Utah Administrative Code
Topic - Environmental Quality
Title R315 - Waste Management and Radiation Control, Waste Management
Rule R315-303 - Landfilling Standards
Section R315-303-3 - Standards for Design
Universal Citation: UT Admin Code R 315-303-3
Current through Bulletin 2024-06, March 15, 2024
(1) Minimizing Liquids. An owner or operator of a landfill shall minimize liquids admitted to active areas by:
(a) covering according to
Subsection
R315-303-4(4);
(b) prohibiting the disposal of containerized
liquids larger than household size, noncontainerized liquids, sludge containing
free liquids, or any waste containing free liquids in containers larger than
household size;
(c) designing the
landfill to prevent run-on of all surface waters resulting from a maximum flow
of a 25-year storm into the active area of the landfill; and
(d) designing the landfill to collect and
treat the run-off of surface waters and other liquids resulting from a 25-year
storm from the active area of the landfill.
(e) If the owner or operator of a landfill
has received a storm water permit as issued by the Utah Division of Water
Quality and is meeting the requirements of the permit, the landfill may be
exempt, upon approval of the Director, from the run-on and run-off control
requirements of Subsections R315-303-3(1)(c) and (d).
(2) Leachate Collection Systems.
(a) An owner or operator of a landfill
required to install liners shall:
(i) install
a leachate collection system sized according to water balance calculations or
using other accepted engineering methods, either of which shall be approved by
the Director;
(ii) install a
leachate collection system so as to prevent no more than one foot depth of
leachate developing at any point in the bottom of the landfill unit;
and
(iii) install a leachate
treatment system or a pretreatment system, if necessary, in the case of
discharge to a municipal water treatment plant.
(b) The returning of leachate to the landfill
or the recirculation of leachate in the landfill may be done only in landfills
that have a composite liner system or an approved equivalent liner
system.
(3) Liner Designs. An owner or operator of a landfill shall use liners of one of the following designs:
(a) Standard Design. The
design shall have a composite liner system consisting of two liners and the
associated liner protection layers and a drainage system for leachate
collection:
(i) an upper liner made of
synthetic material with a thickness of a least 60 mils; and
(ii) a lower liner of at least two feet
thickness of recompacted clay or other soil material with a permeability of no
more than 1 x 10-7 cm/sec having the bottom liner
sloped no less than 2% and the side liners sloped no more than 33%, except
where construction and operational integrity can be demonstrated at steeper
slopes, with the synthetic liner installed in direct and uniform contact with
the compacted soil component; or
(b) Equivalent Design.
(i) The Director may approve an alternative
liner design, on a site specific basis, if it can be documented that, under the
conditions of location and hydrogeology, the equivalent design will minimize
the migration of solid waste constituents or leachate into the ground or
surface water at least as effectively as the liner design required in
Subsection R315-303-3(3)(a).
(ii)
When approving an equivalent liner design, the Director shall consider the
following factors:
(A) the hydrogeologic
characteristics of the facility and surrounding land;
(B) the climatic factors of the area;
and
(C) the volume and physical and
chemical characteristics of the leachate; or
(c) Alternative Design.
(i) The owner or operator may use, as
approved by the Director, an alternative design.
(ii) The owner or operator must demonstrate
that the ground water quality protection standard of Subsection
R315-303-2(1)
can be met. The demonstration must be approved by the Director, and must be
based upon:
(A) the hydrogeologic
characteristics of the facility and the surrounding land;
(B) the climatic factors of the
area;
(C) the volume and physical
and chemical characteristics of the leachate;
(D) predictions of contaminate fate and
transport in the subsurface that maximize contaminant migration and consider
impacts on human health and the environment; and
(E) predictions of leachate flow from the
base of the waste to the uppermost aquifer; or
(d) Stringent Design. When conditions of
location, hydrogeology, or waste stream justify, the Director may require that
the liner of a landfill be constructed to meet standards more stringent than
the liner designs of Subsection R315-303-3(3)(a).
