5. Kills must not be located so as to obstruct 
natural drainage channels. 
6. I.ocations where springs exist should ordina- 
rily be avoided. 
7. Sanitary landfills should not be located in 
areas subject to flooding unless measures 
are taken to prevent erosion of the fill, such 
as the erection of protective dikes. 
8. Care should be taken not to locate landfills 
in areas where a normal or a raised water 
table during rainy seasons might result in 
pollution of public or private water supplies, 
or where the presence of creviced limestone 
might lead to underground pollution. 
Land Requirements and Length of Haul. In esti- 
mating acreage requirements, experience indicates 
that about one acre of new land will be needed per 
year per 10,000 population (based on a 6-foot depth 
of compacted refuse). However, this has been found 
to vary from \ to 1/2 acres and even higher depend- 
ing on local conditions such as methods of opera- 
tion, ratio of industry to homes, and type of refuse 
that the city collects. A city may often find it 
desirable to fill in relatively small low areas in 
various sections of town, moving from one to the 
other over a period of several years before begin- 
ning operations on a larger tract. 
The expense involved in acquiring a suitable 
tract for a landfill operation will vary greatly. Many 
communities have operated for years by filling 
otherwise useless land at the request of, or with 
the permission of, the land owner, at no cost to the 
city. The land owners were in turn benefited by the 
increased value of their property. Other communities 
have had to pay many hundreds of dollars an acre 
for their landfill sites and still believe that, de- 
spite the relatively high cost of the property, the 
landfill method is the most economical method. 
According to studies by the University of Cali- 
fornia, on California landfill practices (49), a round 
trip of from 15 to 30 miles is apparently the maxi- 
mum distance of haul before a centrally located in- 
cinerator becomes more economical. The capacity 
of the collection vehicles in use would be one 
factor that would help determine the length of haul 
that would be practical. For example, a town using 
15 cu. yd. compactor-type trucks might find a 20- 
mile round trip excessive, but if the same town 
used 20 cu. yd. collection vehicles, a round trip 
of 20 miles might be economically feasible. 
Other factors which may influence the feasible 
length of haul include possible use of transfer 
stations for refuse, traffic congestion and political 
problems of metropolitan areas. 
When the cost of the land and/or the length of 
haul required to reach the site approaches a certain 
point, which would vary with local conditions, con- 
sideration should be given to other satisfactory 
methods of refuse disposal. 
Equipment. Equipment needs will be governed 
largely by the size of the community serVed and the 
nature of the site selected for the landfill. In some 
communities, the selection of equipment will be 
influenced by secondary considerations such as 
loading of earth, sand, or gravel on trucks, snow 
removal, and street maintenance. The following 
mechanical equipment combinations are suitable 
for various types of operation: 
1. Crawler tractor with blade or shovel-type 
attachment. 
2. Bulldozer, Dragline combinations (needed 
only for large operations or where operating 
in swamp or marsh). 
3. Carry-all scrapers and bulldozers (for large 
operations or where earth must be moved a 
considerable distance). 
4. Bulldozer and trucks to haul cover material, 
plus loading equipment at the source of 
cover material. 
Table 1 may be used as a guide to the approxi- 
mate size of equipment needed for communities 
with populations up to 50,000. 
For cities with populations greater than 50,000, 
the number and ize of tractor units would be in- 
creased proportionally. In larger communities either 
one large landfill site or several scattered disposal 
areas will be used. If the first condition exists, 
larger more powerful equipment would be desirable. 
If the latter condition exists, several smaller units 
would probably be utilized. 
Personnel. For a sanitary landfill service less 
than 10,000 persons, the equipment operator would 
usually be the only person employed at the ^-iti 
In addition to operating the equipment, he would 
direct the unloading of trucks, maintain the orderh 
appearance of the area, and keep the trac tor in I 
operating condition. Although care should be take-, 
to avoid accidents at any landfill, extreme ( are 
should be taken at landfills operated by one person 
for here no other individual would be present at 
certain times of the day to render aid or go for help 
Where the size of the population served does not 
17 
