Int. J. Environment and Waste Management, Vol. 3, Nos.

1/2, 2009 65

Solid waste characterisation and the assessment of

the effect of dumping site leachate on groundwater
quality: a case study

S. Mohan*
Department of Civil Engineering,
Indian Institute of Technology Madras,
Chennai 600036, India
E-mail: smohan@iitm.ac.in
*Corresponding author

R. Gandhimathi
Environmental and Water Resources Engineering Division,
Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai 600036, India
E-mail: rgmathii@yahoo.co.in

Abstract: In this study, the characterisation of the solid waste and the effect
of the leachate from the major dumping site in Perungudi, Chennai city,
on groundwater is investigated. Various physical and chemical parameters were
estimated: this includes pH, total hardness, electrical conductivity, and total
dissolved solids, major cations such as Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, and K+, major anions
such as NO3− , Cl−, and SO 24 − and heavy metals such as Pb, Cu, Mn, Cd, Cr
and Zn. Perungudi dumping site receives 1650 tonnes of Municipal Solid
Waste (MSW) daily from the Chennai Corporation. The leachate is a result
of anaerobic decomposition of MSW. The results of the analysis of the
groundwater samples showed that dumping site leachates constitute a serious
threat to the local aquifers.

Keywords: MSW; municipal solid waste; leachate; heavy metals.

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Mohan, S. and

Gandhimathi, R. (2009) ‘Solid waste characterisation and the assessment
of the effect of dumping site leachate on groundwater quality: a case study’,
Int. J. Environment and Waste Management, Vol. 3, Nos. 1/2, pp.65–77.

Biographical notes: S. Mohan is Professor and Head, Department of Civil

Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India. His area
of research includes environmental systems analysis, contaminant transport
modelling and environmental impact assessment.

R. Gandhimathi is PhD scholar, Environmental and Water Resources

Engineering Division, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute
of Technology Madras, Chennai. She received her BE in Civil Engineering
from Madras University and ME in Environmental Engineering from Centre for
Environmental Studies, Anna University, Chennai.

Copyright © 2009 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

66 S. Mohan and R. Gandhimathi

1 Introduction

Large quantities of wastes from urban, municipal, and industrial sectors are generated
worldwide. At present, many of these find their way into the environment with little
or no treatment, especially in developing countries (Abu-Rukah and Al-Kofahi, 2001).
Leachate production and management is now recognised as one of the greatest problems
associated with environmentally sound operation of sanitary landfills, because these
liquid wastes can cause considerable pollution problems by contacting the surrounding
soil, ground or surface waters, and therefore they are considered major pollution hazards
unless precautionary measures are implemented. This creates the need to understand
leachate formation mechanisms and characterise leachate quality to ensure proper
leachate management that will minimise potential adverse impacts (El-Fadel et al., 2002).
Numerous studies have been performed on the evaluations of leachate quality in landfills
of different ages (Chen, 1996; Kjeldsen and Christophersen, 2001; Aluko et al., 2003).
Leachate that is generated by landfills is quite likely to contain various types
of pollutants that may enter the groundwater aquifers in the surrounding areas
(Al-Yaqout and Hamoda, 2003). In general, leachate is highly contaminated with
organic contaminants measured as Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Biochemical
Oxygen Demand (BOD5), with ammonia, halogenated hydrocarbons and heavy metals.
In addition, leachate usually contains high concentrations of inorganic salts such as
sodium chloride and carbonates (Trebouet et al., 2001). The amount of leachate
generated, the decomposition, stabilisation and extraction of pollutants from the waste
matrix depend upon several factors, including waste composition, degree of compaction,
and absorptive capacity of the waste (Jones et al., 2006). The chemical composition
of municipal leachate is dependent on the types and amount of waste land filled, landfill
age and environmental conditions (Marnie et al., 2005; Øygard et al., 2004).
The risk of groundwater contamination by landfill leachate is considered to
represent the most significant environmental concern related to the land filling of waste
(Kjeldsen and Christophersen, 2001). The impact of landfill leachates on the surface
and groundwater quality has given rise to a great number of studies in recent years
(Abu-Rukah and Al-Kofahi, 2001; Tatsi and Zouboulis, 2002).
Magnitude and density of population in India is increasing rapidly and consequently
the civic bodies are facing considerable difficulties in providing adequate services such as
supply of water, electricity, roads, education and public sanitation including MSW
management. India lacks well-formulated guidelines and policy structure regarding waste
management services, in the absence of which the municipal agencies have not been
performing their duties in this aspect satisfactorily (Gupta et al., 1998). The present level
of service in many areas is so low that there is a threat to the public health, in particular,
and the environmental quality, in general.
This study aims to develop an understanding of the natural groundwater quality in the
Perungudi dumping site and the adjacent areas through the dug wells and bore wells that
have been selected for this purpose. To estimate how far groundwater quality has been
affected by the downward movement of leachate from the Perungudi open dumping site,
various physical and chemical parameters of well water samples were analysed.
 Solid waste characterisation and the assessment 67

