Reverse‐Flow Landfill Design for Waste Chemicals

Abstract

To reduce the risk of liner failures, to control costs, and to make landfills acceptable to the public, a design is suggested in which chemical leachate migration is prevented by artificially creating a reversed flow of water. In this design, the landfill is placed above the ground water table and consists of a leachate collection system, a compacted clay liner with low hydraulic conductivity, sand and gravel to distribute the supply water in the reverse flow operation, and a liner constructed either of compacted clay or synthetic material, or both, to act as a back-up barrier to the waste and to confine the water supplied for reverse flow to the sand and gravel layer.