WILLMAR - Kandiyohi County unveiled groundbreaking new technology Monday that transforms the treatment of landfill leachate.
The $2.8 million “LeachBuster” treatment and filtration system - the first of its kind in North America - was the star of the show at an official launch party Monday morning at the county landfill, giving local elected officials, legislators, environmental officials, contractors and the public a chance to learn about the technology and see it up close.
“It’s a little bit of a leap of faith … but we’re confident that the system is going to work,” Kandiyohi County Commissioner Roger Imdieke told the 75 people assembled for the event.
By treating landfill leachate on-site to remove contaminants, the new technology promises to be better for the environment as well as reduce taxpayer costs, according to Greg Ackerson of Apex Technical Solutions.
“We’re protecting future generations,” he said, adding that it will set “a new standard for how to treat leachate.”
Construction and installation began a year ago and was completed in August.
Housed inside an inconspicuous-looking cinderblock building at the landfill, a complex array of pipes, tanks and pumps comprises the equivalent of a five-acre wastewater treatment plant shrunk into a space slightly smaller than the average house.
Rainwater and snowmelt seep through the garbage mass at the landfill and are collected by a liner at the bottom, then channeled into underground storage. From here, the raw liquid waste is pumped into the treatment system, where it passes through a series of filters that remove contaminants.
The clean water that emerges at the end of this process is discharged into an outdoor infiltration basin, where it can slowly be absorbed back into the water table. Meanwhile, the concentrated leachate is returned to the landfill. From beginning to end of the treatment cycle, none of the leachate leaves the landfill site.
Under the old system, the leachate that was collected was trucked off-site to wastewater treatment facilities, where it was diluted and then discharged into the environment.
Because not all the compounds contained within the leachate were treated, It was still possible for contaminants to get into the watershed, Ackerson said. The trucking also was costly and created wear and tear on public highways, he said.
The LeachBuster technology, a single-pass membrane system that functions similar to the human kidney, filters out contaminants ranging from metals and chemical compounds to pathogens and pharmaceuticals, as well as contaminants of emerging concern.
“The only thing now that’s being discharged is water that meets the national drinking water standards,” Ackerson said.
Samples on display told the story - a container filled with coffee-colored murk drawn from raw leachate and a container filled with treated leachate indistinguishable from clear water.
Wastewater treatment technology has changed little over the decades, said Kazem Oskoui, chief technology officer for Clark Technology and one of the innovators of the new leachate treatment technology.
“Now we’re actually moving a quantum leap forward,” he said.
The system is processing 20,000 gallons of water per day and can expand to as much as 80,000 gallons a day.
State legislators had praise for Kandiyohi County for taking a significant and potentially risky leap into a technology that has been used overseas but, until now, had not been tried in North America.
“It’s really, really an impressive project,” said Sen. Lyle Koenen, DFL-Clara City.
His words were echoed by Rep. Dave Baker, R-Willmar. “I want to say how proud I am of my county for out-of-the-box thinking,” Baker said.
County officials spent two years studying and talking about the on-site leachate treatment system before deciding to go ahead with it, said Larry Kleindl, county administrator.
There was initially some skepticism, he admitted. “They had to convince us this was going to work.”
County Commissioner Doug Reese remembers those discussions.
“We all said, ‘I don’t know,’ ” he said.
The doubts began to evaporate after the commissioners did their research, and the decision became clear after seeing a test system of the technology, he said. “That really sold us.”
One consideration was the long-term cost of shipping untreated leachate to wastewater treatment facilities, Kleindl said. The county was spending $200,000 a year to truck 3 million gallons of leachate to other facilities - money that can now be saved and applied toward paying off the bond that financed construction of the new on-site system, he said.
But more important, county officials wanted to take steps to protect the environment into the future, he said.
“Eighteen months later we’re standing here,” he said. “It’s amazing.”
RELATED STORIES:
Innovative water treatment system draws attention to Kandiyohi County
ADVERTISEMENT
