Assessment of Soil Contamination near Unlined Municipal Solid Waste Landfill

The disposal of municipal solid waste into the landfills has been recognized as the major source of soil, surface water and groundwater contamination. Municipal solid waste disposal site for the city of Ludhiana, in Punjab, India, has become an overflowing landfill because of the indiscriminate dumping of solid waste at the site. The leachate produced by landfilling site contains a large amount of high concentration of organic and inorganic constituents beyond permissible limits. This study was therefore undertaken with the objective of assessing the possible impact of leachate percolation on soil quality in the vicinity of an unlined landfilling site. The effect of distance of soil source from the dumping yard, contamination level of soil and effect of seasonal variation on soil quality was also studied. It has been found that soil of the studied area contains high concentration of contaminants and with the passage of time values of various parameters increased, reason being with time the solid waste material degraded and the waste constituents percolated down along with rainwater. This is clearly evident from the results that Jamalpur landfilling site at Ludhiana is greatly affecting the soil quality of its surroundings through careless handling of solid waste and leachate. There is a great need of soil and groundwater quality monitoring within the studied area and the concerned authorities must take certain remedial measures not only to control the existing soil pollution at the moment but also to prevent further contamination in future. Therefore, we must improve our current waste management practices and construct properly engineered sanitary landfill sites to curtail soil and groundwater pollution.