Graphical approaches for locating monitoring wells near landfills in aquifers dominated by intergranular porosity were evaluated. Both perpendicular groundwater monitoring networks (wells constrained to a monitoring locus perpendicular to flow) and equidistant networks (wells located the same distance along flow paths) were considered, along with several setbacks between wells and a landfill and different flow fields. For an orthogonal landfill oblique to groundwater flow, equidistant networks generally outperformed their perpendicular counterparts. Equidistant monitoring networks with well locations compressed 10--20% closer to the downgradient corner of a landfill outperformed other networks over a wide range of setbacks. However, compression reduced the detection efficiency of an equidistant network at a field setting with divergent flow, a nonlinear buffer zone boundary, and discharge zones near the sides of a landfill. Graphical approaches described in this paper identify effective monitoring networks that can be refined to site-specific conditions.