Local Enforcement Agency (LEA) Central

Alternative Cover Assessment Program

The growing interest in alternative designs for final landfill cover systems is being driven by the high costs associated with the construction of landfill cover designs prescribed in Title 27, as well as the desire for constant innovation and performance improvement. 

In March 1999, the Board entered into a contract with the Desert Research Institute, University of Nevada, to provide additional funding for a national research program called the Alternative Cover Assessment Program (ACAP). The goal of ACAP is to evaluate the adequacy of various proposed alternative cover systems. ACAP is currently focusing on evapotranspiration (ET) covers.  ET covers utilize plants to cycle water from the soil profile to the atmosphere during the growing season thus minimizing year-round percolation through the cover system and into the waste.

ACAP is currently developing field-scale performance data for landfill final cover systems.  Both prescriptive and innovative alternative cover designs are currently being tested in the project. ACAP is part of the Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation Program run by U.S. EPA's National Risk Management Research Laboratory. This program was established to promote the development of new and innovative technologies to address hazardous waste problems.

There are 13 sites throughout the nation participating in the ACAP study. Of those 13 sites, four sites in California, representing unique climates and environments, were selected to participate in the national ACAP study. These sites include:

• Kiefer Landfill, Sacramento County
• Monterey Peninsula Landfill (Marina), Monterey County
• Altamont Landfill and Resource Recovery Facility, Alameda County
• Apple Valley Landfill, San Bernardino County. 

Many landfills in California's arid and semiarid regions are currently utilizing ET final covers after receiving approval from the regulatory agencies to use an alternative final cover.  Currently more than 50 landfills throughout the state are utilizing an alternative final cover system. Alternative final covers are a new and innovative technology that is cost effective, and, in certain climates, may be environmentally superior to the current final landfill covers prescribed in Title 27. 

Last updated: October 29, 2007