(e) Small Landfill Design.
(i) The small landfill design applies only to
a Class II Landfill.
(ii) Each new
Class II Landfill and any existing Class II Landfill seeking facility expansion
shall meet the location standards of Section
R315-302-1.
(iii) Each new and existing Class II Landfill
shall meet the performance standards of Section
R315-303-2.
(iv) A Class II Landfill, which meets the
requirements of Subsection R315-303-3(3)(e)(v), is exempt from the liner,
leachate collection system, and ground water monitoring requirements of Rule
R315-303.
(v) A Class II Landfill
will be approved only if:
(A) there is no
evidence of existing ground water contamination;
(B) the landfill serves a community that has
no practicable waste management alternative as determined by the
Director;
(C) the landfill is
located in an area which receives less than 25 inches of annual
precipitation;
(D) the landfill
receives, on a yearly average, no more than 20 tons of waste per day, or if a
tonnage cannot be determined, serves a population of no more than 8,900;
and
(E) the landfill meets all the
requirements in Rules R315-301 through 320 applicable to Class II
landfills.
(vi) A Class
II Landfill may lose the exemptions of the small landfill design if at any time
the landfill receives more than 20 tons of solid waste per day, based on an
annual average, or has caused ground water contamination.
(4) Closure. At closure, an owner or operator of a Class I, II, IIIa, IVa, and V Landfill shall use one of the following designs for the final cover.
(a)
Standard Design. The standard design of the final cover shall consist of two
layers:
(i) a layer to minimize infiltration,
consisting of at least 18 inches of compacted soil, or equivalent, with a
permeability of 1 x 10-5 cm/sec or less, or
equivalent, shall be placed upon the final lifts;
(A) in no case shall the cover of the final
lifts be more permeable than the bottom liner system or natural subsoils
present in the unit; and
(B) the
grade of surface slopes shall not be less than 2%, nor the grade of side slopes
more than 33%, except where construction integrity and the integrity of erosion
control can be demonstrated at steeper slopes; and
(ii) a layer to minimize erosion, consisting
of:
(A) at least 6 inches of soil capable of
sustaining vegetative growth placed over the compacted soil cover and seeded
with grass, other shallow rooted vegetation or other native vegetation;
or
(B) other suitable material,
approved by the Director.
(b) Requirements for any Earthen Final Cover
at a Landfill.
(i) Markers or other
benchmarks shall be installed in any final earthen cover to indicate the
thickness of the final cover. These markers shall be observed during each
quarterly inspection and the earthen cover shall be raised to the appropriate
thickness as necessary.
(ii)
Erosion channels deeper than 10% of the total cover thickness shall be repaired
as soon as possible following their discovery.
(c) Alternative Final Cover Design. The
Director may approve an alternative final cover design, on a site specific
basis, if it can be documented that:
(i) the
alternative final cover achieves an equivalent reduction in infiltration as
achieved by the standard design in Subsection R315-303-3(4)(a)(i);
and
(ii) the alternative final
cover provides equivalent protection from wind and water erosion as achieved by
the standard design in Subsection R315-303-3(4)(a)(ii).
(d) The expected performance of an
alternative final cover design shall be documented by the use of an appropriate
mathematical model.
(i) The input for the
modeling shall include the climatic conditions at the specific landfill site
and the soil types that will make up the final cover.
(ii) The model shall:
(A) be run to show the expected performance
of the final cover at normal precipitation for a period of time until stability
has been reached; and
(B) shall be
run to show the expected performance of the final cover during the five wettest
years on record at the site or the nearest weather station.
(e) The Director shall
use the following criteria as part of the basis for determining if an
alternative final cover will be approved:
(i)
If the landfill has a liner design that does not use a synthetic material such
as HDPE, the model will compare the infiltration through the standard cover as
required in Subsection R315-303-3(4)(a) and shall show that the alternative
cover performs as well as the standard cover; or
(ii) If the landfill has a liner composed in
part of a synthetic material such as HDPE, the model must show an infiltration
rate of no greater that 3 millimeters of water per year during any year of the
model run.
