Analysis of Leachate Contamination Potential of a Municipal Landfill Using Leachate Pollution Index

Abstract

The health hazards and environmental degradation from the uncontrolled and unlined landfills are well known facts. The most commonly reported danger to human health from these landfills is from the use of polluted groundwater, which has been contaminated by leachate produced from these landfills. A technique to quantify the landfill leachate pollution (using an index known as Leachate Pollution Index) has been developed. Leachate Pollution Index (LPI) is a quantitative tool by which the leachate pollution data of landfill sites can be reported uniformly. The LPI is an increasing scale index and has been formulated based on Delphi technique. In this paper, the concept of LPI is described in brief and LPI for Okhla landfill, New Delhi, has been calculated based on the actual field data. The LPI for this landfill has been compared with the LPI estimated for treated leachate as per the Indian Standards. Based on the results, it is concluded that a single number index value which reflect the composite influence of significant pollutant variables on leachate pollution is possible and it can provide a meaningful, uniform method of assessing the leachate contamination potential of landfill site at a particular time. The LPI value of the Okhla landfill, New Delhi, calculated in this paper is significantly high and proper treatment will be necessary before the discharge of the leachate.