Environmental performance of a phytocapped landfill
Landfilling is still the most economical way of disposing urban wastes, and will continue to occur as long as humans live in communities. The operational and post-closure management costs of landfills have increased recently due to the introduction of stringent environmental laws and regulations. Re...
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ftcquniv:oai:acquire.cqu.edu.au:cqu:6023 2023-05-15T13:45:07+02:00 Environmental performance of a phytocapped landfill Venkatraman, Kartik. Ashwath, Nanjappa. 2009. http://hdl.cqu.edu.au/10018/50474 en-aus eng Australia. : Society for Sustainable and Environmental Engineering Environmental engineer. Australia. : Society for Sustainable and Environmental Engineering, 2009. Vol. 10, issue 1 (2009), p. 20-25 6 pages Non-refereed ACQUIRE [electronic resource] : Central Queensland University Institutional Repository. cqu:6023 http://hdl.cqu.edu.au/10018/50474 Venkatraman, K & Ashwath, N 2009, 'Environmental performance of a phytocapped landfill', The Environmental Engineer, vol 10, no.1, pp. 20-25. Applied research 960505 Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Forest and Woodlands Environments 960506 Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Fresh Ground and Surface Water Environments 961202 Rehabilitation of Degraded Farmland Arable Cropland and Permanent Cropland Environments 961301 Protected Conservation Areas in Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic Environments 050205 Environmental Management 050207 Environmental Rehabilitation (excl. Bioremediation) Plants Landfill final covers Environmental economics Ecosystem management Phytocapping -- HYDRUS 1D -- Canopy rainfall interception -- Sap flow -- Transpiration -- Biopumps -- Methane -- Water balance -- Heavy metals Journal Article. 2009 ftcquniv 2019-04-18T07:06:01Z Landfilling is still the most economical way of disposing urban wastes, and will continue to occur as long as humans live in communities. The operational and post-closure management costs of landfills have increased recently due to the introduction of stringent environmental laws and regulations. Research is therefore needed to develop alternative methods to the current capping technique that will minimise the construction and management costs and also demonstrate increased environmental performance and ecologically sustainable development. An alternative technique known as ‘Phytocapping’ was trialed in Rockhampton, Australia. Twenty one tree species were established in each of two phytocaps, viz thick phytocap (1400 mm soil) and thin phytocap (700 mm soil). Plant growth and water relation parameters (e.g. transpiration, soil moisture, ccanopy interception) were monitored over a three year period. This data, together with 15 years of meteorological data were used to simulate site water balance using HYDRUS 1D, under two scenarios, viz, with or without vegetation. The results from monitoring and modelling showed percolation rates of 16.7 mm yr-1 in the thick phytocap and 23.8 mm yr-1 in thin phytocap. These values were orders of magnitude lower than those expected from a clay cap (78 mm yr-1 @10% of the total rainfall) or from non-vegetated cap (153 mm yr-1). Results of this study suggest that the phytocaps are effective in minimising percolation rates thereby reducing leachate generation. The results also demonstrate the role played by the trees in site water balance, both as biopumps and as canopy rainfall interceptors. Furthermore, none of the established tree species accumulated heavy metals suggesting that growing trees on landfills is not environmentally hazardous. Root distribution was mainly concentrated in top 700 mm of the soil cover. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Central Queensland University: aCQUIRe Antarctic |
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Open Polar |
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Central Queensland University: aCQUIRe |
op_collection_id |
ftcquniv |
language |
English |
topic |
Applied research 960505 Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Forest and Woodlands Environments 960506 Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Fresh Ground and Surface Water Environments 961202 Rehabilitation of Degraded Farmland Arable Cropland and Permanent Cropland Environments 961301 Protected Conservation Areas in Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic Environments 050205 Environmental Management 050207 Environmental Rehabilitation (excl. Bioremediation) Plants Landfill final covers Environmental economics Ecosystem management Phytocapping -- HYDRUS 1D -- Canopy rainfall interception -- Sap flow -- Transpiration -- Biopumps -- Methane -- Water balance -- Heavy metals |
