PCD Credit 4: Landfill Stormwater Management (1 point)
Reciprocal
Intent:
To effectively manage stormwater at a landfill to minimize run-off exposure to waste and production of leachate
Local Government and Industry Requirements:
Develop a comprehensive stormwater management plan that
- Minimizes stormwater penetration of open and closed cells
- Provides for regular inspection of stormwater control measures
- Meets the performance objectives of the stormwater management system
- Keeping and maintaining comprehensive operations, maintenance, and discharging records
Demonstrate that the landfill has an effective stormwater management system in place to prevent precipitation from entering the waste, including:
- Landfill must not be sited:
- in wetlands
- in the 100-year flood plain of adjacent rivers or streams
- Leachate and stormwater management systems must be separate
- Landfill is designed and managed to minimize oozing
- Stormwater run-on must not come within 100 yards of the base of capped or active cells.
- Stormwater runoff must not exit site untreated
Potential Strategies:
- Design of the daily cell to minimize ponding and run-off
- Maintaining the slopes of the landfill to minimize erosion and increased runoff
- Define existing and intermittent flow channels and the area and characteristics of the contributing watershed;
- Schedule landfilling operations to minimize disturbed areas (i.e., phase-in operations);
- Attempt to limit the handling of topsoil or cover materials to only one operation;
- Construct and stabilize stormwater controls in advance of landfilling;
- Stop flowing water from entering the active fill area with permanent perimeter diversions;
- Establish a complete sequence of controls (i.e. interception, conveyance, transportation, energy dissipation and sediment disposition);
- Use stormwater detention to improve the quality and reduce the intensity of stormwater runoff;
- Plan for the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) stormwater permit by keeping good operations records and monitoring discharges off the site;
- Use a surface water collection/ removal (SWCR) system immediately above the hydraulic barrier in the final closure cap. Geonets, geocomposites and/or granular material can be used for this purpose;
- Inspect and maintain controls after each significant storm
- Integrate run-off/run-on and erosion and sediment control into every phase of the landfill operation.
Resource on how to measure/manage stormwater:
