International Journal of Waste Resources

Abstract

Municipal Solid Waste Landfills Construction and Management-A Few Concerns

PV Sivapullaiah, B.P. Naveen and TG Sitharam

In Bangalore city, one of the major problems is municipal solid management (MSW) due to ever increasing waste quantity along with its changing waste characteristics. Municipal solid waste includes non-hazardous waste generated in house, institutions, commercial and business establishments in an urban area. As city grow and produce more municipal solid waste and their waste collection systems become more efficient, due the environmental impact from dump site becomes increasingly intolerable. A report on waste management prepared for the Government of India (1998) by a sub-committee of the Supreme Court describes this as a serious situation. The municipal bodies in Bangalore have been unable to manage the rapid changes that have led to both increased waste quantities and changes in the waste composition this leading to an over-loading of the service. MSW rules do not permit to dump mixed waste in direct land filling and hence, the waste needs to be segregated in order to collect and reuse all recyclable and the organic matter needs to be stabilized. The generated and collected MSW needs to be processed/ treated with only non-biodegradable MSW and the rejects of the processing facility being dumped in landfill. Leachate emanating from solid waste deposited in landfill possess dissolved or an entrained environmentally harmful substances. Generally, environmental impacts and economic damages of poor leachate management practices on groundwater and receiving surface waters are not clearly understood. With this context, this study, the concept of leachate pollution index, a tool for quantifying the leachate pollution potential and water quality index for surrounding water bodies of Mavallipura landfill site in Bangalore has been applied. It has been found that the leachate generated from the Mavallipura landfill site has high contamination potential to the surrounding water bodies. The results revealed that quality of ground water resources in Mavallipura landfill is deteriorating largely, as a result of the poor practice of solid waste management. Hence, an effective remedial plan needs to be prepared for the sustainable water quality maintenance of the area.