LANDFILL AT SENSITIVE SITE
An Engineering Excellence Award-Winning Project

S&ME, Inc., the consultant for Phase I of the Highway 521 Municipal Solid Waste Landfill, helped Mecklenburg County permit and construct a state-of-the art facility within budget despite litigation that delayed the beginning of construction.

The Highway 521 Landfill is a 205-acre, RCRA Subtitle D MSW landfill located in a growing suburban area south of Charlotte in Mecklenburg County, NC. The location of the landfill facility within a suburban area created a high degree of community interest in the project, making it more difficult to permit and construct. Litigation opposing the facility during the final issuance of the construction permit and initial phases of construction delayed the construction schedule by making the project's final approval uncertain. S&ME helped Mecklenburg County to allay public concerns about the facility by providing tours during construction to assure community residents and officials that the facility was environmentally sound. To reduce the County's risk while keeping construction progress moving, Mecklenburg County and S&ME phased the project construction during the schedule delays caused by litigation. Despite these challenges, S&ME was able to design and permit this complex project in 15 months and construct a state-of-the-art MSW landfill facility for Mecklenburg County within budget.

S&ME's main focus while designing and constructing the $5.4 million project was to make the facility environmentally sound and cost efficient. An innovative leachate management system design uses a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system that utilizes radio telemetry to allow for remote monitoring of the leachate management system, making the system more efficient and cost effective to operate. Data collected by the system regarding leachate flow and precipitation will be used to create models to aid in planning future phases of this landfill and landfills for other municipalities.

Mecklenburg County was actively involved during the design and permitting stages of the project. This cooperative relationship with S&ME expedited the permitting and design process and resulted in a cost-effective, constructable design.

This project won a Grand Award in the Environmental Category at the North Carolina Consulting Engineer's Council Engineering Excellence Awards.

"S&ME, Inc. did an outstanding job on all aspects of the project which they were involved . . . S&ME, Inc. monitored and inspected all aspects of their work, and was instrumental in bringing the project to a successful conclusion. S&ME, Inc. always proceeded with Mecklenburg County's best interest as their primary consideration, and was willing to take calculated risks to complete the project."

—David Morton, Project Manager
Mecklenburg County Engineering & Building Standards Department