Construction

Construction Quality Assurance (CQA) Services
BLE’s experienced engineers and technicians provide on-site observation, consultation, materials testing, and reporting to assure the constructed landfill follows specific CQA Plans and permit requirements.

Our project engineers provide direction for on-site technicians and review test results for conformance with the CQA Plan during soil stockpiling, structural fill placement, subgrade inspection, clay liner installation, geomembrane installation and leachate collection /conveyance systems installation.

BLE’s in-house laboratory communicates directly with project managers and on-site technicians, which helps to insure responsive adherence to construction schedules and milestones.

Real time field records, laboratory data, and construction progress reports are communicated with our project engineers and others on approved distribution lists. The CQA Report is compiled during the construction process so that it can be issued shortly after construction and CQA conformance surveys are completed.

Electric Leak Location
With a growing interest to reduce the potential for geomembrane liner defects for owners, state regulatory agencies, designers and contractors,

Electrical Leak Location (ELL) testing has proven to be a reliable method to assess liner integrity. BLE provides ELL specialty services as an important component to our CQA expertise.

ELL testing is an effective quality assurance tool to locate leaks in a geomembrane liner. ASTM D6747 describes the method in “Standard Guide for Selection of Techniques for Electrical Leak Location of Leaks in Geomembranes”. The principle behind these techniques is to place a voltage across an electrically insulating geomembrane and then locate areas where electrical current flows through leaks in the geomembrane. Such methods have been used successfully to locate leaks in geomembranes installed in landfill cells, basins, ponds, tanks, and other structures. This method can be performed on exposed geomembranes, on geomembranes covered with water, or on geomembranes covered with an earthen material layer.

BLE has conducted pre-service ELL integrity inspections of solid waste landfills on the primary or secondary geomembrane liners.

This is performed by applying an electrical current above or to the surface of an installed liner, while placing an electrical ground probe below or outside of the surface. A voltage meter, integrated with GPS technology, is used to observe and monitor electrical current flow. Variations in the electrical current flow indicate the potential of leak paths.

BLE has successfully performed numerous geomembrane leak location surveys for landfill cells, effluent ponds, and wastewater basins totaling over 15 million square feet.