Water Balance and Chloride Mass Balance Assessment of the Kragge Infiltration Pilot

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Abstract
In the Netherlands a long-term experiment is being carried to actively reduce the emission potential from landfill waste bodies. At the Kragge landfill, a pilot is performed to test enhanced leaching by recirculating treated leachate on one of the cells. We present an analysis of the water and chloride mass balance based on long-term time series and a recently developed modelling approach. Using this approach we have an accurate mass balance, showing that the landfill Cell 3 is hydrologically connected to its neighbouring cell: about 22 % of the infiltrated leachate discharged through the drainage system of Cell 4. While the water storage in Cell 4 remained close to the initial storage, the water storage in Cell 3 consistently shows an increase, which is still ongoing after 6.65 years, about 44 % of the infiltrated water remains in the waste body of cell 3. The mass of chloride in Cell 3 remains constant because of the recirculation of leachate. On Cell 4, the chloride mass decreases because of the flushing with fresh rainwater. The approach gives accurate results for the change in mass and water. However, the absolute magnitude of remaining chloride mass and water storage in the waste body remains uncertain.