure included.
Using the approach proposed for this
project, a consistent methodology on the
existing data in terms of scope, location,
time frame, and cost computations was im-
posed. In addition, the missing details
were identified and results presented in
a somewhat uniform format with a minimum
of overlap among individual unit operations.
The resulting document presents existing
data in a framework of a broad and consis-
tent methodology with enhanced detail.
It is appropriate to emphasize that
no new conceptual design work was done
for this project. Where data was found
534
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to be incomplete, some detail was added.
Nonetheless, the thrust of this work was
to enhance previously existing conceptual
design data, and to make it more available
and useful to enforcement personnel respon-
sible for overseeing the retrofit opera-
tions. Because the document was intended
for use in applying remedial actions to
existing uncontrolled sites, the unit oper-
ations examined may not be applicable to
new or proposed facilities.
REMEDIAL ACTIONS
A total of 21 remedial action unit
operations were costed in the course of
this project. These were derived primarily
from previous EPA reports that identified
and classified remedial actions at waste
disposal sites. [1], [2], [3] These
remedial action unit operations are iden-
tified in Table 1. As indicated, they
have been generally classified into a total
of four areas including (1) surface water
controls, (2) ground water controls, (3)
gas migration controls, and (4) waste con-
trol s.
Surface water controls were found
to include regrading and surface water
diversion, surface sealing (with asphalt,
clay, plastic membranes, or fly ash), re-
vegetation, cutoff trenches, basins and
ponds, and containment berms. As shown
in Table 1, the first five of these were
found applicable to landfill facilities,
while a slightly different set of five
controls were found applicable to surface
impoundments. Surface water controls are
usually considered short-term measures
and can be effective in controlling immi-
nent pollution dangers and discharges to
surface waterways. Often, however, they
need to be used in conjunction with ground
water controls as described subsequently.
Ground water control measures were
found to include bentonite slurry trenches,
grout curtains, sheet piling cutoff walls,
grout bottom sealing, underdrains, well
point systems, deep well systems, and well
injection systems. All eight of these
remedial action unit operations were found
to be applicable to both landfills and
surface impoundments. Ground water con-
trols are generally considered to be more
long-term in nature than are surface water
controls. While curtailing the more long-
term environmental impacts such as ground
water pollution, they can also be expected
to require more sophisticated technologies,
longer lead times, and larger sources of
funding.
TABLE 1. IDENTIFICATION AND APPLICABILITY OF REMEDIAL ACTION UNIT OPERATIONS
_Re me diaj_ Actij)n Unrt 0f)erati j) n s
Landfills
Surface
Impoundments
Surface Water Controls
Regrading and Surface Water Diversion
Surface Seal ing
Revegetation
Cutoff Trenches
Basins and Ponds
Containment Berms
Ground^ Water Controls
Bentonite Slurry Trench
Grout Curtain
Sheet Piling Cutoff Wall
Grout Bottom Sealing
Underdrains
Well Point System
Deep Well System
Well Injection System
Gaj^ M i g r a t ion Cp n tro 1 s
Gas Venting Trench
Gas Extraction Wells
Waste Controls
Treatment of Contaminated Water
Chemical Fixation
Chemical Injection
Excavation and Rebunal
Leachate Recirculation
535
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Ground water controls can be cate-
gorized into active and passive systems.
Generally, slurry trenches, grout curtains,
sheet piling walls, grout bottom sealing,
and underdrains are considered passive
systems. While installation costs may
equal or exceed those for active systems,
O&M requirements are expected to be low.
Active systems include well point systems,
deep well systems, and well injection sys-
tems. Capital costs here are likewise
not expected to be low. In addition, on-
going operation and maintenance require-
ments usually exist for active ground water
controls, including pump servicing cost
as well as the likely need to treat ex-
tracted ground water.
Gas migration controls identified
in Table 1 were found to be applicable
to both landfills and surface impoundments.
Organic wastes buried in landfills or
closed/capped surface impoundments often
generate combustible quantities of methane
gas. In many cases, combustible gases
have been found to migrate laterally from
such facilities posing the risk of explo-
sion or fire at nearby structures.
