Effect of Soil Type and Vegetation on the Performance of Evapotranspirative Landfill Biocovers: Field Investigations and Water Balance Modeling
Publication: Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste
Volume 24, Issue 4
Abstract
The water balance performance of evapotranspirative landfill biocovers (ET-LBCs) under Canadian cold climate conditions is evaluated by constructing seven lysimeters at a field site in Alberta, Canada, and monitoring water balance for 1 year. Two granular media types (topsoil and compost mixture) and three types of vegetation (native grass species, alfalfa, and Japanese millet) were used. The results suggested that as plants became established, the average percolation as a percentage of water input [percolation ratio (PR)] decreased in all lysimeters. Between the lysimeters subjected to rainfall simulation events, the lysimeters with Japanese millet transmitted the lowest amount of percolation (10%–17%), followed by native grass species (23%–28%), and alfalfa (25%). Under the same vegetation coverage, lysimeters with a compost mixture transmitted lower or equal percolation compared with lysimeters with topsoil. Water balance predictions made using Hydrus-1D and commercial model SEEP/W were compared with water balance data from lysimeters over the growing season. The predictive capabilities of the models decreased under high intensity rainfall events and with the occurrence of preferential pathways associated with plant roots.
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Acknowledgments
Financial support for this study was provided by the CEERE at the University of Calgary and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. The authors wish to thank the University of Saskatchewan for providing the SWCC Curves for the material used in this study, and GEOSLOPE International Ltd. for providing the integrated GeoStudio 2019 software for this research.
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Published In
Journal of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste
Volume 24 • Issue 4 • October 2020
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 4, 2019
Accepted: Mar 11, 2020
Published online: Jun 26, 2020
Published in print: Oct 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Nov 26, 2020
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