2 Materials and methods

2.1 Description of the study area

Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu, is the commercial and business hub for
South India. The estimated MSW generation in Chennai city is about 3400 tonnes/day.
The city is served by two dumping yards namely Kodungaiyur and Perungudi,
both incidentally located on wetland areas. The Chennai Corporation consists of 10
zones. The corporation dumps approximately 1750 tonnes/day of MSW collected from
zone 1 to zone 5 in Kodungaiyur dumping ground. Another 1650 tonnes/day of garbage
collected from zone 6 to zone 10 reaches the 400 acres dumping ground in Perungudi.
The Perungudi dumping site is approximately 10 km away from city centre at 12°57′
North and 80°13′ East is a large-scale dumping ground built on silty clay deposit and has
started its operation in 1985. The dumping site lies 2–3 km west of the Buckingham canal
and approximately 3.5–4.5 km west of the Bay of Bengal coastline. The wastes are
dumped into the ground without any segregation. The layout of the study area is shown in
Figure 1.

Figure 1 Layout of study area

68 S. Mohan and R. Gandhimathi

Dumping site is surrounded by Velachery in North, Pallikaranai in South,

and Perungudi in East. The study area has a terrain elevation ranging between 3 m
and 10 m and experiences a subtropical climate, the annual temperature ranging
between 24ºC and 41ºC. Two rain gauge stations are located near the study area.
The annual rainfall is about 1200 mm with the aquifer receiving around 60% of its
rainfall from northeast monsoon during the month of October, November and December.
The water level varies from 3 m to 6 m above the Mean Sea Level (MSL). From the
resistivity survey and borehole lithology, it is clear that the aquifer system is under
unconfined condition. In the west of Buckingham canal, the Charnockite rock type is
encountered below the shallow alluvium. The alluvium comprises of sand (medium to
coarse grained) silt, clay and shells. The normal hydraulic gradient towards sea is
observed in this study area. The permeability along the western margin is reported
between 20 m/day and 50 m/day (Gnanasundar and Elango, 2000).

2.2 Solid waste characterisation

Municipal Solid Waste is any non-hazardous, solid waste from a combination of
domestic, commercial sources. It includes putrescible waste, garden waste, market
wastes, street sweepings, uncontaminated biosolids and related waste. The yearly
variation of MSW (disposed quantity) in Chennai city is shown in Figure 2. The data on
the solid waste generation in Chennai city were collected from Solid Waste Management
Department, Chennai Corporation.