Gas migration controls can also be
classified in general as active and passive
systems. Gas venting trenches are con-
sidered passive systems and may be incor-
porated by excavating trenches around fa-
cility perimeters. Gases migrating later-
ally from the site are intercepted by these
trenches and vented harmlessly to the at-
mosphere above. Venting trenches are
usually limited to situations where combus-
tible gases are migrating at depths no
greater than 20 ft below the surface. Where
gases are found to be migrating at greater
depths, an active gas extraction/recovery
well system is likely required. These
systems consist of multiple, large diameter
extraction wells connected by header pipes
to a central blower facility. Gases are
then actively extracted from the subsur-
face and either vented to the atmosphere
or flared.
The final category of remedial action
unit operations costed on this project
were those labeled waste controls. Waste
control actions include treatment of con-
taminated water, chemical fixation, chemi-
cal injection, excavation and reburial
of the waste, and leachate recirculation.
While all five of these were found appli-
cable to landfills, the first four were
deemed appropriate for surface impoundments.
Both chemical fixation and injection have
been alleged to be effective in stabi-
lizing waste masses and preventing further
emission of contaminants. Treatment of
contaminated water, and leachate recircu-
lation have been proposed as treatments
for discharges of waste leachates and waste-
water. The final remedial action proposed
under this category is that of "excavation
and reburial". This likely is the most
expensive of all remedial action unit op-
erations addressed by the project, and
should be used only as a last recourse.
High costs are likely to be encountered
in excavating the material due to the
hazardous (and usually unknown) nature
of the waste. In addition, expenses in-
curred in transporting and ultimately dis-
posing of the wastes at a secure landfill
are expected to be equally high.
COSTING METHODOLOGY
Cost Variations
In identifying, characterizing, and
costing remedial action unit operations
for waste disposal site application, costs
were examined for their sensitivity to
both (1) geographic location and (2) fa-
cility size. With regard to geographic
location, costs for each remedial action
unit operation were computed at three
separate cost levels. These include (1)
upper U.S. average, (2) lower U.S. average,
and (3) specific costs encountered in 1980
at Newark, NJ. With regard to facility
size, remedial action unit operation costs
were examined at each of five separate
scales of operation for each of landfills
and surface impoundments. This paper will
concentrate on the third, or medium scale
of operation. Surface areas for medium
size facilities included 5.0 ha for the
landfill, and 0.32 ha for the surface im-
poundment.
In computing specific remedial action
unit operation costs, each unit operation
first had to be broken down into its spe-
cific component requirements. (See Tables
2 and 3 for identification of the component
cost items which are affiliated with each
remedial action unit operation.) For ex-
ample, selected components for bentonite
slurry walls were found to include
536
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TABLE 3. REMEDIAL ACTION UNIT OPERATIONS VS.
O&M COMPONENT COST ITEMS
Remedial Action Unit Operation
Surface Water Controls
Regrading and Surface Water
Diversion
Surface Sealing
Revegetation
Cutoff Trenches
Basins and Ponds
Containment Basins
Ground Water Controls
Bentomte Slurry Trench
Grout Curtain
Sheet Piling Cutoff Wall
Grout Bottom Sealing
Underdrains
Well Point System
Deep Well System
Well Injection System
Gas Migration Controls
Gas Venting Trench
Gas Extraction Wells
Waste Controls
Treatment of Contaminated Water
Chemical Fixation
Chemical Injection
Excavation and Rebunal
Leachate Recirculation
bentonite material, bentonite transport,
trench excavation, and slurry wall instal-
lation. In addition, each component cost
item could be further defined in terms of
subcomponents, with specific costs assigned
to labor, materials, and equipment/supplies.
On this project, assigned costs were
in terms of mid-1980 dollars for the U.S.
upper and lower cost averages in the conti-
nental 48 states, as well as for the ex-
ample location of Newark, NJ. After costs
were assigned to each component cost item,
conceptual design capital and operating
cost estimates were accumulated and allow-
ances for overhead and contingencies ap-
plied. Total and average life cycle costs
were then computed for each unit operation.
