GI/AEG Joint Meeting with speaker Christopher Stohr
| Join Geo-Institute and The Association of Environmental Engineering & Geologist (AEG) for a joint dinner meeting with presenter, Christopher Stohr on Retrospective of the Earthline Hazardous-Waste Landfill Failure, a Case Study of Legacy Landfills and Dumps and Improving Field Inspections to Reduce Groundwater Contamination. |
| Abstract
Subject of a landmark, legal-precedent setting trial, an unlined, hazardous-waste landfill was said by experts ‘not to leak in 100 years’ however, contaminants were detected in monitoring wells 3 meters from the burial trenches only 3 years after closure. Field and lab tests, and remote sensing measurements showed causes for the ‘faster than predicted’ contaminant migration from a hazardous waste landfill, but why? Legacy landfills are unlined, thinly-covered cemeteries of waste similarly constructed throughout the world. Most landfill inspections mostly rely upon institutional memory and traditional ‘walk over’ traverses to identify flaws and deficiencies for written reports. These defects can be better identified and mapped by image processing of freely-available airborne lidar, historical black and white photography and modern color infrared orthoimagery using GIS technology to direct low-cost, spot repairs for maintenance and custodial care to reduce undesired contamination from legacy waste structures.
About the Speaker Dr. Christopher ‘Chris’ Stohr (retired, Illinois State Geological Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), Mahomet Aquifer Council, Illinois Board of Licensing for Professional Geologists, currently 2025-2026 Richard H. Jahns Distinguished Lecturer. Chris Stohr continues professional and community work after more than 40 years of applied geology, research and humanitarian work in the midwestern USA, Africa and South America. Obtaining a BS in Geology at Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer IN and MS in Engineering Geology at Purdue University developing applications for innovative digital image processing of remotely sensed imagery at the Laboratory for Applications of Remote Sensing. Chris began work at the Missouri Geology and Land Survey performing investigations for dams, sewage lagoons, hazardous and nuclear waste sites, dye tracing, dumps and landfills in the Ozarks and throughout that state; directed an inventory of 3,600 dams; and conducted a site selection study for hazardous waste disposal facilities in Missouri. He worked as part of a Shannon and Wilson team conducting special fault studies, reconnaissance mapping, trench mapping and paleomagnetic studies for nuclear power plant in central Iran using U.S. NRC procedures. Price Range: $25-70 Questions contact asceilgeotech@gmail.com |