Landfill Leachate Production Through

Empirical Methodologies: A Case Study

of the Lajes Site in Northeastern Brazil
Adriano Frutuoso da Silva*
Dsc. Professor at the Department of Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering,
Federal University of Ceara, Fortaleza/CE, Brazil
*Corresponding Author, e-mail: adrianofrutuoso@deha.ufc.br

Tammy Nabilla Sousa Cruz

Civil Engineer, Department of Civil Engineering Federal University of Roraima,
Boa Vista/RR, Brazil
e-mail: nabilla24@gmail.com

Silvestre Lopes da Nobrega

Msc, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering Federal University of Roraima,
Boa Vista/RR, Brazil
e-mail: silvestre.lopes@ufrr.br

Pedro Alves da Silva Filho

Dsc, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering Federal University of Roraima,
Boa Vista/RR, Brazil
e-mail: pedroasfilho@yahoo.com.br

Aline Flavia Nunes Remigio Antunes

Dsc, Professor, Department of Civil Engineering Federal University of Paraiba,
João Pessoa/PB, Brazil
e-mail: eng.remigio@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
The estimate of the amount of leachate is required in designing a landfill project as a measure of
environmental protection. The flow of leachates to be drained serves as the basis for the design of
the drainage system and of the storage tank for the collected leachate, and assists in choosing an
appropriate treatment system for the volume of leachate and, also, in determining the settling time
of the landfill after closure. In this sense, this work presents a study of leachate production from a
landfill through empirical methodologies, namely: Swiss method, Rational method and Water
Balance method. The results obtained showed the following: the Rational and Water Balance
methods indicated production of leachate only for the months of water surplus; the Swiss method
showed leachate generation throughout the year, even in the months of water deficit; regarding the
estimated amount of leachate, the values obtained by the Water Balance method were higher than
those obtained by the Rational method, these in turn were higher than those estimated by the Swiss
method.
KEYWORDS: Landfill Site, Leachate, Empirical methodologies.

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 Vol. 21 [2016], Bund. 08 2900

INTRODUCTION
Population and industrial growth resulted in large amounts of waste, such as household
waste, medical waste, industrial waste, among others, being produced and disposed somehow in
the biosphere, thus compromising environmental quality.
In the search for solving this problem, the sanitary landfill in recent years has been widely
used and considered to be the appropriate form of treatment and final disposal of municipal solid
waste generated in most of the Brazilian cities.
The sanitary landfill is defined by the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards - ABNT,
such as “Form of final disposal of municipal waste in the soil, through confinement in layers
covered with inert material, usually soil, according to specific operational standards, in order to
avoid damage or risk to public health and safety, minimizing environmental impacts.”
Despite being considered a form of safe disposal, the landfill site has some risk of
contamination of soil and groundwater. The percolated liquids, formed by the slurry and the
rainwater that seeps through the landfill, show a high degree of pollution. When these liquids
reach underground or surface water sources, they can significantly alter the characteristics of the
water, making it inadequate for consumption and preventing the survival of aquatic organisms.
In this regard, the need to establish a system of collection and treatment of these effluents is
critical to the performance of a sanitary landfill. Notwithstanding, the determination of the
amount of generated landfill leachate is crucial for the design of these systems.
The production of percolating liquids occurs in two distinct steps. The first corresponding to
the operation phase of the landfill when it receives only a daily coverage, called operational
coverage, with inert material, usually soil. In this step, the ease of rain water infiltration is greater
than in the second phase. The second corresponds to the step in which the activities of the landfill
are ended with the closing of the same with a final cover, usually formed of compacted soil of
low permeability. This layer hinders the infiltration of rainwater, which results in a smaller
amount of percolating liquids than in the first phase.
The amount of percolating liquids is determined by several methods based on empirical
formulations, including: Swiss method, Rational method and Water Balance method.
Computational methods are also used for this purpose, among which stand out the models HELP
(Hydrologic Evaluation of Landfill Performance) and UNSAT-H (Unsaturated Water and Heat
Flow), which are widely used in the United States.
In view of the above, this paper presents a study aimed at quantifying the percolating liquids
of a landfill from the use of empirical methods: Swiss, Rational and Water Balance, under
Brazilian conditions, in calculating the fluid behavior of landfill sites, based on the design of the
landfill from the municipality of Lajes, located in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, northeastern
Brazil.

