Skip to main content
Log in

Assessment of pollution potential of leachate from the municipal solid waste disposal site and its impact on groundwater quality, Varanasi environs, India

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Arabian Journal of Geosciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Open dumping of municipal solid waste is prone to groundwater contamination because of leachate production. In this paper, an attempt has been made to assess the pollution potential of leachate generated from the solid waste disposal site and its impact on aquifers in the Varanasi environs, Uttar Pradesh, India. Physico-chemical parameters of leachate and groundwater samples were determined to evaluate leachate pollution index (LPI) as well as water quality index (WQI). The leachate pollution index indicates that the leachate generated from the landfill site is moderately contaminated. The pH (7.5) of the leachate indicates that the Varanasi solid waste dumping shows mature stage of landfill site. WQI indicate that 61, 23, 9, and 4 % of the groundwater is good, poor, unsuitable for drinking purpose, and very poor water, respectively. The principal component analysis identified four major components (cumulative variance is 80.4 %), in which maximum percent of variance (36 %) was observed in the first component that suggests the natural and anthropogenic influences. Hierarchical cluster analysis depicts three types of clusters such as Ca-HCO3, Na-Mg-HCO3, and Na-HCO3 type of water in the study area. Due to the impact of leachate on the groundwater resources, it is suggested to develop an engineered landfill site to control the leachate percolation into the groundwater.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abbas AA, Jingsong G, Ping LZ, Ya PY, Al- Rekabi WS (2009) Review on landfill leachate treatments. Am J Appl Sci 6(4):672–684. doi:10.3844/ajassp.2009.672.684

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Akinbile CO, Yusoff MS, Shian LM (2012) Leachate characterization and phytoremediation using water hyacinth (Eichorrnia crassipes) in Pulau Burung, Malaysia. Biorem J 16(1):9–18. doi:10.1080/10889868.2011.628350

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • APHA (2005) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 25th edn. American Public Health Association, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • BIS 10500 (2003) Indian standard: drinking water. Specification (first revision), amendment No 2, New Delhi

  • CERG (2011) Chintan environmental research and group. http://www.chintan-india.org/documents/research_and_reports/chintan-report-failing-the-grade.pdf

  • Chian ESK, De Walle FB (1976) Sanitary landfill leachate and their treatment. J Environ Eng Div 102(2):411–431

    Google Scholar 

  • Christensen TH, Kjeldsen P, Bjerg PL, Jensen DL, Christensen JB, Baun A, Albrechtsen HJ, Heron G (2001) Biogeochemistry of landfill leachate plumes. Appl Geochem 16:659–718. doi:10.1016/S0883-2927(00)00082-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cloutier V, Lefebvre R, Therrien R, Savard MM (2008) Multivariate statistical analysis of geochemical data as indicative of the hydrogeochemical evolution of groundwater in a sedimentary rock aquifer system. J Hydrol 353(3–4):294–313. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2008.02.015

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Craig E, Anderson MP (1979) The effects of urbanization of ground water quality: a case study of ground water ecosystems. Environ Conserv 30(2):104–130

    Google Scholar 

  • Cumar SK, Nagaraja B (2011) Environemntal impact of leachate characteristic on water quality. Environ Monit Assess 178(1–4):499–505. doi:10.1007/s10661-010-1708-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dhere AM, Pawar CB, Pardeshi PB, Patil DA (2008) Municipal solid waste disposal in Pune City—an analysis of air and groundwater pollution. Curr Sci 95(6)

  • Dıaz RV, Aldape J, Flores M (2002) Identification of airborne particulate sources, of samples collected in Ticomán, Mexico, using PIXE and multivariate analysis. Nucl Instrum Methods Phys Res B Beam Interact Mater Atoms 189:249–253. doi:10.1016/S0168-583X(01)01073-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fournier RO, Potter RW (1998) A revised and expanded silica (quartz) geothermometer. Geotherm Res Council Bull II:3–9

