Title: Alternative methods to control water infiltration for landfills: a case study in the tropics

Authors: Chittaranjan Ray, Clifton Miyasaki, Michal Snehota, Laxman Sharma, Martin Sanda

Addresses: Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Water Resources Research Center, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA. ' Fukunaga and Associates Inc., 1357 Kapiolani Blvd, Ste. 1530, Honolulu, Hawaii 96814, USA. ' Faculty of Civil Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Thakurova 7, 166 29 Prague 6, Czech Republic. ' Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Water Resources Research Center, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA. ' Faculty of Civil Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Thakurova 7, 166 29 Prague 6, Czech Republic

Abstract: Landfill caps made of synthetic materials are expensive. Compacted clay caps are also subject to desiccation cracks which negate the overall purpose of infiltration reduction. Vegetative cover caps, also called evapotranspiration covers, have been tested in arid climates. In this research, a vegetative cover using a naturally occurring soil of Hawaii was tested. As the annual rainfall at the site is more than the evapotranspiration demand, a portion of the run-off was routed offsite using run-off-enhancing structures such as rain gutters. The site contained six test plots on 4% slopes to simulate different components of water balance: two control plots, two plots with 20% surface area covered by the gutters and two more plots with 40% area covered by the gutters. The gutters were spaced uniformly and enhanced run-off in early stages of vegetation growth. With growth, the vegetation covered the gutters and the gutters did not receive as much rainwater. The difference in run-off between the 20% and 40% was not significant. If the gutters had been placed at a single location in the plots, they would not have been covered with vegetation, thus making them effective to produce runoff in most stages of vegetation growth.

Keywords: landfill caps; alternative covers; evapotranspiration covers; Oahu; Hawaii; water infiltration; tropics; water balance; vegetative covers; soil; run-off; vegetation growth.

DOI: 10.1504/IJETM.2010.038016

International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, 2010 Vol.13 No.1, pp.37 - 50

Published online: 10 Jan 2011 *

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