EMPIRICAL METHODS TO ESTIMATE LEACHATE

Swiss method
According to Orth (1981), it is a method which uses empirical coefficients that correlate
rainfall and landfill contribution area with the generation of leachate [1].
 Vol. 21 [2016], Bund. 08 2901

The author states that the calculation of the average leachate flow can be expressed by the
following equation:

R.A.K
QM = (1)
t
In the equation: QM is the leachate flow (l/s); R is the rainfall (mm); A is the area of
contribution (m²); t is the number of seconds in one month; and K is the coefficient dependent on
the degree of compaction of municipal solid waste (Table 1).

Table 1: K values for use in the Swiss Method [2].

Landfill type Specific weight of compacted municipal waste K
Weakly compacted landfills 0.4 to 0.7 ton/m³ 0.25 to 0.50
Heavily compacted landfills Above 0.7 ton/m³ 0.15 to 0.25

Rational Method
According to Martins Jr. (1997), this method is of simple and practical use, being able to
determine the maximum flow rate of a particular area subject to a maximum intensity of
precipitation, corresponding to a particular time of concentration, by the equation [3]:

Qmáx = C.im.A (2)

In the equation: Qmáx in the maximum flow of surface runoff (m3/s or L/s); C in the surface
runoff coefficient, dimensionless; A in the basin area (ha); and im in the intensity of rain (mm).
Table 2 shows values of the runoff coefficient (C) depending on the characteristics of
vegetation, topography and soil.

Table 2: Surface runoff coefficient [4].

Vegetation Topography Sandy soil Clayey-silty soil Clayey soil
Forest
Flat 0 – 5% slope 0.10 0.30 0.40
Rolling 5 – 10% slope 0.25 0.35 0.50
Rugged 0 – 30% slope 0.30 0.50 0.60
Pasture
Flat - 0.10 0.30 0.40
Rolling - 0.16 0.36 0.55
Rugged - 0.22 0.42 0.60
Cultivated
Flat - 0.30 0.50 0.60
Rolling - 0.40 0.60 0.70
Rugged - 0.52 0.72 0.82

In order to obtain the precipitation portion that comes to infiltrate, it must be subtracted the
total precipitated volume on the area of the landfill from the drained volume, which is calculated
by the Rational method for the same time interval. And from this result, it should even be
subtracted the portion of evapotranspired water. Thus, we have:

QM =
[(R - SR ) - PE ].A (3)
t
 Vol. 21 [2016], Bund. 08 2902

In the equation: QM in the leachate flow (l/s); R in the rainfall (mm); A in the area of
contribution (m²); PE in the Potential Evaporation (mm); and SR in the Surface Runoff (mm).

Water balance method

The Water Balance method is currently one of the most used models to calculate the volume
of leachate from landfills, it was proposed by Fenn et al. in 1975 and later developed by Kmet in
1982 (Bendz et al., 1997) [5].
The Water Balance, in the way it was designed for the study of soil and water, is based on
the relationship between rainfall, evapotranspiration, surface runoff and water storage in the soil.
The rainfall is the water recharge system, while evapotranspiration is the combination between
the evaporation of plants and the soil surface, the transpiration of the plants being included.
Surface runoff is the surface water flow directly into the area of interest. The storage capacity
represents the amount of water that can be retained in the soil and in the solid waste, in landfills
cases. Figure 1 below shows the main components of the water balance of a landfill cell.

