MARGAO
Blame it on last year’s fire incident or simply negligence by the Margao civic body, the landfill site at Sonsodo will have to undergo major repairs even before its formal commissioning.
And, if sources are to be believed, the landfill site has become a place for the storage of the dry waste collected from centres in times of Covid.
Rough estimates prepared by the Goa Waste Management Corporation (GWMC) has pegged the repair cost to a whopping Rs 80 lakh, with sources not ruling out the possibility of it touching the Rs one crore mark.
A glance at the GWMC action plan submitted to the Margao Municipal Council has revealed that the geomembrane used of the top layer of the landfill seems to have been completely torn off.
That’s not all. The layer of the liner has cracked at many points and become fragile due to its direct exposure to the atmosphere and heat. It has also come to light that the sealing of the liner layer is worn out at many places and this seems damaged at the anchoring and corners.
The layer seems to be damaged at the openings made for the weep holes. Also, the layer was damaged on the mountain side (south side) due to the corner of steps on that side, the report pointed out.
The report further stated that the sealing of anchoring of the geomembrane and liners on the concrete walls of the landfill on north and west sides seem to be torn off and without appropriate lapping.
The anchoring on the east side was provided above the existing ground level which needs to be anchored below the existing ground level. The anchoring on the side of mountains was not visible, the report said.
It was further pointed out that the filter media was present only over the laterals of the distribution system and otherwise the complete filter media was not observed at the site.
“The lateral distribution system is seen with no proper levelling. The header pipe and lateral pipe levels are improper to have leachate to be drained out of the landfill area. The jointing of header pipes is not proper and was removed at several points and the same is applicable for the jointing of header and lateral pipes. The end caps were not provided at the ends of the lateral distribution system. The perforations of the lateral pipes were not visible. The header pipeline was taken outside to the landfill but its connection to the existing leachate collection chamber was not established,” the report observed.
The leachate collection chamber for landfill is not connected to the existing lateral drainage system and the construction of the same doesn’t seem to be satisfactory, the GWMC report said, adding that the sizing of the leachate collection chamber needs to be checked.
The landfill site had come into sharp focus a year ago when the Sonsodo site around the landfill site was engulfed in a major fire.
