Design and Performance of Four Evapotranspiration Caps
Publication: Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste Management
Volume 9, Issue 4
Abstract
The protective cap/biobarrier experiment was constructed to compare the performance of three alternative evapotranspiration (ET) caps with that of a U.S. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act recommended cap. One alternative cap configuration was a homogenous soil cap, while two additional alternative cap configurations contained biointrusion barriers placed at different depths within a soil profile. All cap configurations were planted with two vegetation types and were tested under three climate-change precipitation scenarios. Under ambient precipitation, the three alternative cap configurations performed similarly and returned all of the water received from precipitation to the atmosphere during each growing season, regardless of vegetation type. Growing season ET on ambient-precipitation caps ranged from 133 to 338 mm. Native vegetation extracted more water from caps under augmented precipitation regimes than did a grass monoculture. End-of-season soil volumetric water content was 1.7–5.9% lower on caps planted with a native species mix. When planted with native vegetation, the alternative cap designs tested here should easily meet United States Environmental Protection Agency equivalency criteria.
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Acknowledgments
The Protective Cap/Biobarrier Experiment was funded by the Department of Energy Idaho Operations Office, Environmental Research and Development Division through the Environmental Surveillance, Education, and Research Program. The PCBE is the result of contributions from dozens of researchers and would not have been possible without every one of them. The writers express their sincere thanks to all of these individuals.
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Published In
Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste Management
Volume 9 • Issue 4 • October 2005
Pages: 263 - 272
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Apr 15, 2005
Accepted: May 25, 2005
Published online: Oct 1, 2005
Published in print: Oct 2005
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