n March 1996 outside of Cincinnati, OH, the worst landslide in solid waste industry history occurred,

resulting in a mass movement of more than 1 million cubic yards, a distance greater than 300 yards.
Similarly, disastrous slides have occurred around the world: Hiriya, Israel, in the winter of 1997; the
Payatas landfill in the Philippines (resulting in 250 deaths); the USA landfill in 2011; the Chirin and Big
Run landfills in Kentucky, both in 2013…and dozens, if not hundreds, of small slope movements and
sliding cover displacements that occur each year. There are many causes for these landfill slope failures
(over building of waste slopes, freeze/thaw conditions, weakened foundations, poorly installed
geosynthetics, and so on), but in almost every case, running water and the erosion it causes played a
part.

Soil erosion has special consequences for landfills that are far more serious than those found at
conventional construction sites. There are many factors that make landfills unique, including the waste
itself, the protracted nature of landfill activities, subsidence of the waste over time, and their post-
closure care requirements. Given the disastrous consequences of a major waste slope failure, a landfill
operator has to be wary of any structural weaknesses that could lead to instability.