Assessment of Contamination Potential of Leachate from Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Sites for Metropolitan Cities in India

With increased population, rapid industrialization and life style changes, the characteristics and the rates of solid waste generation have gone under drastic change in India. Generally, in India, management of solid waste landfill is of major concern with respect to the existing circumstances. The illegal dumping of municipal solid waste on the outskirts of cities is creating major environmental and public health problems. Improper and unscientific waste management results in potential threats from leachate leakage with subsequent impact on environment (i.e. soil, air and waterbodies) and human being. It is therefore, important to evaluate the contamination potential threat of landfill leachate. This study assesses the potential contamination from the landfill leachate by an index called leachate pollution index (LPI) and suggestions are given the landfill sites of five major cities i.e. Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Navi Mumbai & Kolkata in India. The landfill leachate samples from these sites have been assessed using leachate pollution index for the implementation of appropriate leachate treatment techniques for reducing the adverse effects on the environment. The results show that the Pallikkaranai landfill site for Chennai city and Mavallipura landfill site for Bangalore city are highly deteriorating and may lead to increase in human health risk for nearby dwellings.