Date of Award
8-1982
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Geological and Environmental Sciences
First Advisor
Dr. Richard N. Passero
Second Advisor
Dr. W. Thomas Straw
Third Advisor
Dr. John D. Grace
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Open Access
Abstract
A monitoring program was established at a landfill in Kalamazoo County, southwestern Michigan to determine the effects of precipitation on selected parameters in landfill lechate as surface seeps and ground water. Approximately 280 ground-water and surface-water samples were collected from monitoring wells and leachate seeps during more than 11 precipitation events throughout the summer and fall of 1981 and analyzed for specific conductance, pH, chloride, and iron.
Results of the study indicate that infiltration through the refuse due to precipitation is a major factor in controlling the levels of selected leachate characteristics and that with high infiltration rates concentrations will generally decrease. A back-water effect observed in near-stream monitoring wells is thought to have a similar and possible additive dilutional effect upon the chemistry of selected surface and ground-water parameters. The results seem consistent with a landfill approaching stabilization with respect to leachate production.
Recommended Citation
Pogoncheff, Nicholas C., "The Effects of Precipitation on the Quality of Ground Water and Leachate Seeps at a Stabilizing Landfill" (1982). Masters Theses. 1710.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/1710