Derivation of Component Costs
In most cases, 1980 editions of the
Dodge and Means Construction Cost Guides
[4], [5] were used to obtain the needed
costs. Costs were then expressed primarily
in terms of metric units, although equiva-
lent English units were provided as total
life cycle unit costs for each remedial
action.
Regional adjustment indices presented
in the Dodge Guide were used to modify
the metric versions of the cost estimates
for geographical differences. These in-
dices were applied to obtain revised ma-
terial and labor costs for the upper U.S.
average, lower U.S. average, and Newark,
NJ estimates. No index was applied to
equipment costs since it was assumed that
equipment costs are somewhat the same
across the nation. Because the Dodge and
Means Guides present costs differently,
assumptions were made so that the regional
adjustment indices could be used for both
texts. For example, in the Means Guide,
labor costs were not identified as a sepa-
rate entry, but were included as part of
installation. Thus, whenever Means
538
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was used to present costs, the Dodge Guide
Regional Adjustment Index for Labor was
applied to installation costs.
Frequently, neither the Dodge nor
Means Guides itemized costs into the re-
spective categories of labor, material,
and equipment, but rather simply presented
a total estimate. Depending upon which
reference was used, the following rules
were applied. In the Dodge guide, if only
a total cost was presented, an average
labor/material index was applied to the
unit cost. In the Means guide, the total
costs include an overhead allowance of
25 percent. This allowance was removed
before the labor/material index was applied.
In all cases, costs were adjusted so that
overhead allowances were not included at
the subcomponent level.
As the scale of operation changed,
the quantity of any one component required
for a unit operation also changed. The cost
of each component presented in the unit
operation conceptual design cost table
typically included the sum of costs for
any material, labor, and equipment subcom-
ponents. These total costs for each com-
ponent do not include overhead and contin-
gencies. Once all the components within
a given unit operation were costed, the
costs were summed giving a subtotal capital
cost for the unit operation. This subtotal
capital cost was then used to obtain an
overhead allowance (always 25 percent),
and a contingency allowance (between 10
and 40 percent depending upon the unit
operation). The subtotal capital cost
was added to the overhead and contingency
allowances to obtain the estimate of total
unit operation capital cost. This method
was used for all scales of operation.
Life Cycle Costing
Once total capital and operating costs
were determined for the lower and upper
U.S. averages and for Newark, NJ, total
and average life cycle costs were computed
to ensure that any subsequent cost compari-
sons of unit operations could be equitably
accomplished.
Although operation and maintenance
(O&M) cost estimates are for the year 1980
as the first year of operation, O&M compo-
nent quantity requirements were estimated
to accurately reflect requirements for
each of the first 10 years of remedial
operations. This 10 year life of the con-
ceptual design means that life cycle evalu-
ation of operating costs only addresses sub-
sequent inflation and appropriate discoun-
ting of these O&M component costs to their
mid-1980 present values. It was further
assumed that capital costs would not be
amortized and discounted, but would be
considered as fully incurred in the first
year of operation. As a result of these
assumptions, average annual compounding of
inflation rates for electricity and for
all other O&M components were derived using
estimates from the April 1980 Survey of
Current Business. [6] These inflation
rates were derived as shown in Table 4.
In determining the present values
of future expenditures, the March 1980
Gross National Product Implicit Price
Deflater [7] of 174.51 was similarly evalu-
ated in terms of its 1972 base year to
estimate an annual general inflation rate
of 7.4 percent. To this, an assumed 4
percent social time preference rate was
added to create a total annual discount
rate of 11.4 percent. The life cycle cost
methodology was then followed, in which
inflated operating costs were discounted
to their mid-1980 present values, and sum-
med with total capital costs to determine
total life cycle cost over the 10 year
life span of each unit operation. Average
life cycle costs were then computed by
dividing this total by the site profile's
appropriate unit of measure.