Figure 1: Scheme to define the water balance

The basic conditions for using the Water Balance method proposed by Fenn et al. in 1975
are [5]:
• Soil coverage with 60 cm thickness;
• Infiltration in the landfill coming only from incident rainfall;
• Hydraulic characteristic of the garbage and the uniform coverage material;
• Landfill water movement only vertically.
According to Lins (2003), the leachate flow estimate and the meteorological parameters and
other data used to calculate this method can be verified in Table 3 [6].
 Vol. 21 [2016], Bund. 08 2903

Table 3: Parameters and retrieve mode to calculate the Water Balance

Parameters Retrieve mode
Rainfall (R) Pluviometric Bulletins, Climatological Normal Precipitation.
Hydro-meteorological bulletins (measured by evaporimeters or estimated
Potential evaporation (PE) by the methods: Thornthwaite; Hargreaves & Samani; Penman-Monteith;
Blaney & Criddle; and other).
Values obtained from tables that take into account the soil type and its
Surface runoff (SR)
slope, in addition to rainfall data (SR= C’x R).
Infiltration (I) Obtained by subtracting the Rainfall by Surface Runoff.
I – PE Difference between the infiltrating and the evaporating water.
∑ (NEG (I-PE)) This parameter is obtained by adding the negative values of (I-PE).
Multiplying the amount of water available for each soil by the thickness
thereof, when (I-PE)> 0.
Water storage in the coverage soil (WS)
When the soil is below field capacity, (I-PE) <0, WS is obtained
empirically.

Variation in the water storage in the soil Given by the difference between the water stored in the soil, from one
(ΔWS) month to the other (WSn - WSn-1).

When (I – PE) > 0 then RE = PE

Real evaporation (RE)
When (I – PE) < 0 then RE = [ PE + (I-PE) - ΔWS ].
Percolation in mm (PER) PER = R – SR – WS – RE
Monthly flow in m³/s day (QM) QM=((PERx37429)/2,592,00)*3.6*24

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Characterization of the study area
The landfill studied in this work is located in the municipality of Lajes, state of Rio Grande
do Norte, northeastern Brazil, in the geographical coordinates: 5º42’00” latitude south and
36º14’41” longitude west, at an altitude of 199 m (Figure 2). The city has a total area of 676.42
square kilometers, equivalent to 1.25% of the state surface. Its population, according to the
demographic census of 2010, is of 10,385 inhabitants (IBGE, 2010) [7].
 Vol. 21 [2016], Bund. 08 2904

Figure 2: Location of the municipality of Lajes/RN/Brazil

The region has a hot, semiarid climate, with rainy seasons in autumn and rainy periods from
March to April, with average annual temperatures with maximum of 33°C, average of 27.2°C and
minimum of 21°C, with annual relative humidity of 70% and 2400 hours of sunshine.
The municipality is located in a terrain of Crystalline Basement domain, predominantly Caicó
Group, of Pre-Cambrian Age (1100-2500 million years), which is characterized by migmatites,
gnaisses, amphibolites, granites and schists. The far north of the municipal area is characterized
by sediments of the Potiguar Basin, of Cretaceous Age (about 80 million years), with the Açu
Formation, sandstones and the Jandaíra Formation (limestone). Geomorphologically predominate
tabular forms of reliefs, with flat top and different orders of magnitude and drainage depth,
usually separated by flat bottom valleys.
The vegetation presents a sparse lower tree layer mainly composed of myrtaceous plants; part
of the trees lose partially or entirely the leaves in the dry season.

