Ouch!
Realizing of course that depending on the size, post closure is going to be between 50 to 75 years, and I would assume that the landfill has been in operation for about 25 years? Yes? No?
The concern is not going to be migration into the river per se, unless the lanfill is located on a large hill upgradient from the landfill, but the location of the groundwater relative to the floor of the landfill. It will be a determination of how long until the leachate comes into contact with the groundwater and the "flow" characteristics of the groundwater. With a river in the proximity, I would conclude that there would be significant stratified layering of a soils characteristic with fluvial depositing within the zone of influence of the lanfill. If this is the case, there may be groundwater migration over time, if it has not occured yet, of the leachate plume to the river or other users (say domestic water wells).
The task will be to dermine whether this condition exists and what is the flow in the groundwater. The State may then determine or order what they deem as appropriate post closure.
Up here liners, including clay liners, require a permeability of less than 1 x 10-8 m/s immediately
beneath all waste disposed at or below the original grade, and is less than 1 x 10-8 m/s to a depth of at least 5 metres beneath the clayey deposit.
Be prepared to have to look into a leachate collection system and extensive monitoring. Hope this helps.
KRS Services