Figure 2 Municipal solid waste generation

To assess solid waste composition, fresh solid waste samples were collected from
the dumping site. The samples were segregated into different categories, viz. paper,
wood, plastics, ceramics, glass, leaves, vegetables, textiles, etc. The segregated samples
were weighed individually. The results of the analysis of waste sample composition are
shown in Figure 3.
 Solid waste characterisation and the assessment 69

Figure 3 Composition of solid waste

2.3 Leachate sampling and analysis

Leachate samples from the actual leachate streams were collected in 5 L plastic carboys,
transported to the laboratory, stored at 4°C and analysed within two days, according to
the respective standard methods. A total of 13 leachate samples (L1–L13) were collected
for monitoring purpose, out of which L1–L9 were collected in old dumping area referred
to as ‘old leachate’, whereas the remaining leachates called as ‘fresh leachate’ collected
near to the new dumping area. The following parameters such as pH, COD,
total hardness, electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), major cations
such as Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, and K+, major anions such as NO3− , Cl−, and SO 24− and heavy
metals such as Pb, Cu, Mn, Cr, Cd, and Zn were determined. Metal content was
determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Usually, these metals are found at
moderate concentration levels in municipal landfill leachate. The results of the
characteristic study are shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Physical and chemical characteristics of leachate

Sample no.
Characteristics L1 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 L7 L8 L9 L10 L11 L12 L13
pH 7.98 7.91 7.9 7.9 8.03 7.36 8.62 7.57 8.15 6.72 6.86 6.2 6.42
COD 768 1088 962 986 1092 560 750 672 436 4050 6220 10368 6560
Alkalinity 2700 2133 1333 1600 2200 933 867 850 1200 4300 5000 2933 2350
Hardness 2400 2400 1400 1500 1400 900 1000 1000 900 2100 3200 7700 17500
EC* 9290 11005 8798 10202 14658 4624 7667 6281 6106 20857 35635 134618 127597
TDS 5770 7100 5300 6337 9518 2908 4762 3901 3792 13905 23291 90958 79253
Chlorides 2995 3418 2512 2797 4729 1522 2623 1844 1978 6203 12057 51550 44741
Nitrate 173 1119 768 1146 1558 318 299 390 348 3148 953 504 74
Sulphate 131 249 187 191 335 254 331 328 341 202 1246 4712 7794
Sodium 1120 1120 900 1120 1520 500 950 680 720 2320 5520 19220 14120
70 S. Mohan and R. Gandhimathi

Table 1 Physical and chemical characteristics of leachate (continued)

Sample no.
Characteristics L1 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6 L7 L8 L9 L10 L11 L12 L13
Potassium 1087 945 727 774 916 73 391 397 81 1690 2600 12580 9900
Calcium 112 112 152 120 240 136 48 128 104 168 401 721 1202
Magnesium 153 136 53 188 219 105 120 134 221 173 515 1672 1422
Cu 0.134 0.198 0.138 0.102 0.102 0.07 0.132 0.134 0.116 0.226 0.14 0.098 0.324
Pb 0.036 0.092 0.168 0.07 0.182 0.226 0.006 0.212 0.206 0.236 0.676 0.382 0.39
Zn 0.58 0.288 0.298 0.204 0.354 0.736 0.284 0.34 0.912 0.476 4.876 0.25 0.632
Mn 0.966 0.632 0.608 0.436 0.61 0.888 0.18 0.426 0.43 0.826 3.314 0.522 1.15
Cr BDL BDL BDL 0.002 0.025 BDL BDL 0.014 0.008 0.062 0.021 0.065 0.024
Cd 0.03 0.032 0.034 0.042 0.044 0.038 0.018 0.038 0.03 0.048 0.096 0.042 0.034

All the units are expressed in mg/l except pH and electrical conductivity.
*EC–Electrical conductivity in micro mho/cm.

2.4 Assessment of groundwater contamination

To assess the quality of groundwater aquifers, 17 dug wells and three bore wells were
chosen in the vicinity of the dumping site shown in Figure 4. The locations of various
wells including the distance from the dumping site are given in Table 2. The local
residents are not using the water for drinking purpose. The physical and chemical
parameters were determined by analytical methods based on standard methods (APHA,
1998). The heavy metal analysis was performed by atomic absorption spectroscopy. The
results are shown in Table 3.

