Ammonium Concentration and Migration in Groundwater in the Vicinity of Waste Management Site Located in the Neighborhood of Protected Areas of Warsaw, Poland

The purpose of the present paper is to assess groundwater contamination by ammonium originating from the waste management site (including composting plant and the landfill) located in the vicinity of protected areas. In this paper, the impact of urban and industrial facilities adjacent to the landfill is also investigated. The analysis of ammonium concentration was carried out for selected piezometers and then the monitoring and laboratory tests results were referred to the Polish standards of groundwater quality. The content of the paper discusses the changes of ammonium concentration in time and space and presents potential reasons for these changes, especially resulting from the construction of the vertical bentonite barrier. The results show the significant decrease of ammonium concentration and progressive improvement of water quality observed in almost every piezometer after a few years since the vertical barrier has been installed. Furthermore, the paper provides statistical analyses of groundwater monitoring data from the period 1998–2015 in order to control the groundwater quality and assess the movement of contamination plume in the landfill area.