Widespread disposal of landfill leachate to municipal sewer in the US calls for improved understanding of the relative organic-chemical contributions to the WWTP waste stream and associated surface-water discharge to receptors in the environment.

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Leachate from mature, stabilized landfills is recalcitrant in nature resulting from high concentrations of humic substances, such as humic acids and complex poorly defined organic matter. This research focused on the behavior and fate of leachate organic matter (LOM) in aquatic sunlit systems to address the extent and mechanisms of LOM photodegradation by exposing leachate to natural sunlight in central Florida for a period of 90 days. Transformation processes were measured using ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, fluorescence excitation-emission matrix spectroscopy (EEMs), size-exclusion chromatography (SEC), and chemical oxygen demand (COD) over the test period. Results of the study suggest that photolytic, and in some cases biological, reactions were responsible for the treatment of LOM shown by transformation of high molecular weight recalcitrant material to lower molecular weight material.