SITE PROFILES
Site profiles (or hypothetical dis-
posal sites) were developed for landfills
and for surface impoundments (i.e., waste-
water pits, ponds, and lagoons). Each
of these were portrayed at five different
scales of operation. The resulting site
profiles were configured to conform to
uniform sets of design criteria and envi-
ronmental conditions. For both landfills
and surface impoundments, the selected
scales of operation were developed in terms
of total surface area. This emphasis on
surface area is appropriate for closed,
abandoned, uncontrolled waste sites. Daily
input of wastes (in tonnes per day or cubic
meters per day) would not be appropriate
since these facilities are usually inactive.
Total storage volume (in cubic meters)
would not be appropriate since the depths
of these facilities are often unknown
539
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TABLE 4. INFLATION RATES FOR O&M COSTS
Type of OJM Cost
Relevant Published Cost Index
March 1980 Index Value
Average Annual Percent Increase in
Index Value Since Base Year of
1967 (when Index - 100)
Assumed Future Inflation Rate
: Electricity
: Electric Power Index
: 305.7
: 9.160 percent
: 9.2 percent
All Other O&M Costs
Consumer Price Index
239.9
7.104 percent
7.1 percent
(CPI)
pending significant subsurface investi-
gation.
Landfills
Table 5 shows the size of the five
hypothetical landfill disposal facilities.
The range of scale sizes was developed
from data presented in references [8] and
[9]. In addition, the following assump-
tions were made:
• The surface area for each landfill is
square.
• All landfills are cut and cover opera-
tions, with cut slopes at a 2:1 ratio,
and fill slopes at a 3:1 ratio.
• Operation at each landfill extended for
a 10 year period before the site was
closed.
• Compaction rate was approximately 0.596
tonnes/meter.
Figures 1 and 2 show the layout of
the hypothetical landfill site, without
reference to scale of operation. To all
comparisons of remedial actions among sites
operating at different scales, the follow-
ing environmental conditions are also held
constant:
• Ground surface and ground water gradient
are at one percent slope.
t Ground water is 4.0 m below the ground
surface.
t Low permeability strata (less than 10~^
cm/sec) is 15 m from the ground surface.
t Unconsolidated earth materials have a
permeability of 10-5 cm/sec or greater.
Surface Impoundments
Table 6 shows the scales of operation
for surface impoundments. The range of
scale sizes was developed from data in
references [10] and [11]. In this case,
the scale of operation is also given in
terms of total surface area.
Figure 3 shows a section view of the
hypothetical surface impoundment without
reference to the scale of operation. The
following design criteria were common to
all surface impoundment site profiles:
• The site operated for a 10 year period
before closure or abandonment.
• Sediment was removed from pond bottom
every 2 years.
t Wastewater contained 100 mg/1 settleable
solids.
TABLE 5. FIVE HYPOTHETICAL LANDFILL SCENARIOS
Landfill
Scenario
Number
1
2
3
4
5
Surface
Area
(ha)
1
3
5
13
19
Landfill Dimensions
Depth of
Waste
(ml
11
12
13
14 1
15 2
Storage
Volume
(m3)
40,000
200 ,000
400,000
.200,000
,000,000
Depth
To Ground
Water
(m)
4
4
4
4
4
from Original
To Waste
Bottom
(m)
5
5
5
5
5
>Grade
To
Bedrock
(m)
15
15
15
15
15
540
-------
1
GROUND SURFACE(1X
V.
GROUND WATER
3 I 1 SLOPE
X*'1 SLOPE [
FLOW OF GROUND WATER
^
Low Permeability Strata
Figure 1. Section view of hypothetical landfill.
FLOW OP
GROUND WATER
Figure 2. Plan view of hypothetical landfill.
