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also measure indicators like the pH, redox potential, the dissolved oxygen, as well as the temperature.”

SRK Consulting is able to execute detection monitoring protocols by diligently collecting samples, testing them at accredited laboratories, and interpreting the results.

“This allows municipalities to assess if the results meet the parameters that are laid out in the regulatory licenses for each landfill, whether they are operational or not,” states O’Brien. “This groundwater quality monitoring is becoming increasingly important as the country relies increasingly on precious groundwater resources as the population and economy grows.”

He notes that landfills evolve with time in terms of the leachate they generate, and the monitoring data informs how their impact on groundwater changes.

“Where we have a long-term monitoring record of both leachate and groundwater, we can start drawing conclusions about the interaction between leachate chemistry and groundwater chemistry.”

Integrated

approach

Various levels of expertise are required to ensure an effective monitoring programme. The site work will be conducted by experienced sampling technicians and scientists, and the team will be led by a professional geohydrologist, environmental geologist, or geochemist.

Outside of the landfill context, he noted that the private sector can also do more to protect groundwater resources through better monitoring, rather than approaching the exercise purely to achieve compliance.

“By encouraging a broader water stewardship approach, we encourage clients to glean as much insight as possible from the monitoring process – and then to interrogate it more closely for valuable strategic and operational guidance,” he says. “There is tremendous value in this data, in terms of understanding and minimising the impact of every industrial operation; and this impact, of course, is the key indicator that all companies should be working to reduce.”