Developing a Visual Monitoring Form

Visual monitoring is an internal quality control measure to detect problems or potential problems at the facility that might be detrimental to the design, impact operations, result in a permit or regulatory violation, or impact human health or the environment. Documented monthly visual monitoring is required for the active life and post-closure period of a facility [18 AAC 60.396, 18 AAC 60.397, 18 AAC 60.490, & 18 AAC 60.800]. In addition, the permit application for most landfills requires that the visual monitoring plan must include the checklist or form that will be used for visual monitoring.

A visual monitoring form must be site specific and should include certain items in the regulation and permit with a place to note compliance, to make comments, and to note that any issues were resolved. The simpler and more direct the form, the easier it is to produce useful results with varying inspectors.

The monitoring form is usually organized either by the item or issue to address with each separate location identified, as shown in Example 1, or it can be organized by location, with a list of each item to be addressed at that location, as shown in Example 2. The tables show only a portion of a monitoring form. An actual form would include each applicable requirement for each section of the landfill. Each item should be phrased so it is easily understood by the individual performing the visual inspection.

While the regulation for visual monitoring appears limited in scope, it requires detecting and documenting “violations of permit conditions or requirements of this chapter…”. To address this, while you do not need to address the entirety of 18 AAC 60, you should include any issues that have been noted in previous inspections, as well as areas that are more likely to become issues.

Draft Form

We recommend addressing at least the items in our example Visual Monitoring Form for each area of the landfill, where applicable.

Example 1: Portion of a Visual Monitoring Form Organized by Item or Issue

Item	Yes/No	Comments	Issue Resolved
Damage from settlement ponding, leakage, thermal instability, frost action, erosion, thawing, or operations.
Cell 1
Cell 2
Roads
Public disposal area, etc.

Example 2: Portion of a Visual Monitoring Form Organized by Location

Cell 1: Item	Yes/No	Comments	Issue Resolved
1. Settlement, ponding, erosion, thawing, instability, etc. causing damage
2. Monitoring devices damaged, tampered with, unlabeled, or unlocked
3. Ponding in or on the cell
4. Waste in surface water or in stormwater system
5. Evidence of fire/combustion in the waste, etc.