Section Four
LANDFILLS AND LINERS
79    MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE LANDFILL IN SOUTHERN
NEW MEXICO
Fang Gao, Environmental/Design Engineer
Mavin Magee, Geotechnical/Operations Engineer
Len Stokes, President
JOAB, Inc.
Las Cruces, New Mexico 88004
Richard W. Eldredge, Professional Engineer
Solid Waste Control
Naperville, Illinois 60540
INTRODUCTION
Technically designed, engineered and operated landfills are in increasing demand in every part of
the country, including New Mexico. It is obvious that more stringent regulations regarding landfills
are being enacted throughout the United States. As a result, many existing landfills are, or will be,
closed due to the technical shortcomings in their site location, design, operation and overall management. In 1978, there were approximately 14,000 landfills in the United States. In 1988, only 5,500
landfills were in operation. It is estimated that the operating landfills will be reduced to only 2,200 in
the year 2000." The state of New Mexico promulgated its current solid waste management regulations
in May of 1989. As a result of the promulgation of these regulations, 91 of the 226 registered landfills
in New Mexico were closed.2 The New Mexico Environmental Improvement Division (NMEID) is
now working on revising the current solid waste management regulations. The new regulations are
expected to become effective during the summer of 1991. It can be expected that more landfills
existing today in New Mexico will be affected by the new regulations.
On the other hand, the quantities of solid wastes generated by the municipalities and communities
are steadily increasing due to the population growth. This is especially true in the southwest regions of
the U.S., such as Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, western Texas and New Mexico.3 The population of
New Mexico increased by 21% from the year 1980 to 1990. It is estimated that the N.M. population
will increase by about 17% from the year 1990 to 2000.4 Several major cities in southern New Mexico,
such as Deming, Las Cruces, Alamogordo and Carlsbad, have already seen their needs for opening
new technically-sound landfills.
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS
Climatic Characteristics
The climate in southern New Mexico can be summarized with the following features: warm and dry
weather throughout the year, hot weather from late spring to early fall, minimal annual precipitation,
high evaporation or evapotranspiration. Table I gives the climatological data obtained from four
selected locations in southern New Mexico.4
Geological Characteristics
Geologically, a large portion of southern New Mexico is covered by Quaternary sediments.5 A
limited literature review shows that subsurface clay and/or silty clay deposits are not unusual occurrences in this portion of the state.6"10 Overall, the water table is relatively deep from the ground
surface, except in some narrow areas along the rivers, such as Rio Grande River and Pecos River.
46th Purdue Industrial Waste Conference Proceedings, 1992 Lewis Publishers, Inc., Chelsea, Michigan 48118.
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