Landfill Description
The trench landfill has a total area of 16,260.75 m², consisting of cells of debris with a
thickness of approximately 2.5 meters alternating with “intermediate layers” of inert material
with a thickness of 30 cm. It runs through planned excavation of the cells on the ground, making
use of the topographical features of the area, with its background waterproofed by a 60 cm layer
of compacted clay. It also presents drainage systems of leachate and gas.
The trenches have, useful height of 5 m and side slopes with an inclination of 1:2, setting the
base width at 70 m and a useful width of 90 m on the surface. Figures 3 and 4 illustrate a design
with a 3D view and a transverse section of the trench, respectively.
 Vol. 21 [2016], Bund. 08 2905

3 .5 0
5 .0 0

0 .5 0

.2 5
164
1 .0 0

7 0 .0
0

Figure 3: 3D Detail of the Trench

Figure 4: Transverse Section of the trench

Characteristics of the solid waste

Figure 5 shows the gravimetric composition of the solid waste generated in the municipality
of Lajes/RN, used in this research. It is noted the highest percentage of organic material. With
specific weight of 2.9 kN/m3.
 Vol. 21 [2016], Bund. 08 2906

3.68% 4.82%
9.03% 8.40% glass
2.10%
12.34% paper, pasteboard
plastic
Leaves, twigs
5.03%
Organic matter
metal
Inert material

54.60% Medical waste

Figure 5: Gravimetric composition of waste

Methods
To achieve the proposed objectives, this paper presents a series of activities, organized as
shown in Figure 6 and described below.

Figure 6: Research flowchart

Initially, it was performed a climatological data collection from an existing measuring station
in the implementation area of the sanitary landfill, getting a database of climatological normals
corresponding to a historical series of 29 years (1961-1990). After collection, the database
underwent a treatment, which consisted of the analysis of rainfall reports, identifying the
parameters that would be required and would be available, depending on each method used to
estimate the leachate production.
 Vol. 21 [2016], Bund. 08 2907

Later, the production of leachate was estimated by the Swiss method, and it was conducted in
parallel the climatic water balance with use of the electronic spreadsheet BHídrico, being
obtained the evapotranspiration data.
The BHídrico spreadsheet is a computer program developed by D’Angiolella & Vasconcellos
(2004)[8] for the calculation of the climatic water balance recommended by Thorntwaite & Mather
(1955) [9]. The system uses weather information such as average temperature, relative humidity,
wind speed and direction, precipitation and sunshine, and estimate parameters such as solar
radiation at the top of the atmosphere (Ra), short-wave (Rns) and longwave radiation (Rb) and net
radiation (Rn), used in some methodologies for estimating potential evapotranspiration (EPT).
To calculate the water balance, the following methods can be used to estimate the potential
evapotranspiration: Thornthwaite; Hargreaves & Samani; Tanque Classe A; Penman-Monteith;
Blaney & Criddle; and Makink. These six options allow to perform comparative studies in order
to do the calculations with the most suitable and representative methodology for the study region.
Due to the lack of some meteorological data, it were used only the methods of Thornthwaite
(1948)[10] and Hargreaves & Samani (1985)[11].
Figure 7 shows the historical average rainfall, being noted that the sanitary landfill region has
rainfall throughout the year, with the highest peaks, in average, in the months of March and April,
with about 188 and 205 mm of rain, respectively. The smallest indices of precipitation are
observed in the months from October to December, with values ranging between 19-35 mm
monthly.

Figure 7: Historical average rainfall in the area of the sanitary landfill (1961-1990).

Figure 8 shows the potential evapotranspiration obtained by the methods of Thornthwaite and
Hargreaves & Samani. According to the first method, the larger evapotranspiration occurs
between the months of November and March. Yet the evapotranspiration values obtained by the
second method indicate that the highest evapotranspiration occurs between the months of October
and January.
 Vol. 21 [2016], Bund. 08 2908

Figure 8: Evapotranspiration in the sanitary landfill region.

In Figures 9 and 10, there is a water shortage in the months of August to February, since the
evapotranspiration exceeds the precipitation in this time interval.

Figure 9: Water Behavior in the landfill region (PE – Thornthwaite).

 Vol. 21 [2016], Bund. 08 2909

Figure 10: Water Behavior in the landfill region (PE – Hargreaves & Samani).

