The result was compared with the study

The presence of cadmium concentration (Fig. 6) exceeds the permissible limit of 0.01 mg/L in all the collected samples. From the Fig. 6, it was observed that the con- taminant species from the waste disposal site had migrated and accumulated at the location W6. Figure 7 shows the contour diagram of Cu distribution contaminant species from the location W3, it was located near an open dumping site toward southwest of the study area. From the Fig. 9,


Ariyamangalam open dump site, which likely indicate the origin of Mn, Pb, Cu, Cd, and Fe in leachate.it was found that the presence of high concentration of Pb (0.59 mg/L) in groundwater samples nearby dumping site implies that groundwater samples were contaminated by leachate migration from an open dumping site. The con- centrations of Zn (Fig. 10) in the collected samples were within the permissible limit. Based on the contour diagram (from Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10), the heavy metals such as lead (Pb), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), Cadmium (Cd) showed significantly high values, which exceeded the maximum permissible

SO42- (r = 0.155, p B 0.01), Ca2? (r = 0.838, p B 0.01) and Mg2? (r = 0.882, p B 0.01). This result implies that there was great dependence of hardness on calcium, mag- nesium, chloride, sulfate, and bicarbonate. pH was nega- tively correlated with all the parameters except SO42-. Similarly few other parameters were also found to have negative correlation, viz TDS—SO42- (r =-0.238), Ca2?—SO42- (r =-0.032) and Mg2? –Cl- (r =-0.012). EC is solely a function of the major ion concentrations (Ca2?, Mg 2?, Cl -, SO 4 2-, and NO3-) of water quality parameters.

The result was compared with the study reported by Kapil et al. (2009) for Indian conditions. They revealed that the major positive linear correlation was found in EC with all the water quality parameters in their study area.Conclusion The indiscriminate disposal and crude dumping of MSW are considered as a dangerous practice in integrated waste management at the global level. The fresh solid waste composition study shows that samples from the open dump site contained about 90–95 % combustible materials and non-combustible fraction is about 1–5 %. The fresh leach- ate sample possesses very high concentration of chemical parameters except pH, when compared to stabilized leach- ate samples. The heavy metal concentration range of col- 

Groundwater assessment The collected

The presence of Pb in the leachate samples are in the range 1.85–5.15 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). Cd (1.4 mg/L) and Cu (1.92 mg/L) are also present in the leachate samples whereas high Mn (8.18 mg/L) concentrations suggest a strong reducing environment. A variety of waste is dumped at  


Groundwater assessment The collected groundwater samples in and around the dumping site were free from color and odor excluding the locations W3 and W12. The groundwater of the studied area is used for drinking and domestic purposes. Table 3 shows the desirable and maximum permissible limit of individual species for drinking water recom- mended by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS 1991) and World Health Organization (2002). The physicochemical

Syndrome’’. This disease particularly affects infants that are up to 6 months old (Kapil et al. 2009). The presence of TOC values ranges from 2.7 to 49 mg/L indicates that the groundwater contains organic impurities. The concentra- tion of Fe in the groundwater samples varies from below detectable limit (BDL) to 5.102 mg/L (Fig. 5) and was found to be well above the WHO permissible limit (0.3 mg/L) in all the samples. Presence of Fe in water can lead to change of color of groundwater (Rowe et al. 1995).

The contour diagrams show (Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10) the concentration profile of heavy metals at several water sample locations near the study area. The contour diagrams were drawn by surfer software. The collected groundwater samples were analyzed for heavy metals such as Cd, Cu, Mn, Pb, and Zn. Cadmium concentrations in the collected groundwater samples are lower than that of the leachate.

High concentration of chloride gives

deleterious to human health along with the high pH, TDS, and TH. Enhanced rock water interaction during post- monsoon could also contribute (to a limited extent) toward the increased values in bicarbonate (Pawar 1993). The range of chlorides in all the locations under inves- tigation is 215.15 (W8) to 4,098.73 (W2) mg/L. The con- centration of chlorides in all locations except W8 exceeds the permissible level described by IS 10500-1991.


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. An excess of chloride in water is usually taken as an index of pollu- tion and considered as tracer for groundwater contamina- tion (Loizidou and Kapetanios 1993).The chloride values in the water samples maybe due to the dissolution of rocks surrounding the aquifer and probably due to the leakage of sewage and anthropogenic pollution (agricultural activi- ties).

High concentration of chloride gives salty taste to water and may result in hypertension, osteoporosis, renal stones, and asthma (McCarthy 2004). The high chloride content in groundwater is from pollution sources such as domestic effluents, fertilizers, septic tanks, and leachates (Mor et al. 2006). Agricultural fertilizers and leachate are the main sources of sulfate in groundwater. The sulfate concentration in groundwater is within BIS and WHO standards for all the collected samples. Similarly,

the nitrate concentration was also within the permissible limit (45 mg/L) in all the sampling locations except location 1 (W1). In general, the major sources for nitrate in ground- water include domestic sewage, runoff from agricultural fields, and leachate from landfill sites (Pawar and Shaikh 1995; Jawad et al. 1998; Lee et al. 2003; Jalali 2005). Higher concentration of NO3- in water causes a disease called ‘‘Methaemoglobinaemia’’ also known as ‘‘Blue-baby

A reduction with time is attributed

inorganic contaminants also follow the trend of decreasing concentrations with increasing leachate age and stability. In general, leachate generated from young acidogenic landfills are characterized by high concentrations of organic and inorganic pollutants (Calli et al. 2005). The presence of Magnesium in the leachate is due to the dis- posal of construction waste along with MSW (Al-Yaqout 2003). The calcium and magnesium concentrations exhib- ited typical trends of constituents affected by the biological activity in the dumping site.


A reduction with time is attributed to the depletion of these compounds and to the increase in pH, thus reducing their solubility in leachate, and enhancing precipitation. The initial concentrations of these parameters are on the higher side (1,200–3,000 mg/L, 250–1,500 mg/L). A decrease in concentration was observed in stabilized leachate samples. The chloride concentration in the leachate varied from 1,000 to 8,000 mg/L for young leachate samples and 1,000–6,500 mg/L for stabilized samples. The possible anthropogenic sources of chloride are kitchen wastes from households, restaurants, and hotels.

TA varies between 4,500 and 26,000 mg/L. The presence of high BOD (43,328 mg/L) and COD (75,840 mg/L) indicates the high organic strength. This indicates that majority of the organic compounds is biodegradable (Fatta et al. 1999). The pres- ence of Fe (400 mg/L) in the leachate sample indicates that steel scraps are also dumped in the landfill. The dark brown color of the leachate is mainly attributed to the oxidation of ferrous to ferric form and the formation of ferric hydroxide colloids and complexes with fulvic/humic substance (Chu et al. 1994). The concentration 

range of trace elements such as Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, and Zn were found in the collected

leachate samples and are also reported in Table 2. Fresh leachate samples showed a higher degree of metal solubi- lization, 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 (Mohan and Gandhi- mathi 2009). The stabilized leachate samples have less concentration when compared to fresh leachate samples. The concentration of Zn (4.80 mg/L) in the leachate shows that the dumping site receives waste from batteries and fluorescent lamps.