Premium
Hazardous chemical site remediation through capping: Problems with long‐term protection
Author(s) -
Lee G. Fred,
JonesLee Anne
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
remediation journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.762
H-Index - 27
eISSN - 1520-6831
pISSN - 1051-5658
DOI - 10.1002/rem.3440070406
Subject(s) - environmental remediation , hazardous waste , environmental science , leachate , groundwater , waste management , pollution , leaching (pedology) , groundwater pollution , water table , environmental engineering , contamination , aquifer , soil water , engineering , ecology , geotechnical engineering , soil science , biology
The capping of waste management units and contaminated soils is receiving increasing attention as a low‐cost method for hazardous chemical site remediation. Capping is used to prevent further groundwater pollution by existing waste management units and contaminated soils through limiting the moisture that enters the wastes. In principle, for wastes located above the water table, the construction of an impermeable cap can prevent leaching of the wastes (leachate generation) and groundwater pollution. In practice, appropriately designed and constructed RCRA caps can provide for only short‐term prevention of groundwater pollution. Alternative approaches are available for capping of wastes that can be effective in preventing moisture from entering the wastes and concomitant groundwater pollution. These approaches recognize the inability of the typical RCRA cap to keep wastes dry for as long as waste constituents will be a threat and, most importantly, provide the necessary funds to effectively address all plausible worst‐case scenario failures that could occur at a capped waste management unit or contaminated soil area.