Detecting Leaks from Waste Storage Ponds using Electrical Tomographic Methods

Methods for detecting and locating leaks in lined waste disposal ponds have been established based on injecting electrical current through the liner into the surrounding soil and then, with the aid of an under-liner array of electrodes, mapping electrical potential. High potential gradients then reveal likely location of leak spots within the liner. The approach is very expensive and is clearly not applicable in existing sites, where retrofitting is not an option. A tomographic variant of this electrical leak location method has been developed whereby electrical potentials are collected around the perimeter of the site and then with suitable data processing the locations of a leak within the pond is computed. Applications on a controlled laboratory scaled model and a field scale test site have shown promising results.