PROJECT OF THE YEAR
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Hydro Geo Chem, Inc.
(520) 293-1500
TUCSON, Arizona, March 1, 2003
Hydro Geo Chem, Inc., an environmental consulting firm headquartered in Tucson is proud to announce its co-receipt of the Project of the Year Award from Arizona Chapter of the American Public Works Association for the Rio Nuevo Landfill Stabilization Project. This is the second year in a row that the City of Tucson and Hydro Geo Chem, Inc. as the City’s primary consultant and contractor have been recognized by the organization for innovative environmental projects at Tucson-area landfills.
The A-Mountain, Congress, and Nearmont landfills are slated for development as part of the City’s $870 million Rio Nuevo Revitalization Project, aimed at stimulating business growth in downtown Tucson. The Rio Nuevo Landfill Stabilization Project involves aerobic degradation of three landfills using air injection and water application to stimulate bacterial consumption of refuse. Rather than letting the landfills anaerobically degrade over a period of hundreds of years, the City implemented the plan to stabilize the landfills in 3 to 5 years using aerobic bioreactor technology. Air injection at each landfill expels the explosive gas methane from the subsurface and methane generation ultimately ceases as aerobic bacteria consume degradable refuse material. Land surface settlement occurs during bioreactor operation at an accelerated rate and also ceases as degradable refuse is consumed.
Currently, the project is in full scale operation at the Congress Landfill after a successful pilot scale study at the Nearmont Landfill.