 Completed
in 1975, the Mountain Gate Country Club is recognized as one of the most
successful landfill golf courses in the United States. What was once a Los
Angeles County solid waste landfill is now an upscale, private country club surrounded by
million dollar homes with exquisite views of golf holes meandering through
the canyons below.
The 27-hole golf course was constructed over
solid waste deposited in 8 canyons to depths in excess of 200 feet. Over the
years, waste has decomposed resulting in settlement of the land surface.
Mountain Gate maintenance personnel report settlement has exceeded 70 feet in
some areas, necessitating the repair of irrigation and drainage systems and the
re-grading of golf course features. Although a nuisance, some club members
appreciate the continuous changes of golf course features as an added challenge
to their game.
 Mountain
Gate has an elaborate landfill gas collection and gas-to-energy plant that makes
use of gas produced as the waste decomposes. The Mountain Gate system
processes 4 million cubic feet of methane gas per day from a 125-well collection
system. The gas is
transported to nearby UCLA through a 4.5 mile pipeline and is used in the
university's central steam boiler. It is estimated that energy costs at
the UCLA campus have been lowered by $250,000 annually through the use of
landfill gas.
The facility at Mountain Gate operates
a second gas control system to prevent the migration of gas into adjacent
residential areas. The gas migration control system consists of 125
control wells, 230 monitoring probes, 7 miles of pipeline and 2 flares.
The creation of an up-scale golf and
country club from a solid waste landfill has proven to be an effective use of
otherwise useless land in close proximity to the city of Los Angeles where land
costs are at a premium. 
|