From the calculation of evapotranspiration, it was calculated the amount of leachate by the
Water Balance method and the Rational method. The Tables 4, 5 and 6 present the coefficients
and procedures that were used to estimate the generation of leachate, by the Water Balance,
Rational and Swiss methods.

Table 4: Parameters for estimating the leachate by the Water Balance method
Parameters Retrieve mode
Rainfall (R) Pluviometric Bulletins, Climatological Normal Precipitation (1961-1990).
Potential Evaporation (PE) Datum obtained through electronic spreadsheet (BHídrico).
The C’ runoff coefficient is obtained depending on the soil type and slope, in this
Surface Runoff (SR)
work were used 0.18 and 0.17 for dry and wet months, respectively, with inclination
SR=C’XR
of 0-7%, taking into account clayey soil.
Infiltration (I) Obtained by subtracting the Rainfall by Surface Runoff.
I – PE Difference between the infiltrating and the evaporating water.
∑ ( NEG ( I-PE)) This parameter is obtained by adding the negative values of (I-PE).
It is the parameter most difficult to obtain; it is calculated by the product of soil
Water storage in the coverage
thickness, in the case of this research, 0.6 m, and water availability, 200mm/m,
soil (WS)
which is a function of the type of soil.
Variation in the water storage in Given by the difference between the water stored in the soil, from one month to the
the soil (ΔWS) other (WSn - WSn-1).
When (I – PE)> 0 then RE = PE
Real Evaporation (RE)
When (I – PE)<0 then RE = [PE + (I-PE) - ΔWS].
Percolation in mm (PER) PER = R – SR – WS – RE
Monthly flow in m³/s day (QM) QM =((PERx37429)/2,592,00)*3.6*24
 Vol. 21 [2016], Bund. 08 2910

Table 5: Parameters for estimating the leachate by the Rational method.

Parameters Retrieve mode
Pluviometric Bulletins, Climatological Normal Precipitation (1961-
Rainfall (R)
1990).
Potential Evaporation (PE) Datum obtained through electronic spreadsheet (BHídrico).
Area of contribution of the landfill (A) A=16260.75m²
Number of seconds in one month (t) t=2592000s
C=0.4 considering landfill with bare soil cover, slope between 0 and 5%
Surface Runoff Coefficient (C)
and soil texture of an Argillaceous Silt.

Surface Runoff (SR) SR=RXC Obtained by multiplying the rainfall by the surface runoff coefficient.
Monthly flow in m³/s day (QM) QM ={ [ ( R-SE-PE ) x A ] / t } x 86.4

Table 6: Parameters for estimating the leachate by the Swiss method.

Parameters Retrieve mode
Pluviometric Bulletins, Climatological Normal Precipitation (1961-
Rainfall (R)
1990).

Degree of compaction (K) It was used K = 0.25, considering landfill from weak to strongly
compressed.
Area of contribution of the landfill (A) A=16260.75m²
Number of seconds in one month (t) t=2592000s
Monthly flow in m³/s day (QM) QM = [ (R x A x K) / t ] x 86.4

PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF RESULTS

Calculation of the leachate by the Water Balance Method
Figure 11 shows the climatic water balance using the Thornthwaite method. It is observed
that the period called dry in the municipality of Lajes/RN begins in October and lasts until
January. This makes it possible to identify at least four months with water deficit (dry months),
where there will be no generation of leachate, and five months with water surplus, where there
will be generation, which runs from March to July. However, it can be said that the proposed by
Thornthwaite and Mather (1955) [9] presents more sensitively the changes in the heat and water
regime, since it considers not only the entrances and exits of water in the system, but also that
stored in the soil profile and that can be used in the various processes occurring in the soil-
atmosphere interface. Importantly, right after the end of the rainy season, the water stored in the
soil will be used for a certain period called withdrawal, only occurring water deficit after a
reduction of soil water. Similarly, after the period with no rain, the first rains will serve to replace
that water withdrawn from the soil and only after reaching the maximum capacity to retain water
begin to occur the water surpluses. The water balance obtained by Hargreaves & Samani (1985)
[11]
showed behavior similar to the Thorthwaite method (1948) [10].
 Vol. 21 [2016], Bund. 08 2911

Figure 11: Climatological Water Balance.

