Wexford County Landfill
CHALLENGE: Create another cell for future volume
SOLUTION: GPS equipped machinery to grade final elevations to within +/- 1/10th of an inch
Accuracy is necessary in many critical applications, horseshoes or darts when a bet’s on the line, any surgical procedure, and your wife’s birthday (a day late does not count). In other applications, accuracy is imperative, such as your local landfill. You might not realize it but exact grades are needed to create a healthy, viable, and properly working system to ensure drainage. Wexford County Landfill required that accuracy in the construction of their new area Cell F.
Team Elmer’s crews moved more than 150,000 yards of material to create the new cell area. A triple layer liner system in the base of the cell structure ensured containment of leachate (liquids) from the cell area. Two feet of sand covers the liner and houses the leachate removal system. 1,630 lineal ft. of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) pipe were installed in the leachate removal system, starting with a 6 inch perforated pipe at the bottom of the cell which gravity feeds to the sump area. A primary and secondary 18 inch diameter sump riser line carries leachate from the bottom of the cell. This liquid is pumped into a 3 inch line which is encased in a 6 inch backup line, known as a dual containment line. This removal line ties into another 3 inch line which is encased in an 18 inch backup pipe line. This line then outlets into a 72 inch diameter leachate vault which receives material from Cells A, B, and C. The leachate vault has two lines, both 3 inch in 6 inch casing, exiting the vault and collecting in an 85,000 gallon leachate storage tank. A steel tank lined in glass to ensure no leakage. The leachate storage tank has a 70 ft. diameter secondary containment tank with a 136,000 gallon storage capacity. The leachate is then pumped into trucks to be treated.
The network of piping and lines is critical to the removal of leachate and the viability of the Cell system. Wexford County understood the need for accuracy and tapped Team Elmer’s for their expertise and talent. Team Elmer’s implemented our GPS Dozer, which allowed accuracy for machine grades within 0.1 ft. without grade stakes. This is a remarkable feat for "eyeballing" it.