Effectiveness of Grassland Vegetation on a Temporary Capped Landfill Site

Abstract

We studied the effectiveness of grassland vegetation of a temporary capping system consisting of differently compacted boulder marl and its impact on the water balance components. This study presents the modelled water balances for the period between 2008 and 2015, performed with HELP 3.95 D (German edition). The model requires landfill design and weather data as well as soil physical and evapotranspiration parameters including the leaf area indices and evaporative zone depth with regard to the grassland vegetation. The modelled average annual actual evapotranspiration rates ranged between 277 and 390 mm year-1 or rather 33 and 66% of the annual precipitation (10-year average of 728 mm). The actual evapotranspiration rates are strongly influenced by the maximum leaf area indices that increased between 2008 and 2015 from 1.0 to 3.5 as well as the evaporative zone depth that also increased from 20 cm in 2008 to 50 cm in 2015. The empirical-mathematical-based HELP model is a useful option to successfully determine the water balance components of a landfill capping system under the given weather and site conditions including the development of the grassland vegetation.