Landfill Leachate Plumes: Characterization, Natural Attenuation and Bioremediation

Summer internship student setting up central unit to which all electrodes of the AMT method are attached (Photo provided by Rogelio Vazquez)

Mass urbanization in the U.S.-Mexico Border region has resulted in a large number of uncontrolled or illegal landfills of both municipal and hazardous waste.  Plumes generated from these landfills are threatening scarce water supplies in this arid and semi-arid region.

The objectives of this collaborative project are twofold:

• To identify xenobiotic organic contaminants (XOC) in landfill leachates from Mexican and Arizona Border communities
• To characterize processes contributing to their natural attenuation
  
  

Certain XOCs are poorly biodegrated under the prevailing anaerobic conditions and are relatively mobile such as benzene, gasoline oxygenates and lower chlorinated solvents.  This study will evaluate the feasibility of permeable reactive barriers (PRBs) supplied with selected slow-release oxidant compounds to bioremediate recalcitrant XOCs in landfill leachate plumes.  PRBs provide an innovative, low-cost solution to prevent contaminant migration in groundwater.  The technology is simple involving a trench filled with porous reactive media that is placed in the flow path of a contaminant plume with the goal of either immobilizing or transforming contaminants to nontoxic products.  The "old" municipal landfill of Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico has been selected as the main study site. The project will provide a model protocol for evaluating landfill lechate plume problems in Mexico as well as provide a cost effective PRB approach towards it remediation, which will be demonstrated at the bench-scale.

Project Contacts:

Dr. Jim A. Field The University of Arizona Principal Investigator – U.S. jimfield@email.arizona.edu	Dr. Rogelio Vazquez Gonzalez Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada Principal Investigator – Mexico rvazquez@cicese.mx
Dr. Reyes Sierra The University of Arizona Principal Investigator – U.S. rsierra@email.arizona.edu	Dr. Sergio Revah Moiseev Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Principal Investigator – Mexico srevah@xanum.uam.mx
Dr. Marcia Guadalupe Morales Ibarria Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Investigator - Mexico mmorales@correo.cua.uam.mx

To learn more about the components of the project, please click on the icons below:

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