Page 240 - Beyond Decommissioning

Experience and lessons learned 221

And this conversion may offer the opportunity to correct long-lasting social-
environmental discriminations.
The case of the Mabel Davis, near Austin, TX, is emblematic of some of the dif-
ficulties faced in earlier conversion projects of this kind. The park sits atop a landfill
that was closed in the 1950s. The site was converted to a park in 1979, before adequate
regulations were enforced. Shortly afterwards the covering began to erode and leach-
ate pollution started to surface. Eventually the city had to close the park in 2000 and
begin a large-scale remediation project. This included a comprehensive redesign to
bring the park up to today’s EPA standards. Today US law imposes that within
6 months after landfill closure the owner must install an approved cap to minimize
water ingress and erosion. The cap must incorporate a 45-cm clay layer and at least
15 cm of vegetated earthen material. There must also be a gas-venting layer and a layer
of stone or geo-synthetic material to keep burrowing animals away.
The law also requires that the owner maintain the integrity of this cover, monitor
groundwater contamination, and manage methane and leachate generation for
30 years. There is also a financial requirement to cover postclosure maintenance
and any cleanup should groundwater contamination occur. A review of case studies
and technical and legal challenges are given in (TPL, n.d.).
For most of the 20th century, Tel Aviv, Israel garbage went to a gigantic open-air
landfill eventually containing more than 25 million t of waste; it was locally
nicknamed Hiriya Mountain or “shit mountain.” In addition to the sight and smell,
it leached toxic runoff into two streams adjacent to the pile, so causing ecological
damage; thousands of birds were attracted to the garbage and posed safety hazards
to planes bound to nearby airports. This man-induced disaster has been recently con-
verted into the Ariel Sharon Park. The project extends over more than 800 ha of land
including ponds, recreational areas, bike and walking trails, wildlife refuges, etc.,
which makes it the largest urban park in Israel and one of the largest in the world.
In 1998, after the landfill was closed, the most urgent task was to contain the waste.
The slopes of the mountain were stabilized using concrete debris from construction
projects.
Then the pile was capped and covered, which allows to collect methane produced
by the still rotting garbage; the natural gas is then used to power a textile factory.
In 2004, there was a contest aimed to rehabilitate the area; one of the requirements
was that the design should not flatten the mountain. Instead, the mountain became the
focal point of the project, a symbol that allows the Israelis and foreign visitors to learn
from mistakes. Designed by architect Peter Latz (famous for the landscaping of Ruhr
territories in Germany, see Chapter 2), the western summit of the mountain shows a
beautiful pergola and scenic vista; actually this will be the highest vantage point of Tel
Aviv over the Mediterranean Sea (Treehugger, 2013).

6.4.3 Crawick Multiverse, UK
Crawick Multiverse is a spectacular artland, visitor attraction and events venue in
Scotland, utilizing landscape art to convert a former open cast coal mine into an out-
door enjoyable space. Crawick Multiverse is an astonishing representation of