(f) If a
landfill has been constructed using an approved alternative landfill design,
the Director may require, on a site-specific basis, the landfill closure design
to be more stringent than the standard design specified in Subsection
R315-303-3(4)(a) to protect human health or the environment.
(g) In no case shall any modification be made
to the final cover, as placed and approved at closure by the Director, unless
that modification:
(i) is a necessary repair
of the approved final cover;
(ii)
maintains or improves the effectiveness of the final cover; and
(iii) is approved by the Director.
(5) Gas Control.
(a) An owner or operator shall design each
landfill so that explosive gases are monitored quarterly.
(b) If the concentration of these gases ever
exceed the standard set in Subsection
R315-303-2(2)(a),
the owner or operator must:
(i) immediately
take all necessary steps to ensure protection of human health and, within 24
hours or the next business day, notify the Director;
(ii) within seven days of detection, place in
the operating record the explosive gas levels detected and a description of the
steps taken to protect human health; and
(iii) within 60 days of detection, implement
a remediation plan, that has been approved by the Director, for the explosive
gas release, place a copy of the plan in the operating record, and notify the
Director that the plan has been implemented.
(c) Collection and handling of explosive
gases shall not be required if it can be shown that the explosive gases will
not support combustion.
(d) The
Director may, on a site specific basis, waive the requirement of monitoring
explosive gases at a Class II Landfill. The wavier may be granted after:
(i) considering the characteristics of the
landfill and the waste stream accepted;
(ii) taking into account climatic and
hydrogeologic conditions of the site; and
(iii) completing a public comment period as
specified by Section
R315-311-3.
(iv) The Director may revoke any waiver from
the requirement of monitoring explosive gases if the lack of monitoring
explosive gases at the landfill presents a threat to human health or the
environment.
(v) The requirement to
monitor explosive gases inside buildings at a landfill may not be
waived.
(e) A landfill
that accepts no municipal waste, or other waste with potential to generate
methane during decomposition, is exempt from the gas monitoring requirement of
Subsection R315-303-3(5)(a).
(6) Design Drawings.
(a) Design drawings and as built drawings of
any engineered structure, including landfill liners, leachate collection
systems, run-on/run-off control systems, final covers, ground water monitoring
systems, and gas collection systems, shall be signed and sealed by a
professional engineer registered in the State of Utah.
(b) As built drawings shall be submitted to
the Director on or before 90 days following the completion of the engineered
structure at the landfill.
(7) Other Requirements. An owner or operator shall design each landfill to provide for:
(a) fencing at the property or unit boundary
or the use of other artificial or natural barriers to impede entry by the
public and large animals. A lockable gate shall be required at the entry to the
landfill;
(b) monitoring ground
water according to Rule R315-308 using a design approved by the Director. The
Director may also require monitoring of:
(i)
surface waters, including run-off;
(ii) leachate; and
(iii) subsurface landfill gas movement and
ambient air;
(c)
weighing or estimating the tonnage of all incoming waste and recording the
tonnage in the facility's operation record;
(d) erecting a sign at the facility entrance
that identifies at least the name of the facility, the hours during which the
facility is open for public use, unacceptable materials, and an emergency
telephone number. Other pertinent information may also be included;
(e) adequate fire protection to control any
fires that may occur at the facility. This may be accomplished by on-site
equipment or by arrangement made with the nearest fire department;
(f) preventing potential harborage in
buildings, facilities, and active areas of rat and other vectors, such as
insects, birds, and burrowing animals;
(g) minimizing the size of the unloading area
and working face as much as possible, consistent with good traffic patterns and
safe operation;
(h) approach and
exit roads of all-weather construction, with traffic separation and traffic
control on-site and at the site entrance; and
(i) communication, such as telephone or
radio, between employees working at the landfill and management offices on-site
and off-site to handle emergencies.
Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. Utah may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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