  • Gűler C, Thyne GD, McCray JE, Turner AK (2002) Evaluation of graphical and multivariate statistical methods for classification of water chemistry data. Hydrogeol J 10:455–474. doi:10.1007/s10040-002-0196-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harmsen J (1983) Identification of organic compounds in leachate from a waste tip. Water Res 17(6):699–705. doi:10.1016/0043-1354(83)90239-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones DL, Williamson KL, Owen AG (2006) Phytoremediation of landfill leachate. Waste Manage 26(8):825–837. doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2005.06.014

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jorstad LB, Jankowski J, Acworth RI (2004) Analysis of the distribution of inorganic constituents in a landfill leachate contaminated aquifers Astrolabe Park, Sydney, Australia. Environ Geol 46:263–272. doi:10.1007/s00254-004-0978-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kale SS, Kadam AK, Kumar S, Pawar NJ (2010) Evaluating pollution potential of leachate from landfill site, from the Pune metropolitan city and its impact on shallow basaltic aquifers. Environ Monit Assess 162(1–4):327–346. doi:10.1007/s10661-009-0799-7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kulikowska D, Klimiuk E (2008) The effect of landfill age on municipal leachate composition. Bioresour Technol 99(13):5981–5985

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumar D, Alappat BJ (2005) Evaluating leachate contamination potential of landfill sites using leachate pollution index. Clean Techn Environ Policy 7:190–197. doi:10.1007/s10098-004-0269-4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Longe EO, Balogun MR (2010) Ground water quality assessment near a municipal landfill, Lagos, Nigeria. Res J Appl Sci Eng Technol 2(1):39–44

    Google Scholar 

  • Loska K, Wiechuya D (2003) Application of principle component analysis for the estimation of source of heavy metal contamination in surface sediments from the Rybnik Reservoir. Chemosphere 51(8):723–733

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manikandan S, Chidambaram S, Ramanathan AL, Prasanna MV, Karmegam U, Singaraja C, Paramaguru P, Jainab I (2014) A study on the high fluoride concentration in the magnesium-rich waters of hard rock aquifer in Krishnagiri district, Tamilnadu, India. Arab J Geosci 7:273–285. doi:10.1007/s12517-012-0752-x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Massart DL, Kaufman L (1983) The interpretation of analytical chemical data by the use of cluster analysis. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Mor S, Ravindra K, Visscher AD, Dahiya RP, Chandra A (2006) Municipal solid waste characterization and its assessment for potential methane generation: a case study. Sci Total Environ 371(1–3):1–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Naqa AE (2004) Aquifer vulnerability assessment using the DRASTIC model at Russeifa landfill, northeast Jordan. Environ Geol 47:51–62. doi:10.1007/s00254-004-1126-9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ogundiran OO, Afolabi TA (2008) Assessment of the physicochemical parameters and heavy metal toxicity of leachates from municipal solid waste open dumpsite. Int J Environ Sci Technol 5(2):243–250

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ohri A, Singh PK (2010) GIS based secondary storage and transportation system planning for municipal solid waste. Int J Civil Eng Technol 1(5):108–130

    Google Scholar 

  • Prasanna MV, Chidambaram S, Kumar GS, Ramanathan AL, Nainwal HC (2011) Hydrogeochemical assessment of groundwater in Neyveli Basin, Cuddalore District, South India. Arab J Geosci 4:319–330. doi:10.1007/s12517-010-0191-5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raju NJ (2006) Seasonal evaluation of hydrogeochemical parameters using correlation and regression analysis. Curr Sci 91:820–826

    Google Scholar 

  • Raju NJ (2012) Evaluation of hydrogeochemical processes in the Pleistocene aquifers of Middle Ganga Plain, Uttar Pradesh, India. Environ Earth Sci 65:1291–1308. doi:10.1007/s12665-011-1377-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raju NJ, Reddy TVK (2007) Environmental and urbanization affect on groundwater resources in a pilgrim town of Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, South India. J Appl Geochem 9:212–223

    Google Scholar 

  • Raju NJ, Shukla UK, Ram P (2011) Hydrogeochemistry for the assessment of groundwater quality in Varanasi: a fast-urbanizing center in Uttar Pradesh, India. Environ Monit Assess 173(1–4):279–300. doi:10.1007/s10661-010-1387-6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raman N, Narayanan SD (2008) Impact of solid waste effect on ground water and soil quality nearer to pallavaram solid waste landfill site in Chennai. Rasayan J Chem 1(4):828–836

