Abstract:Managinglandfills unscientifically and the leachate migration from these landfillsposes a serious environmental degradation of groundwater resources causingthese resources unfit for water withdrawals for human, agricultural and otheruses. The major prospective environmental influence of the landfill leachate ispollution of the groundwater as well as surface water. The magnitude and typeof environmental degradation of groundwater resources depends on the leachatecharacteristics which predominantly relies on the configuration of the solidwaste dumped at the landfill sites, age of the landfill, hydrology in terms ofprecipitation of the area where landfill is located, leachate collection andtreatment systems. In this paper the leachate characteristics in terms ofdifferent components namely BOD, COD, Total Dissolved Solids, Nitrates,Calcium, magnesium, total Iron, Sulfates Zinc, Lead, EC & pH and othertoxins from selected landfills located in different metropolitan cities in Indiawere reviewed from published literature. Based on these characteristics of theleachate from the landfills, the contamination effects on the groundwaterresources available at the landfill sites were reviewed. The various factorscontributing to groundwater pollution were also reviewed and based on these thestrategies for managing, collection and treatment of the leachate weresuggested so as to curtail the effect of leachate on the quality of thegroundwater.
Keywords: groundwater, leachate, landfills,municipal solid waste, strategies, environmental degradation.