Figures 12 and 13 show the estimated flow of leachate, considering the evapotranspiration
obtained by Thornthwaite (1948) [10] and Hargreaves & Samani (1985) [11]. It is observed that the
generation of leachate, estimated by the two methods, occurs only for the months where there was
water surplus (March to July), that is, when precipitation exceeds evapotranspiration.

Figure 12: Leachate production by the Water Balance method (PE Thornthwaite).
 Vol. 21 [2016], Bund. 08 2912

Figure 13: Leachate production by the water balance method

(PE Hargreaves & Samani).

Figure 14 compares the values of leachate generated from the evapotranspiration estimated
by Thornthwaite and Hargreaves & Samani, taking into account only the months from March to
July, where there was production of leachate. It is observed that in this period, to the extreme
months, the Thornthwaite method showed higher production of leachate in relation to the method
of Hargreaves & Samani (47.3% - March and 39.6% - July) and for other months the method of
Hargreaves & Samani showed higher production than the Thornthwaite method (2.35% - April,
10.79% - May and 22.06% - June). It is further observed that for the month of highest rainfall
there was the least difference between the methods.

Figure 14: Comparison of leachate generated by the Water Balance method (PE
Thornthwaite versus Hargreaves & Samani).

Figure 15 shows the graphs of the leachate/precipitation ratio versus time for both Water
Balance methods: Thornthwaite and Hargreaves & Samani. It is observed that for the first
method, the ratio reached highest value in July, indicating that 26% of the precipitation generated
leachate. For the second method, 29% of the precipitation produced leachate, in June. On
average, 21% of the precipitation that falls on the landfill of the Municipality of Lajes/RN
generate leachate. The lowest leachate/precipitation ratio occurred in March.
 Vol. 21 [2016], Bund. 08 2913

Figure 15: Graphic of the leachate/precipitation ratio versus time.

Calculation of the leachate by the Rational Method

Figure 16 shows the amount of leachate estimated by the Rational method, considering the
evapotranspiration obtained by Thornthwaite (1948) [10] and Hargreaves & Samani (1985) [11]. It is
verified, as observed for the Water Balance method, that there was only the production of
leachate in the months with rainfall surplus, ie from March to July. It is further noted that to the
extreme months, the Thornthwaite method showed higher production of leachate in relation to the
Hargreaves & Samani method, and for other months the amount of leachate estimated by
Hargreaves & Samani was higher than that obtained by Thornthwaite.

Figure 16: Comparison of leachate generated by the rational method

(PE Thornthwaite versus Hargreaves & Samani).

Figure 17 shows the graphs of the leachate/precipitation ratio versus time, obtained by the
Rational method from the evapotranspiration estimated by the methodologies: Thornthwaite and
Hargreaves & Samani. As observed for the Water Balance method, it is noted that the ratio of
highest value obtained by Thornthwaite occurred in July, 12% of the rainfall generated leachate.
And the result obtained by Hargreaves & Samani indicates that 13% of the precipitation produced
leachate, in June. On average, 9% of the precipitation that falls on the landfill of the Municipality
of Lajes/RN generate leachate.
 Vol. 21 [2016], Bund. 08 2914

Figure 17: Graphic of the leachate/precipitation ratio versus time.

Calculation of the leachate by the Swiss Method

Figure 18 shows the amount of leachate obtained by the Swiss method. It is observed that
leachate generation occurred throughout the year, with higher values in the months of water
surplus, which runs from March to July. This fact is because the method only correlates rainfall
with landfill coverage area and degree of waste compaction, not taking into account
evapotranspiration values, which is greater than the rainfall in other months.