Figure 4 Locations of the sampling wells around the dumping site

 Solid waste characterisation and the assessment 71

Table 2 Details of the sampling wells

Well no. Distance from dumping site (km) Northing (m) Easting (m)
W1 1.83 1433273.8 414678.03
W2 1.45 1432474.9 414735.16
W3 1.77 1432291.6 414373.78
W4 (B) 1.99 1431554.6 414280.47
W5 2.40 1430910 414098.06
W6 2.01 1430846.8 414670.56
W7 1.09 1431730.1 417143.62
W8 1.11 1431730.3 417173.4
W9 (B) 1.55 1431207.4 417353.1
W10 1.53 1431974.4 417656.62
W11 1.08 1432006.5 417204.84
W12 1.22 1432313.2 417356.38
W13 1.56 1432527.2 417688.03
W14 1.42 1432896.9 417387.9
W15 1.92 1433326 417721.03
W16 1.84 1433665.4 417239.6
W17 1.61 1431851.4 417716.66
W18 (B) 1.80 1433855 415432.88
W19 2.10 1433335.9 414436.6
W20 2.13 1430103.9 416536.25

3 Results and discussion

3.1 Solid waste composition

There has been a significant increase in MSW generation in Chennai in the last few
decades. Figure 2 depicts the rising quantities of MSW from 1996 to 2006. This is largely
because of rapid population growth, economic development in the country and increased
consumption of packaged foods and other items. The results from the composition studies
(Figure 3) show that samples from Perungudi dumping site contained about 60–70%
combustible materials such as textile, leaves, plastics, food waste, etc., with an average
of 65%. The non-combustible fraction such as metals and glass was about 30–40% with
an average of 35%.

3.2 Leachate analysis

From Table 1, it was observed that, the value of COD may vary from 4050 mg/l
to 10368 mg/l for fresh leachate sample and below 1100 mg/l for old leachate samples.
The relatively high value of leachate conductivity indicates the presence of dissolved
inorganic materials in the samples. The presence of magnesium in the leachate is due
72 S. Mohan and R. Gandhimathi

to the disposal of construction waste along with MSW (Al-Yaqout, 2003).

The concentration of total dissolved solids also fluctuates widely. Other inorganic
contaminants also follow the trend of decreasing concentrations with increasing
leachate age and stability. In general, leachate generated from young acidogenic
landfills are characterised by high concentrations of organic and inorganic pollutants
(Calli et al., 2005). The presence of nitrate in leachate samples is mainly due to the
discharge of septic waste and municipal wastewater adjacent to the dumping site without
any treatment.
Fresh leachate samples showed a higher degree of metal solubilisation, due to lower
pH values caused by the biological production of organic fatty acids. As the dumping site
age increased, the consequent increase in pH values caused a certain decrease in metal
solubility. The concentrations of trace elements Cu, Zn, Pb, Mn, Cd, and Cr were found
to be relatively low, while those of Ca, Na, Mg and K were relatively higher. The highest
sodium concentrations were found to be 19,220 and 500 mg/l for ‘fresh’ and ‘old’
leachate, respectively. It was observed that the Cu, Pb, Zn, Mn, Cr and Cd concentration
values are in the ranges 0.07–0.324 mg/l, 0.006–0.676 mg/l, 0.204–4.876 mg/l,
0.18–3.314 mg/l, BDL–0.065 mg/l and 0.018–0.096 mg/l, respectively. Approximately
40% of leachate samples showing below detectable limit for chromium.

