Protecting the city’s groundwater and Wisconsin’s Rock River

MSA has been working with the City of Janesville since 1996, performing compliance monitoring, data management and reporting at the closed Sanitary Landfill, as well as the Compost/Old Demolition Landfill and Clean Fill Facilities, all located on the north side of the City adjacent to the Rock River.

Compliance monitoring of the City’s groundwater in the subsurface sand and gravel aquifer—with a close proximity to the Rock River—requires a thorough and regular assessment of groundwater, lysimeter measurements, evaluation of the sediment basin surface water, gradient control, and inspection and reporting of any associated condensate or leachate issues.

All of the field and laboratory data is submitted to the WDNR as part of their Groundwater Environmental Monitoring System (GEMS) database. Access to the DNR GEMS database is a useful tool for both MSA and the corresponding municipality to evaluate past historical data and data trends.

Compliance for an expanding system

When a New Expansion Landfill opened in Janesville in 2006, MSA was asked to provide a similar compliance review and monitoring and submit on-going compliance reports to the Wisconsin DNR.  Since 2009, the team has completed quarterly testing of methane gas surface emissions at the landfill using a flame ionization detector (FID), one component of analysis necessary to fulfill the City’s air quality permit requirements. This surface emission monitoring has been instrumental in helping the City remain in compliance with methane emissions and has helped identify problem areas in need of repair or maintenance.

In 2010, MSA was asked to complete additional as-needed monitoring of landfill gas (LFG) probes and LFG extraction wells, using a GEMS 2000 gas meter to analyze data. This work was integral in assisting the City with meeting its monthly landfill compliance and the real-time data helped the City maximize LFG and waste-to-energy performance.

Most recently, MSA assisted with the monitoring of groundwater as part of the City’s feasibility study efforts for a proposed additional expansion of the existing New Expansion Landfill. This included collecting eight rounds of baseline/background samples from 14 water table/ piezometer well nests and assessing water levels from the nearby New Expansion Landfill monitoring wells.

Safe, effective solutions

Landfill and compliance monitoring for communities such as Janesville can be an integral means for a city to evaluate, digest and strategize around the findings. The operation and maintenance (O&M) data is collected, recorded and downloaded into spreadsheets and the monitoring data is downloaded into the WDNR GEMS data base. With this, MSA can assist the City with evaluation of compliance monitoring and system performance—which, in turn—helps the City make critical risk management decisions.  This also allows the WDNR to assess fulfillment of compliance as part of the City’s Plan of Operation, resulting in a comprehensive, safe, and effective waste management solution.