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Case Study

Wood Waste Landfill Leachate

A client in western Canada had a wood-waste landfill site associated with one of its lumber mills. Rainfall percolating through the wood waste collects various organic acids, some toxic, which dissolve iron and manganese oxides in local aquifer sediments. The contaminated water eventually discharges into a creek, where it causes unappealing iron oxide staining and a loss of fish habitat, and increases the toxicity of the creek water. EBA Engineering Consultants in association with Microbial Technologies were contracted to develop a treatment wetland to prevent contamination of the creek.

An existing natural wetland between the landfill and the creek was enhanced to remove metal contamination. Since construction finished in the summer of 1998, the wetland has been very effective in removing metals and toxicity from the landfill discharge and eliminating these from the creek. Our key contributions were to develop a conceptual design and to size the system based on estimated metal removal rates. We also identified critical design elements that mitigated against some of the difficulties presented by the site.

The key to the success of this project is in the design, which required exhaustive information gathering and careful planning. A thorough approach at the onset allowed for a low-cost, low-input, long-term solution.

Construction of the wetland treating landfill leachate.

Careful planting of wetland vegetation ensures plant survival.