Dumping ground hazards and sediments after floodings - risk analysis and minimisation (GEDES)

01.10.2007 - 31.07.2009
Forschungsförderungsprojekt
The project is aimed to evaluate the environmental hazard emanating from flooded MSW landfills. Thereto in the first step of the project (work package 1) it is investigated: how many MSW landfills are potentially endangered by flooding and which emission loads could be expected in case of flooding? The risk of flooding is evaluated for each site based on information about flood risk zones in Austria (HORA). The potential inundation areas are classified for the three recurrence intervals 30, 100, and 200 years. Based on the topology of the landfill site and the designated flood risk zones, three different categories of flood risk exposure are distinguished: "endangered", "probably endangered", and "probably not endangered". Endangered and probably endangered sites are located in a potential inundation area or close to a flood risk zone. For MSW landfills assigned to one of these two categories the potential emissions during a flood event were estimated by developing different scenarios of substance release. The developed scenarios include intensified leaching processes of waste compounds and loss of stability of the waste body due to total erosion. The emissions based on these scenarios are then used to evaluate the environmental relevance of flooded landfills. Out of 131 classified MSW landfills and 961 old MSW landfills approximately 30 % of the sites turned out to be potentially endangered by flooding, with one third of these sites being located in a potential inundation area of a 30 year recurrence-interval flood. Only small portion (mainly still active landfills) of the potentially endangered sites is protected by technical measures. The potential emissions emanating from MSW landfills during a flood event differ, depending on the scenario and the investigated substance, by 2-4 orders of magnitude. This indicates the large uncertainties regarding to the prediction of the behaviour of flooded MSW landfills. However, independent of the chosen release scenario, it is found that landfill emissions during flood events are by 2 to 9 orders of magnitude higher than those under regular (partially saturated) conditions. Whether these emissions pose an environmental problem or not, will be investigated for three endangered landfill sites in the course of work package 2. Subsequently, based on the results of work package 1 and 2 conclusions about the environmental relevance of flooded MSW landfills will be drawn.

Personen

Projektleiter_in

Institut

Grant funds

  • FFG - Österr. Forschungsförderungs- gesellschaft mbH (National) Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG)

Forschungsschwerpunkte

  • Risk based Design: 30%
  • Mathematical and Algorithmic Foundations: 30%
  • Modeling and Simulation: 40%

Schlagwörter

DeutschEnglisch
Deponiestandortedisposalhapitat
Müllzusammensetzungwaste composite
Sickerwasserbildungseepage education
Abhängigkeitsmodellierungdependence modelling
Verbriefung von Risikensecuritization of risks
Extremwerttheorieextreme value theorie

Externe Partner_innen

  • Umweltbundesamt GmbH
  • Universität für Bodenkultur, Institut für Wasserwirtschaft, Hydrologie und konstruktiven Wasserbau
  • Institut für Wassergüte, Ressourcenmanagement und Abfallwirtschaft
  • Land Niederösterreich
  • Land Oberösterreich Amt der OÖ. Landesregierung

Publikationen