Solid waste leachate quality and its effects on soil properties

The solid waste generated in urban areas is increasing day by day. Many Municipalities and Corporations are facing the problem of managing large volumes of solid waste generated in their area. One of the alternatives for disposal of solid waste is filling the depressions. Leachate from sanitary landfills is recognised as one of the important ground water pollutants. The contaminants are released from the solid waste to the water through physical, chemical, and microbial process and percolate through the unsaturated soil, polluting the ground water with organic and inorganic matters. Contaminant in the percolating soil moisture may appear in water supplies obtained from either ground water or surface water. In addition to estimation of leachate quality, it is important to understand the physico-chemical behaviour and their changes in various environments. The properties of soils are modified by the presence of pollutants comes through leachate. This paper deals with the estimation of various quality parameters like turbidity, pH etc. for the leachate collected from the solid waste for without and with clay liner using two types of clay obtained from (i) IIT Chennai campus clay and (ii) Perungudi clay. Copyright © Enviromedia.