Environmental Impact of Landfill on Groundwater, South East of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The main objective of this work had been given to the environmental impact of landfill on groundwater. The groundwater in the study area had problems caused by the landfill and the high volumes of sewage water percolating into the groundwater. The existing soil stratigraphy at the landfill consisting of sandy sheet and fractured limestone lead to increasing leachate percolation into the groundwater. The groundwater resources are used mainly for crop irrigation in an agriculture dominated area. The chemical analysis of groundwater indicates that nitrate pollution can be a serious problem affecting groundwater due to the infiltration of leachate in landfill downward to groundwater and the use of nitrogen (N) fertilizers in agriculture. The high concentrations of NO3- and Zn especially in landfill site in groundwater, likely indicate that groundwater is being significantly affected by leachate percolation. The nitrate and Zinc concentrations in groundwater samples in landfill site reach 191 ppm and 1473 ? g/L respectively. The groundwater in the study area is exploited from fractured limestone aquifer belonging to several limestone formations and groundwater of the concerned aquifer exists under unconfined conditions. The groundwater flow direction is from the northwest to the southeast direction. The leachate produced by waste disposal sites contains large amounts of substances which are likely to contaminate groundwater. Chemical analyses were carried out on groundwater samples collected from the neighborhood of landfill yard and spread to southeast direction. The effects of dumping activity on groundwater appeared most clearly as high concentrations of total dissolved solids (TDS), electrical conductivity (EC), total hardness (TH), chloride, nitrates and sulphates. Groundwater samples from the wells situated close to the landfill were found to be more contaminated than that of the wells situated farther away.

Keywords: Environmental Impact, Landfill, Groundwater, Saudi Arabia