Figure 18: Leachate production by the Swiss method over one year

Correlating the precipitation with the estimated quantity of leachate, it is observed that the
leachate production increases linearly with precipitation and can be represented by the equation
QM=7.37R+0.024, (QM - m³/day; R - mm), as shown in Figure 19.
 Vol. 21 [2016], Bund. 08 2915

Figure 19: Flow variation in relation to rainfall.

Comparison between the Water Balance, Rational and

Swiss Methods
The graphics shown in Figure 20 show a comparison of production of leachate between the
three empirical methods used. It is observed that the Swiss method generates leachate in every
month of the year, while for the Water Balance and Rational methods, this occurs only for the
months from March to July, ie months of water surplus. It is further verified that the water
balance method generates larger amount of leachate than the other methods, this can be explained
by the high percentage of infiltration that is considered (approximately 83% in this case) by the
method, not taking into consideration the rate of compaction of the soil mass and of the waste to
obtain a more consistent value.

Figure 20: Comparison of the estimated flow between the studied methods
 Vol. 21 [2016], Bund. 08 2916

CONCLUSIONS
Several authors used numerous models, whether empirical or mathematical, to obtain the
forecast of leachate to be generated in sanitary landfills. In this work, only empirical models
widely used in Brazil have been tested to obtain these data, as follows: Water Balance, Swiss and
Rational Methods. Nonetheless, from the results obtained, it is concluded that:
• For the historical series of 29 years (1961-1990), the Water Balance and Rational
methods only generated leachate for months where water surplus occurs, i.e., when
precipitation exceeds evapotranspiration. Since the potential evapotranspiration, which
directly influences the quantity of leachate generated in these two methods, was above
rainfall in other months (August to February);
• In the Swiss method, leachate production was observed over the entire year. Because,
according to Gomes (2005) [12], Barros (2004) [13] and Lins (2003) [6], this method will
always indicate generation of leachate, even during times of water deficit, since it does
not consider in its calculation negative parameters such as evapotranspiration and surface
runoff, only correlating precipitation with landfill coverage area. A fact that occurs in
practice;
• For the considered meteorological data, the amount of leachate estimated by the Swiss
method for the sanitary landfill of the municipality of Lajes/RN showed linear correlation
with the rainfall in the region, expressed by the equation: QM = 7.379R+0.024, (QM -
m3/day; R - mm);
• Comparing the generation of leachate from the evapotranspiration data obtained by
Thornthwaite and Hargreaves & Samani, it is observed that: for the extreme months
(March and July), the Thornthwaite method showed higher production of leachate in
relation to the method of Hargreaves & Samani, and for the other months (April, March
and June) the behavior was reversed;
• For the Water Balance method, on average 21% of the precipitation that falls in the
sanitary landfill area of the municipality of Lajes/RN generates leachate, while for the
Rational method this figure is 13%.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank the Federal University of Ceará – UFC, the Federal
University of Roraima – UFRR for the support received by this development research and the
National Council for the Improvement of Higher Education – CAPES/Brazil, for the financial
support to publish this paper.

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[2] ROCCA, A. C. C. “Drenagem sub-superficial em aterros sanitários”. Revista de
Limpeza Pública. São Paulo, Vol.8, No.19, pp16-27.
Vol. 21 [2016], Bund. 08 2917

[3] Martins Junior, D. “Avaliação de um modelo de simulação de lâmina e vazão máxima

de escoamento superficial”. Dissertação de Mestrado. Universidade Federal de
Viçosa, 1997.153p
[4] Pruski, F. F. “Análises de precipitação extremas e de escoamento superficial para
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Federal de Viçosa. 1990. 163 p.
[5] Bendz, D., Akesson, M. & Singh, V. P. (1997) “Accumulation of Water and
Generation of Leachate in a Young Landfill”. Journal of Hidrology, (203), 10.
[6] Lins, E. A. M. A. (2003) “Utilização da capacidade de campo na estimativa do
percolado gerado no Aterro da Muribeca”. Dissertação de Mestrado. Programa de
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