    Google Scholar 

  • Ranjan RK, Ramanathan AL, Parthasarathy P, Kumar A (2013) Hydrochemical characteristics of groundwater in the plains of Phalgu River in Gaya, Bihar, India. Arab J Geosci 6:3257–3267. doi:10.1007/s12517-012-0599-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saleh M, Muzaini A (2009) A comparative study of the characterization of landfill leachate at the dumping sites in Kuwait. J Food Agric Environ 7(3&4):679–683

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharholy M (2007) Solid waste management and its impact on the ground water system in parts of Delhi. Dissertation, Jamia Millia Islamia (A Central University)

  • Shukla UK, Raju NJ (2008) Migration of the Ganga River and its implication on hydro-geological potential of Varanasi area, UP, India. J Earth Syst Sci 117(4):489–498

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh KP, Malika A, Mohan D, Sinha S (2004) Multivariate statistical techniques for the evaluation of spatial and temporal variations in water quality of Gomti River (India)—a case study. Water Res 38(18):3980–3992

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Singh S, Raju NJ, Nazneen S (2015a) Environmental risk of heavy metal pollution and contamination sources using multivariate analysis in the soils of Varanasi environs, India. Environ Monit Assess 187. doi:10.1007/s10661-015-4577-4

  • Singh S, Raju NJ, Ramakrishna C (2015b) Evaluation of groundwater quality and its suitability for domestic and irrigation use in parts of the Chandauli-Varanasi region, Uttar Pradesh, India. J Water Resour Prot 7:482–497

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Słomczyńska B, Słomczyński T (2004) Physicochemical and toxicological characteristics of leachates from MSW landfills. Pol J Environ Stud 13(6):627–637

    Google Scholar 

  • Srinivasamoorthy K, Chidambaram M, Prasanna MV, Vasanthavigar M, John Peter A, Anandhan P (2008) Identification of major sources controlling groundwater chemistry from a hard rock terrain—a case study from Mettur taluk, Salem district, Tamilnadu, India. J Earth Syst Sci 117(1):49–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Umar M, Aziz HA, Yusoff MS (2010) Variability of parameters involved in leachate pollution index and determination of LPI from four landfills in Malaysia. Int J Chem Eng. doi:10.1155/2010/747953

    Google Scholar 

  • Vasanthavigar M, Srinivasamoorthy K, Vijayaragavan K, RajivGanthi R, Chidambaram S, Anandhan P, Manivannan R, Vasudevan S (2010) Application of water quality index for groundwater quality assessment: Thirumanimuttar sub-basin, Tamilnadu, India. Environ Monit Assess 171(1–4):595–609. doi:10.1007/s10661-009-1302-1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vega M, Pardo R, Barrado E, Deban L (1998) Assessment of seasonal and polluting effects on the quality of river water by exploratory data analysis. Water Res 32(12):3581–3592

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • VNN (2007) “Detailed project report on solid waste management for Varanasi City” Varanasi Nager Nigam

  • Wenning RJ, Erickson GA (1994) Interpretation and analysis of complex environmental data using che—mometric methods. Trends Anal Chem 13(10):446–457

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yongming H, Peixuan D, Junji C, Posmentier ES (2006) Multivariate analysis of heavy metal contamination in urban dusts of Xi’an, Central China. Sci Total Environ 355(1–3):176–186

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The first author (SS) is thankful to the University Grant Commission (UGC) New Delhi, Government of India for providing research fellowship during the doctoral research. NJR is thankful to Jawaharlal Nehru University for the UPOE II (ID 170) funds under the holistic development program.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to N. Janardhana Raju.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Singh, S., Raju, N.J., Gossel, W. et al. Assessment of pollution potential of leachate from the municipal solid waste disposal site and its impact on groundwater quality, Varanasi environs, India. Arab J Geosci 9, 131 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-015-2131-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-015-2131-x

Keywords

Navigation