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A study was conducted in order to evaluate the effect of leachate from a landfill in the Seri Petaling. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of the landfill leachate on the groundwater reservoir and the potential uses of the groundwater at the landfill site. Various parameters measured include in-situ parameters (pH, dissolved oxygen, temperature and conductivity), inorganic macrocomponent and heavy metals. This landfill was a mature landfill whereby the pH was around 7.3 to 7.5 for well 1 and 5.7 to 6.1 for well 2. Overall, the concentrations of groundwater's pollutants in sampling well 1 were higher than sampling well 2 due to the distance from landfill site. At well 1, the concentration of the pollutants was increasing. Ammonium-nitrogen (NH3-N) concentration increased from 1.2 mg/L in August 1998 to 208 mg/L in January 1999. Nickel concentration was higher at well 1. Iron and copper concentrations in well 2 still exceed the limits of Raw Water Quality Criteria. Well 2 contains a higher concentration of sulfate, while no sulfate was detected in well 1. The experimental results indicate that the underground water quality was greatly affected by the leachate, since most of the parameters examined showed increased concentration at well 1.
The increase in waste production is correlated with economical and demographical development. While life improvement is expected, such development also leads to negative effects on the environment and economy of many countries (Chofqi et al., 2004). Solid wastes are all the wastes arising from human and animal activities that are normally solids and discarded as useless or unwanted (Tchobanoglous et al., 1993).
Mixed Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) contains hazardous substances in the form of paints, vehicle maintenance products, mercury-containing waste, pharmaceuticals, batteries and many other diffuse products (Slack et al., 2005). According to Soumare et al. (2002), the elements present as the major components in the municipal solid waste include: nitrogen, phosphorus, copper, zinc, manganese, iron, cobalt and others. It is inevitable that there will be a certain portion of heavy metals and other environmentally harmful compounds in the waste. The decomposition of organic matter in the waste may also produce potentially hazardous substances. Disposal of these wastes in the landfill creates a serious problem to the groundwater quality and the substantial resources spent in remediation suggest that landfill leachate is a significant source of groundwater pollution (Christensen et al., 2001). |