3.3 Water quality assessment

The underground water of the study area is primarily used for domestic purposes mainly
for washing. Table 3 shows the physical and chemical characteristics of the water
samples collected from the various wells around the Perungudi dumping site. The pH
of all the sampling site varies from 6.57 to 7.96. The EC in the study area varies between
550 (W10) and 121911 (W2) micro mhos/cm and was found to be high, especially in
locations W2, W3, W4 and W18, which are about 1.45–1.99 km from the dumping site.
These high conductivity values measured in the underground water near the dumping site
are an indication of its effect on groundwater. The major anions tested in this study are
chloride, sulphate, and nitrate. The range of chlorides in all the locations under
investigation is 153.80 mg/l (W16) to 46,398 mg/l (W2). The concentration of chlorides
in all locations except W16 and W10 exceeds the permissible level described by IS
10500-1983. Chloride in reasonable concentration is not harmful, but it causes corrosion
in concentrations above 250 mg/l, while at about 400 mg/l, it causes a salty taste in water.
Similarly, the nitrate concentration in the locations W2, W18, W19, and W20 falls below
the drinking water standards. The remaining locations, nitrate concentration exceeds the
permissible level described by IS 10500-1983. The presence of nitrate in the groundwater
in the study area suggests that the human waste source of nitrate enters the aquifers,
and possibly in the Perungudi dumping site, both liquid and solid wastes, are sources
for the nitrate concentration increase in the study area.
Multivalent cations, particularly magnesium and calcium, are often present at
a significant concentration in natural water. These ions are easily precipitated and in
particular react with soap to make it difficult to remove scum. Hardness is normally
expressed as the total concentration of calcium and magnesium in mg/l, equivalent
CaCO3. In W6, W7, W8, W10, W14, W15 and W16, total hardness falls within the
permissible level of 300 mg/l. In the remaining locations, the range is 400 (W11)–18,000
(W2) mg/l.
 Solid waste characterisation and the assessment 73

Table 3 Physical and chemical characteristics of groundwater

74 S. Mohan and R. Gandhimathi

Heavy metals Pb, Cu, Mn, Cd, Cr and Zn of the collected water samples were
analysed; their results are also presented in Table 3. The lead concentration in
all locations exceeds the maximum permissible limit of 0.1 mg/l. It ranges from
0.121 mg/l to 0.23 mg/l. The possible source of lead may be batteries, chemicals
for photograph processing, older lead-based paints and lead pipes disposed
at the landfill, which indicates toxicity to all forms of life at this level.
Acidity in the leachate causes lead to be released from refuse (Al-Yaqout, 2003).
The concentration of chromium and cadmium falls within the permissible limit described
by the IS-10500.
In only few wells such as W4, W9 and W18, the copper concentration exceeds
the permissible limit of 0.05 mg/l. Similarly, the zinc concentration falls below the
permissible limit except W4, which was measured as 6.578 mg/l. 50% of the sample
showing the manganese concentration above the permissible level of 0.1 mg/l.
Among them, W2 and W4 show very high concentration when compared with
other locations. Some of the wells, especially W10, W16 and W17, are showing
the total dissolved solids below 1000 mg/l and negligible concentration of heavy
metals. The correlation coefficients between EC and other parameters such as
TDS, chlorides and sulphates are shown in Figures 5–7. The TDS content of the
water samples is direct correlative with EC (0.999). Chloride is strongly correlated
with EC (0.997); SO 24− shows a positive and strong correlation with EC (0.960),
respectively.

Figure 5 Correlation between electrical conductivity and TDS (see online version for colours)
 Solid waste characterisation and the assessment 75

Figure 6 Correlation between electrical conductivity and chlorides (see online version
for colours)

Figure 7 Correlation between electrical conductivity and sulphates (see online version
for colours)

4 Conclusions

The indiscriminate disposal of MSW without covering dumping site is considered

a dangerous practice in integrated waste management at the global level. The chemical
analysis shows that all leachate samples and water samples have high concentrations
of selected pollutants. Most of the water samples have high concentrations of heavy
metals, especially lead. This would adversely affect aquatic life and ultimately enter the
76 S. Mohan and R. Gandhimathi

food chain, the consumption of which can cause adverse health effects. From the results
of the water quality study, it was found that the groundwater is non-potable because most
of the physical and chemical parameters examined exceed the permissible limits.
Location 2, 4 and 18 are characterised as the most polluted based on the concentration
of physical and chemical characteristics and heavy metal concentration. This is to be
expected because these sites are located very close to the dumping site. Ultimately,
all results presented show that the Perungudi dump site constitutes a serious threat
to local aquifers.

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