TABLE 6. FIVE HYPOTHETICAL SURFACE IMPOUNDMENT SCENARIOS
Impound-
ment
Scenario
Number
1
2
3
4
5
Impoundment Dimensions
Surface
Area
(ha)
0.01
0.03
0.32
1.55
9.54
Depth of
Waste
(m)
0.5
1.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
Storage
Volume
44
342
6,362
46.575
381,428
Depth
To Ground
Water
W
0.5
1.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
from Original
To Waste
Bottom
M
4
4
4
4
4
Grade
To
Bedrock
M
15
15
15
15
15
TOTAL
LENGTH
- BERM-4
GROUND SURFACE ^_^^"° "*T6R SURFACE (^_'
FREEBOARD
GROUND WATER TABLE
Figure 3. Section view of hypothetical surface impoundment.
541
-------
• Density of solids is 2 g/ml.
• Sludge is 70 percent moisture by weight
when removed.
t Wastewater was recirculated after allow-
ing 3 to 10 days for solids settling.
• Because of short detention time and
sludge on bottom, precipitation, evapo-
ration, and percolation losses are con-
sidered neglible when compared to the
volume involved.
t Average percolation is less than or
equal to 8.14 1/day/nr.
To help compare remedial action for
each of the scales of operation, the fol-
lowing environmental conditions surrounding
each pond were developed:
• Ground surface and ground water gradient
are both at 1 percent slope.
0 Ground water is 4.0 m beneath the ground
surface.
• Low permeability strata at K less than
10~6 cm/sec is located 15 m below the
ground surface.
t Unconsolidated earth materials have a
permeability of greater or equal to
I0~b cm/sec.
UNIT OPERATION COSTS
Selected unit operation costs have
been included with this paper as Tables
7 and 8. As indicated, Table 7 provides
costs for each of the 21 remedial action
unit operations assuming (1) a geographic
location of "lower U.S. average", and (2)
the medium scale of operation for each
of the example landfill and surface impound-
ment. Table 8 assumes (1) a geographic
location of "upper U.S. average" and (2)
medium scale of operation'for each of land-
fill and surface impoundment. As indicated
by these tables, unit operation costs have
been presented in terms of dollars per.
unit most appropriate for the respective
remedial actions. For example, large scale
surface water control techniques such as
revegetation and regrading have been pre-
sented in terms of dollars/hectare. More
sophisticated passive ground water control
techniques have been presented in terms
of dollars/m^ in the vertical plane.
These tables include citations for
capital costs, present value of O&M costs,
and total life cycle cost. Comparisons
among these three figures, and between
figures for landfills and surface impound-
ments for each remedial action allows the
reader to draw some interesting conclusions.
Bentonite Slurry Trench
As demonstration of how individual
remedial action unit operation costs are
derived, the cost calculations for bento-
nite slurry trenches have been included
as Tables 9 and 10, with economies of scale
demonstrated in Figure 4. Table 9 demon-
strates the assumptions used for applying
bentonite slurry trenches at landfills.
At all five scales of operation, the cutoff
wall was to extend to the low permeability
strata at 15 meters. A mix ratio of one
part bentonite to ten parts water was
further assumed.
Table 10 identifies all of the compo-
nent cost items which are constituent to
bentonite slurry trench costs at large.
As demonstrated, capital costs include
performance of a .geotechnical investiga-
tion, slurry trench excavation, acquisition
and delivery of bentonite, an overhead
allowance, and a contingency allowance.
O&M costs are slight and include only
sample collection and analysis. O&M costs
were assumed to be incurred at face value
for the first year, and slightly inflated
values for each of nine subsequent years.
After these values have been back dis-
counted to a present value they are added
to capital costs to derive total life
cycle cost. The average life cycle cost
per appropriate unit of measure can then
be derived. For bentonite slurry trenches,
costs were found to range between $61 and
$103 per square meter for a medium sized
landfill.
Bentonite slurry trench economies
of scale are demonstrated in Figure 4.
As shown, costs are not seen to
vary that much for the five scales of land-
fill operations examined herein. In fact,
for each of the geographic.locations de-
lineated in this figure, costs were found
to vary no more than about $10 per square
meter depending upon scale of operation.
Well Point System
Derivation of unit operation costs
for well point systems is described in
Tables 11 and 12, and Figure 5. While
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