Investigating the potential impact of landfill leachate on groundwater quality : case study : Kiteezi landfill.

Abstract

Leachate is the aqueous effluent generated as a consequence of rainwater percolation through wastes and the inherent water content of wastes themselves. Its quality is the result of biological, chemical mid physical processes in landfills combined with the specific waste composition and the landfill water regime. The standards to which leachate must adhere for landfills within developing nations, such as Uganda comparatively little research has been performed in order to justify any sort of criteria for leachate effluent and the necessary treatment required to reach those levels. In this research, Physical, chemical and. bacteriological analyses were 'carried out of groundwater samples. from two boreholes located near kiteezi landfill, and leachate samples at the treatment plant to ascertain the potential impact of the landfill leachate on the groundwater quality. The samples from borehole locations with radial distances of 50, and 200m respectively, away from the landfill and two leachate samples both at the 'inlet and outlet of the treatment plant were collected for analysis. The parameters determined were: the turbidity, temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), total dissolved solids (TDS), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD). Chemical Oxygen Demand(COD) total iron, nitrate, 'chloride, calcium and heavy metals like copper, zinc, lead and chromium. The results of this research snow that some of the effluent parameters such as BOD; COD, cadmium, E. coli and total. coliforms exceeded the permissible discharge limits of NEMA. The results of wound-water quality from the two wells near the landfill reflected higher concentrations of BOD, lead, cadmium and bacteriological parameters. However, in other cases such as leachate control and monitoring; surface water contamination, landfill gas, offensiveodor and. handling of hazardous waste, the control. Measures were not effective enough for the reduction of the nuisances at the landfill. the objectives of this research report were to 'characterize the leachate composition in the kiteezi landfill; to determine the groundwater quality of boreholes around the landfill and analyse, compare and generate water quality index. Therefore, this paper provides insight regarding how the leachate puts impact to the 'groundwater quality.