The waste produced by the increasing number of visitors at the Mogao Grottoes has become a new problem for the maintenance of this World Cultural Heritage site. Fortunately, the garbage cans in the tourist areas were selected in 2007 precisely to measure waste composition for the purpose of designing more efficient sanitary systems. Based on the waste collection data of the past 10 years from the Dunhuang Academy, a prediction model has been found predicting future waste levels with respect to visitor number. The area of this site is suitable for a semi-aerobic landfill with evapotranspiration( ET) cover due to rare rainfall and very strong evaporation. Based on the principle of ET cover, a primary design plan for a capillary cover has been proposed as well. Compaction tests indicate that the local Dengban soil(a kind of silted soil) has a maximum dry density of 1.885 g/cm~3 and anoptimum water content of 12.2%. In addition, unsaturated permeability tests havebeen conducted to establish a correlation between water content and unsaturated permeability withinthe suctionwater conservancy head. These research results are useful for designing the base of the proposed sanitary landfill at the Mogao Grottoes.
