An investigation was carried out to assess the characteristics of leachate and its impact on surrounding agricultural land of the Matuail landfill site, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Leachate samples were collected from active dumping areas; soil and plant samples from three different sites of surrounding agricultural areas. Water quality parameters like pH, DO, BOD, COD, TDS were measured for leachate samples and heavy metals like Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Ni were analyzed for leachate, soil and plant samples. The results showed that untreated leachate concentrations of DO, BOD, COD and TDS were 1.34, 96, 1343 and 7120 mg/l, respectively that exceeded inland surface water standard but the concentrations of DO (7.49 mg/l), BOD (10 mg/l) and TDS (790/l) in the treated leachate pond were found within the permissible limits. The leachate samples are not contaminated with heavy metals as these are present below the toxic limits. The heavy metal concentrations in agricultural soils are below the permissible limits except Pb; but in plants the concentrations of Cu, Zn and Pb exceeded the critical limits.

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A pot experiment was carried out to observe the effect of waste water irrigation on the growth and nutrient status of Kalmi (Ipomoea aquatica) in the nethouse of the Department of Soil, Water and Environment, University of Dhaka. The soil samples were collected from Tejgaon, Rampura, Sitalakhya and from the north?side of Rampura area, the latter is located at a distance from the polluted area and has been used as the control soil. The pots containing the first three soil samples were irrigated with wastewater collected from the adjacent industrial area and control pots were irrigated with tap water. The plants on Tejgaon soil produced the maximum biomass while the plants on Sitalakhya produced the least amount of biomass. The accumulation of toxic metal concentration was found to be the highest in Kalmi grown on Tejgaon followed by Rampura and Sitalakhya. The metal concentration in Kalmi (dry weight basis) ranged between 31 and 408 mg/kg for Zn, 27 to 45 mg/kg for Cu, 0.2 to 5.0 mg/kg for Pb and 0 to 2 mg/kg for Cd, respectively. The concentrations of heavy metals in the Kalmi were higher than the recommended standards in all the treatments except control.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/dujbs.v23i1.19820Dhaka Univ. J. Biol. Sci. 23(1): 1?8, 2014

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