Copan Ruinas - Solid Waste Management Assessment Update 2026

Copan Ruinas - Solid Waste Management Assessment Situation Analysis 2026

Background

Copan Rurinas had a solid waste management (SWM) site north of the town near Quebracho. It had some resistance by local land owners and a previous mayor moved the SWM site to its present location between the sewage lagoons and the Copan River around 2015. It is an environmentally hazardous site with potential leaching to the river and potential for the solid waste to be washed downstream during high flood events on the river.

The town had a SWM study undertaken by a Catalyste+ Advisor Henning Rasmussen (see Appendix),who recommended a new site south of the town. This site did not receive approval from the National government because it had potential to leach into local water supplies downstream.

At this time it is important to find a new SWM site. In the interim, the town should dyke the toe of the waste pile adjacent to the river to stabilize the landfill from encroaching further into the floodplain. Plan Trifino had recommended that the town use the breached sewage lagoon as a new site. This is not recommended because the damaged lagoon services the lower town site and it is now operating at half the design capacity which means that the discharge will be below acceptable standards into the Copan river.

Drone mapping was performed over the SWM site and cross-sections were taken showing the steep banks of the waste pile adjacent to the Copan River.

A number of drone flights were initiated as part of the Preliminary Assessment of Water Management System & Operations undertaken for Copan Ruinas. Given the precarious location of the SWM site and the active erosion of the river bank at the site, this situation analysis has been undertaken to see if drone photogrammetry and remote sensing could be used to monitor and manage the site.

Existing SWM Site Timelines - Remote Sensing

Google Earth Pro was used to evaluate the existing SWM site via remote sensing with historical satellite imagery. This also provides us with a timeline of the site development from 2002. The imagery is displayed as follows:


Initial high resolution satellite image of the waste water and solid waste site west of the urban area of Copan Ruinas in September 2002.


This image was taken in February 2007 and it shows the first 4 sewage lagoons in operation.


This image was taken in March 2015 showing the 8 completed sewage lagoons in operation and the site preparation of the solid waste site between the first two sewage lagoons and the Copan river.


This image was taken in January 2018 showing the SWM site in full operation with the expansion to the area between the four new lagoons and the Copan river.


This image was taken in December 2022 showing the breached sewage lagoon and the washout of the SWM site into the Copan river. 


This image was taken in August 2025 showing the capping of the SWM site alongside the two drained sewage lagoons. It is clear that the Copan river has directed the low flow channel into the sewage treatment and solid waste areas in the south corner of the facility. 

River Engineering Works

It is clear that river engineering works including dredging and bank stabilization needs to be undertaken if the site is to continue operation for sewage treatment and solid waste management. 

Assessment of SWM Volumetrics


Appendix 

Preliminary Evaluation of a New Sanitary Landfill Site for Municipalidad de Copan Ruinas, Extension of Assignment # 17866-HON, December 2018 by Canadian Executive Services Organization (CESO), Prepared by Henning Rasmussen, P.Eng.. VA, October, 2019.

Available under separate cover from Catalyste+

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Using Google Satellite & Open Street Maps as the Base for Copan Ruinas GIS System

Image
 Using Google Satellite & Open Street Maps as the Base for Copan Ruinas GIS System Background We are all familiar with using Google Map for location and navigation with our mobile phones. We can see our track as we drive along the roads on the map. It generally falls within the width of the road, especially if we are zoomed out. Similarly we can see where we are on the map if we are looking for a restaurant or store in town. The single band GPS/GNSS (L1) receiver in our phone gives us a location within 5 to 10 m in urban areas, normally that is enough for what we need. In addition the Google satellite image also is accurate within 2 to 15 m depending on where you are in the world. We can see that when we are using it while we are walking along a street. Sometimes if we look at the image it shows that we are on the right side of the road even though we are walking along the left. This is because of the accuracies of the GNSS receiver and the google map image registration. If we ...
Read more

GPS Surveying & Drone Mapping for Public Works and Cadaster Departments

Image
  Background Historically local governments in many countries used optical survey instruments to map their cadastre and public works projects. Many municipalities establish a baseline using a survey control benchmark in the square near their municipal offices to establish a baseline to measure their surveys from.  In the Philippines the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers originally established the geographic coordinates of these control monuments using celestial observations. These coordinates have been updated with the launching of the GPS satellites by the U.S. Department of Defence in 1978.  Since then Europe, China, Russia and others have added their own constellations of satellites to augment positional accuracy and to decrease the reliance on one nation for that service. They are referred to the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) as a whole for precise geo-spatial positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) services. They are named respectively Galileo, BeiDou, Glonas...
Read more

Solid Waste Stockpile Monitoring with Drone Photogrammetry on a Budget

Image
Solid Waste Stockpile Monitoring with Drone Photogrammetry on a Budget Background Solid waste stockpile monitoring involves the systematic, real-time, or periodic evaluation of waste piles to manage volume, ensure environmental safety, and maintain regulatory compliance. Modern monitoring techniques, such as 3D LiDAR scanners and UAV (drone) photogrammetry, have largely replaced manual, less accurate estimations, allowing for safe, continuous, and high-resolution tracking of waste quantities.  The following is a step-by-step example to show how local government with limited resources and equipment can monitor and manage their solid waste sites using low cost consumer drones like the DJI mini 4 Pro and single phase GPS/GNSS hand held receivers for ground control with Open Source applications like WebODM. Naturally better results can be achieved with higher grade equipment but I will show in this web blog that anyone can start even with limited resources.  The Basic Tools and Eq...
Read more