The EIA took about one year to complete. Once approved, the application to construct, operate and reclaim the landfill was prepared and filed. Throughout this process a coalition of environmental groups monitored the complete process and a specially prepared document addressing their specific concerns was prepared and submitted to these special interest groups.
With these concerns addressed, the approval for the construction of the landfill was issued by AEVN and construction of the facilities started. The construction was followed by the preparation of a report, which included complete quality control, quality assurance and construction activities. This report was submitted to Alberta Environment.
The landfill consists of the following facilities on 300 hectares of land:
- Access road
- Scales, office and laboratory
- Run-on and runoff drainage control
- Monitoring wells, terrestrial sample plots, aquatic life sampling plots and monitoring facilities
- A 100 metre by 100 metre first disposal cell
- The necessary support facilities
The site has been conceptually approved for 32 similar sized cells and it is anticipated that it will have a life of twenty-five to thirty years.
In this project, Morrison Hershfield undertook the role of project managers and management of a team of scientists and engineers consisting of hydrologists, geologists, environmentalists, landscape architects, biologists and public relations sub-consultants. Morrison Hershfield’s team completed the public disclosure and public information phase, which resulted in the submission of the Environmental Impact Assessment and conceptual design one year later. The team also prepared and submitted the application to build, operate and reclaim the landfill; prepared the construction design; and project managed the construction. The title timeline was approximately four years from commission to submission of the final construction report.