Monitoring and Control for Landfill Operations
There are over 3,000 landfills across the United States designated for the disposal of waste materials, where trash is buried and managed to prevent environmental contamination. These sites are carefully engineered to contain and isolate leachate, primarily rainfall and other liquids that percolate through the landfill. Since leachate often contains various hazardous compounds, it is pumped into water tanks and ponds to prevent contaminating surrounding soil and groundwater until it can be transported offsite for treatment and safe disposal.
Landfill operators must also focus on the safety of their workers operating mobile equipment and heavy machinery on the premises. With so many things to monitor across often large geographic areas, landfill operators face complex challenges ensuring the continuous operation of critical systems designed to protect the environment and people.
Monitoring Solutions for Critical Infrastructure
Effortless SCADA for Leachate Monitoring and Control
Leachate from landfills may contain harmful substances, making it a serious environmental concern. It can contaminate surrounding soil, groundwater and surface water, posing serious risks to ecosystems and human health. Effective leachate management, whether removing it from the landfill or monitoring tank levels where it is stored, is critical for ensuring the long-term environmental safety of landfill sites.
Cattron’s Effortless SCADA monitoring and control solutions enable landfill operators to monitor leachate tank and sump levels remotely, detect potential leaks and automate leachate pumping to storage tanks and ponds. Our solutions are easier to set up than traditional SCADA systems, thanks to reliable, plug-and-play cellular data connections to the RemoteIQ™ cloud platform from our Aquavx devices.
The changing landscape of a landfill will not impact the reliability of cellular communications between devices when deploying Aquavx™ Pro and ProPlus. Peer-to-peer networking eliminates the need for line-of-site radio communications, allowing seamless, always-on communications with the RemoteIQ Water cloud platform. Aquavx can integrate sensors or other data points into the cloud, like level sensing, loss of power, pump operation and faults, leachate flow rates and totals, leachate pH, temperature, oxygen levels and more. Reports can also be customized and automated to support compliance requirements with federal environmental regulators.
Monitoring Leachate Levels in Water Tanks
Water tanks are used in landfills to store harmful leachate pumped from the piles. Maintaining the correct tank levels is imperative to ensure overflows and spills do not occur, which can have a substantial environmental impact. Cattron’s BWI Eagle systems can be configured to continually monitor the tank level as an alternative to a more comprehensive SCADA system. When tank levels rise beyond the pre-defined level, an OFF command is triggered to stop the pump and prevent overflow. This system is fail-safe by default, which ensures that if the receiver loses its signal from the transmitter, the pump will automatically be disengaged.
Enhance Safety with Industrial Remote Control
Safety Alert Notification System
Heavy machinery, such as mobile equipment loaders, excavators, work trucks and tippers, always works and moves within the landfill. Various issues could arise with workers behind the wheel or flaggers directing traffic. Landfills cover large areas, increasing the complexity of notifying workers of hazards that may be occurring around them.
Installing and utilizing a BWI Eagle industrial remote control solution is a proven method to alert workers to stop and immediately power down equipment, adding another layer of safety. This All-Stop system is tied to lights and sirens positioned across the landfill. The All-Stop command can be initiated by any personnel from a wireless handheld transmitter, whether on the ground, in mobile equipment or operating a tipper, providing full communication across a widespread area. Once the issue is resolved, releasing the stop button on the initiating transmitter or transceiver ends the alert. The lights and sirens are disabled, and workers can resume normal operations. This safety solution is ideal for landfills, transfer stations and compost centers.