Former BKK Corporation Landfill, Site Improvements and Critical Operation and Maintenance
West Covina, CA
In October 2004, the operator of the BKK Landfill notified the California Department of Toxic Substance Control (DTSC) and the US Environmental Protection Agency that it no longer had the financial capability to continue critical site operations. DTSC contracted ERRG to assume long-term monitoring, operations, and maintenance of the critical landfill systems in order to protect public health and the environment. ERRG has provided this service since 2004 and continues to provide support to this complex site that spans 583 acres in a mixed residential and industrial area of West Covina, California. Several homes are located within 50 feet of the landfill, which consists of a closed Class I hazardous waste landfill that accepted 3.4 million tons of liquid and solid hazardous wastes until the 1980s and an inactive Class III landfill that accepted municipal solid waste until the 1990s.
ERRG performed monthly, and quarterly monitoring of groundwater wells around the perimeter of the facility and collected air samples from collection points downwind of the facility in the adjacent residential neighborhoods. Samples were also collected on a daily basis from the leachate treatment plant. As part of the deferred maintenance activities, ERRG evaluated the performance of the existing control systems and worked with DTSC personnel to optimize and redesign components of the landfill systems. ERRG’s activities helped reduce the risk of landfill gas and leachate migration, reduce runoff to surface water, and have resulted in long-term cost savings to the State of California.
Tasks performed by ERRG personnel have included the redesign of the leachate treatment plant system to increase treatment flow rates and alternate design for aboveground conveyance piping and tanks for improved reliability, serviceability and to maintain regulatory compliance. ERRG also designed and replaced several sections of the deteriorating stormwater conveyance system at the facility and constructed a new stormwater conveyance system that is much more robust and less likely to corrode than the old system, thus requiring less maintenance over the life of the landfill. The design was based on standard “Greenbook” Standard Specifications for Public Works Construction, the industry standard for public works designs. ERRG also designed and installed a new horizontal gas collection system to augment landfill gas collection and control.
ERRG remains onsite in an oversight role for the DTSC and continues to perform groundwater monitoring and storm drain rehabilitation activities. To date, more than 120,000 hours of Operations & Maintenance and construction activities have been conducted with no accidents or lost-time incidents.