Public acceptance and groundwater protection in hazardous waste landfill siting

¶ … Landfill for Disposing Hazardous Material

Challenges

Resistance of the public to siting a waste management facility

While citizens are thankful for convenient existing locations for dumping garbage, recyclables, and yard waste, it may be rather hard to gain their acceptance with regard to waste management facility sites (Walker, 2012).

Convincing residents that minimal risk is posed to groundwater supply

People residing near a selected landfill spot may voice concerns regarding its health and environmental effects. It is wise to garner increased public acceptance through education of local business owners and residents in regard to how the community will be benefited by the landfill (for instance, by ensuring better public safety and health, creating jobs in the locality, and promoting economic development). Furthermore, it is important to explain the steps taken for protecting the environment and public health. When selecting the right landfilling strategy, apart from protecting groundwater as a source of drinking water, the following aspects attract high priority:

1. Natural, unique hydrogeological conditions, socioeconomic and land-use requirements, and that the option selected was, in fact, best for a given situation.

1. The process of site selection, which involves careful geotechnical investigation, including delineation of underlying geology's attenuation potential and hydrogeological surveys (Allen, Taylor, Schmoll, Howard, Chilton & Chorus, 2006).

The landfill commissioning process in several countries is rather lengthy, with site selection, EIAs (Environmental Impact Assessments), public hearings, licensing applications, court cases, and appeals, often extending over many years. Prior to approaching the local residents, it is imperative to facilitate the process of site selection by the adoption of a geographical information system (GIS) approach, integrated with thorough investigations of geotechnical sites. Aside from considerations for strategy and site selection, and landfill designing and construction, operation control is imperative for preventing contamination of groundwater. Based on landfill type and distance from waste sources, specific operational conditions will be outlined in its license, as will support operational controls required for enforcing these. Monitoring and recording the amount and type of waste the landfill receives is one very significant operational control (Allen, at al., 2006). A proper documentation of the same will also convince the residents of the viability of the project.

The local residents need to be aware of second major landfill operation, draining built up leachate into a lined leachate pool wherefrom it is "tankered" to some treating facility for leachate or re-circulated via the landfill for promoting waste degradation. Leachate drainage is critical to reducing the leachate's hydraulic head, as it promotes leakage by means of artificial liners. Moreover, it may bring about increased rate of leachate migration, via a clay liner. A common license prerequisite for well-regulated landfills is regular monitoring of sources of groundwater near the landfill, by employing a well system positioned around it. Another common licensing prerequisite is installation of a gas collection system in the landfill for preventing landfill gas migration (which is a serious hazard) (Allen, et al., 2006). As such, the residents need to be educated about this aspect to gain confidence in waste management activities.

Drinking-water catchment protection (an area of high concern for local populace) from the leachate can be best achieved through a broad waste control/management policy focused on waste reduction, separate accumulation of highly hazardous wastes, and material recycling. Control and protection measures with regard to waste disposal in the above-mentioned drinking water catchments range from design tools in the wider environmental policy context (such as EIA) to particular technical measures like landfill containment, leachate management, or construction of trenches and defense wells where leachate poses a threat to an aquifer. The residents need to be informed via regular meetings when supervising implemented measures for ensuring they are effective and remain in place. In the planning phase, surveillance starts with a call for, and review of, permits, whose applications must demonstrate how one has addressed aquifer vulnerability as well as proposed landfill design (Allen, et al., 2006). Involving the affected people, helps keep control over company activities towards groundwater management, while gaining requisite support (often as positive criticisms).