ASTM International

Standard Practices for Electrical Methods for Locating Leaks in Geomembranes Covered with Water or Earthen Materials
 N D7007

Annotation

These practices cover standard procedures for using electrical methods to locate leaks in geomembranes covered with water or earthen materials. For clarity, this practice uses the term “leak” to mean holes, punctures, tears, knife cuts, seam defects, cracks, and similar breaches in an installed geomembrane (as defined in 3.2.5).

These practices are intended to ensure that leak location surveys are performed with demonstrated leak detection capability. To allow further innovations, and because various leak location practitioners use a wide variety of procedures and equipment to perform these surveys, performance-based operations are used that specify the minimum leak detection performance for the equipment and procedures.

These practices require that the leak location equipment, procedures, and survey parameters used are demonstrated to result in an established minimum leak detection distance. The survey shall then be conducted using the demonstrated equipment, procedures, and survey parameters.

Separate procedures are given for leak location surveys for geomembranes covered with water and for geomembranes covered with earthen materials. Separate procedures are given for leak detection distance tests using actual and artificial leaks.

Examples of methods of data analysis for soil-covered surveys are provided as guidance in Appendix X1.

Leak location surveys can be used on geomembranes installed in basins, ponds, tanks, ore and waste pads, landfill cells, landfill caps, and other containment facilities. The procedures are applicable for geomembranes made of materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl chloride, chlorosulfonated polyethylene, bituminous material, and other electrically-insulating materials.