Geological Analysis of Chef Menteur Landfill Site, Orleans Parish, Louisiana

by
G. Paul Kemp, Ph.D., LSU School of the Coast & Environment

I am a sedimentary geologist and hydrologist accustomed to acquiring and analyzing

borings from the Mississippi River deltaic plain. I have examined logs recorded for 12
borings by Gore Engineering, Inc., in the early 1990s at the Chef Menteur landfill site at
16600 Chef Menteur Highway in Orleans Parish adjacent to the Bayou Sauvage National
Wildlife Refuge (Attachment 1). Experts have identified a potential for generation of
contaminated stormwater, leachate and groundwater from hazardous household wastes
and other materials that have been observed at the site (Pardue 2006). Subsurface
borings offer geologists and hydrologists a way of assessing the likelihood that
contaminated leachates and other liquids that come in contact with the hazardous
materials will migrate outside the footprint of the landfill and contaminate adjacent
communities or the nearby national wildlife refuge.

Two of the borings, B-1 and B-12 at the western and eastern margins of the site extend to
50 ft below grade, estimated from LiDAR at approximately 0 ft (NAVD88). The
remainder of the borings end at 35 ft below grade. Because only two borings extend
beyond 35 ft, this data is insufficient to fully characterize the potential for containment of
wastes placed in excavations up to 30 ft deep. The cross-section provided is parallel to
the axis of the ridge and is less interesting with respect to suitability as a landfill site than
one perpendicular to it that can be constructed using B-4, B-9, B-5, B-8. Such a cross-
section shows that the soft gray clay with silty lenses that is shown at between 10 and 30
ft is closer to the surface at the southern margin of the site, so that the underlying loose
gray silty sand is also higher in the section and continues below 50 ft.

Geologically, the site is located on the natural levee of a former distributary of the
Mississippi River, the same distributary that can be traced back through New Orleans
along the Gentilly and Metairie ridges. The borings are very typical of natural levee
deposits. The two deeper borings do not reach any massive or impermeable clay at
depth, suggesting that the entire section can be characterized as a relatively permeable
natural levee deposit. Such deposits are inherently heterogeneous, reflecting the range of
river flows, from flood (sand) to tidal (clay), that formed them, but should be
characterized with respect to potential to allow subsurface passage of water and fluid
wastes as a silty sand, with relatively high transmissivity. The one transmissivity noted
on B-7 for a sandy silt (K=2 X 10-4 cm-s-1) is relatively low, but we could probably find
samples in the section that were an order of magnitude higher or lower, and would want
to use the higher numbers to assess the potential for migration of wastes.

My understanding is that the pit is unlined and can be kept dry only by fairly continuous
pumping. While such pumping is active, the local hydraulic gradient will be toward the
sump, and this should help reduce offsite migration. This assumption will not apply
when the dewatering pumping system is not in use, and this will be the critical condition
for which the pit should be tested. Records of rainfall at the site and the volumes of
fluids removed by the dewatering (leachate collection) system will help establish the
permeability of the surrounding soils, and the potential for migration of the hazardous
materials now going into the landfill (Pardue 2006).

References

Pardue, John H. 2006. Anticipating environmental problems facing hurricane debris

landfills in New Orleans East. Louisiana Water Resources Research Institute White
Paper. 14pp.
Attachment 1.