STUDY OF GROUND WATER CONTAMINATION DUE TO LANDFILLS IN DELHI

Abstract

The Solid waste is unwanted & discarded solid fractions, arising from domestic, industrial, commercial, institutional, and agricultural & horticultural purposes, mainly due to human activities. With fast urban growth and increasing standard of living the waste collection has steeply increased in Delhi from 5711 TPD in 2004 to 7400 TPD in 2011 and is projected to increase to 12446 TPD in 2021 mainly due to ever increasing population . Leachate which is a result of Solid waste deposition is the one factor that has endangered the human health and environment. It is an established fact that leachate contaminates the ground water which is a major source of drinking water, with varying degree of toxicity. Some contaminants may be Carcinogenic, Mutagenic or Teratogenic. Contaminants like Metals, Alcohals, Synthetic organic compounds (SOCs), Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOC's) adversely affects the human health. Groundwater contamination is resulting in outbreak of several diseases like Gaestro-intestinal problems, diarrhea, stomach ache, vomiting, skin infection, eye irritation and hair loss etc During the present study it has been found that Leachate Characteristics vary from place to place and time to time. The concentration of Chlorides, Nitrates, Fluorides, Iron, Cadmium, Lead, Copper & Zinc are found to be above the permissible standards for drinking. Underground water samples near the Landfill sites at Okhla, Ghazipur and Bhalaswa have been checked and found to be unfit for drinking purposes. Municipal Authorities have addressed the problem of Ground water contamination due to Leachate. An Engineered sanitary landfill site has recently been developed and made operational at Narela-Bawana. To address the problem of land scarcity for landfilling purpose efforts are being made to reduce the quantity of waste to be landfilled, Power Plants are being set up to generate green energy using Refused Derived Fuel and are expected to be operational in 2012. Compost Plants have been set up at all the three present Landfills. A 500TPD C&D Waste processing facility has been set up at Burari. This study focuses on Leachate characteristics & effects of the Leachate generating from the existing SLF’s on Ground water and to explore the remedial measures to this problem. The study also highlights the present status of Solid Waste Management in Delhi.