"Seasonal Dynamics of Landfill Leachate Quality Assessed viaLeachate Pollution Index in Southern Bengaluru, Karnataka"

Abstract

One of the main issues with solid waste landfilling is the poor handling of landfill leachates, which severely pollutes the environment at waste landfill sites and in the area around them. It's crucial to identify seasonal and temporal fluctuations in landfill leachates in order to design an effective system for treating them and reducing the chance of environmental damage. This study examined the southern region of Bengaluru city municipal dump’s leachate quality from 2021 to 2023 and used a leachate pollution index to categorize the possible dangers of landfill leachate (LPI). The findings of this study demonstrated that the overall LPI during the monitoring period experienced only minor seasonal and temporal variation, with values in the range of 20–25 (values 2.5 times higher than the maximum allowable limits). The LPI's sub-indices for organic and inorganic pollutants were its main constituents. Particularly, the LPI values for inorganic pollutants were 7.7 times higher on an annual average than the maximum permissible limits, indicating that Nam Son landfill's treatment of inorganic pollutants like ammonium-nitrogen (NH₄ +-N) and total nitrogen (TN) is crucial for preventing environmental pollution in the area surrounding the landfill site.