spellingShingle |
Applied research 960505 Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Forest and Woodlands Environments 960506 Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Fresh Ground and Surface Water Environments 961202 Rehabilitation of Degraded Farmland Arable Cropland and Permanent Cropland Environments 961301 Protected Conservation Areas in Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic Environments 050205 Environmental Management 050207 Environmental Rehabilitation (excl. Bioremediation) Plants Landfill final covers Environmental economics Ecosystem management Phytocapping -- HYDRUS 1D -- Canopy rainfall interception -- Sap flow -- Transpiration -- Biopumps -- Methane -- Water balance -- Heavy metals Venkatraman, Kartik. Ashwath, Nanjappa. Environmental performance of a phytocapped landfill |
topic_facet |
Applied research 960505 Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Forest and Woodlands Environments 960506 Ecosystem Assessment and Management of Fresh Ground and Surface Water Environments 961202 Rehabilitation of Degraded Farmland Arable Cropland and Permanent Cropland Environments 961301 Protected Conservation Areas in Antarctic and Sub-Antarctic Environments 050205 Environmental Management 050207 Environmental Rehabilitation (excl. Bioremediation) Plants Landfill final covers Environmental economics Ecosystem management Phytocapping -- HYDRUS 1D -- Canopy rainfall interception -- Sap flow -- Transpiration -- Biopumps -- Methane -- Water balance -- Heavy metals |
description |
Landfilling is still the most economical way of disposing urban wastes, and will continue to occur as long as humans live in communities. The operational and post-closure management costs of landfills have increased recently due to the introduction of stringent environmental laws and regulations. Research is therefore needed to develop alternative methods to the current capping technique that will minimise the construction and management costs and also demonstrate increased environmental performance and ecologically sustainable development. An alternative technique known as ‘Phytocapping’ was trialed in Rockhampton, Australia. Twenty one tree species were established in each of two phytocaps, viz thick phytocap (1400 mm soil) and thin phytocap (700 mm soil). Plant growth and water relation parameters (e.g. transpiration, soil moisture, ccanopy interception) were monitored over a three year period. This data, together with 15 years of meteorological data were used to simulate site water balance using HYDRUS 1D, under two scenarios, viz, with or without vegetation. The results from monitoring and modelling showed percolation rates of 16.7 mm yr-1 in the thick phytocap and 23.8 mm yr-1 in thin phytocap. These values were orders of magnitude lower than those expected from a clay cap (78 mm yr-1 @10% of the total rainfall) or from non-vegetated cap (153 mm yr-1). Results of this study suggest that the phytocaps are effective in minimising percolation rates thereby reducing leachate generation. The results also demonstrate the role played by the trees in site water balance, both as biopumps and as canopy rainfall interceptors. Furthermore, none of the established tree species accumulated heavy metals suggesting that growing trees on landfills is not environmentally hazardous. Root distribution was mainly concentrated in top 700 mm of the soil cover. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Venkatraman, Kartik. Ashwath, Nanjappa. |
author_facet |
Venkatraman, Kartik. Ashwath, Nanjappa. |
author_sort |
Venkatraman, Kartik. |
title |
Environmental performance of a phytocapped landfill |
title_short |
Environmental performance of a phytocapped landfill |
title_full |
Environmental performance of a phytocapped landfill |
title_fullStr |
Environmental performance of a phytocapped landfill |
title_full_unstemmed |
Environmental performance of a phytocapped landfill |
title_sort |
environmental performance of a phytocapped landfill |
publisher |
Australia. : Society for Sustainable and Environmental Engineering |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://hdl.cqu.edu.au/10018/50474 |
geographic |
Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic |
op_source |
Venkatraman, K & Ashwath, N 2009, 'Environmental performance of a phytocapped landfill', The Environmental Engineer, vol 10, no.1, pp. 20-25. |
op_relation |
Environmental engineer. Australia. : Society for Sustainable and Environmental Engineering, 2009. Vol. 10, issue 1 (2009), p. 20-25 6 pages Non-refereed ACQUIRE [electronic resource] : Central Queensland University Institutional Repository. cqu:6023 http://hdl.cqu.edu.au/10018/50474 |
_version_ |
1766213510797197312 |