CHARACTERIZATION OF LEACHATE OF BHALASWA LANDFILL AND ITS IMPACT ON THE GROUNDWATER QUALITY

Abstract

Water is essential for living and is used for drinking, irrigation and other purposes. Groundwater, in general terms, is defined as water that is present beneath the underlying rocks in the earth’s surface. When an unwanted contaminant changes the physical, biological and chemical properties of water, it is known as water pollution. A Landfill is the most common waste disposal practices used in many parts of the world. It is the cheapest of all waste management practices. The landfill in the present study is situated in the capital of India, New Delhi and known as Bhalaswa landfill. The Bhalaswa landfill is one of the working landfill in the capital of India; New Delhi. The other two working landfills in New Delhi are Okhla and Ghazipur. The aim of this project is to characterize the landfill leachate and assess the groundwater quality near the vicinity of landfill to find out the impact of landfill leachate on groundwater. The samples were taken for both groundwater and the leachate to evaluate physico-chemical properties along with heavy metal assessment. The samples for leachate was collected from the outlet near the landfill site while the groundwater samples were collected from the handpumps installed in the shops, houses, temples etc in the colonies near the landfill site. All the analysis was done in the water laboratory with all the precision and methodology as prescribed in Standards Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, 17th edition, APHA. The study has shown that most of the parameters found in the groundwater exceeded the permissible limits as prescribed by the Bureau of Indian Standards for drinking purposes. The water assessed was unfit for drinking, irrigation or any other purposes. Apart from the physical and chemical properties, the concentration of heavy metals was unbelievably high. The comparison of standards with both leachate and groundwater parameters is done and is represented graphically in form of bar charts and line charts respectively. The extent of pollution is analyzed along the radial distances by dividing the samples according to their distance from the landfill, the three categories were defined and the results shows that as we move towards the landfill, the water quality is degraded accordingly. The irrigation suitability for the water is also done by categorizing the water according to different theories of past along with the graphical representation through piper diagram. The overall quality of the water has shown the degraded results. Hence, the groundwater near the Bhalaswa landfill is highly polluted, non portable and is even unsuitable for irrigation purposes.