Impacts of open dumpsite leachates on soil and groundwater quality

Investigation of groundwater vulnerability to open dumpsites and its potential risk using electrical resistivity and water analysis

“…The open dumpsite is an unfavourable global phenomenon which had mastered the act of polluting the groundwater system. While [ 1 ] described open dumpsites as non-engineered landfill sites [ 2 ], identified open dumpsites as a necessary evil, and [ 3 ] labelled dumpsites as unfriendly environmental phenomena, which often contaminate the groundwater [ 1 ], and placed it on a pedestal of water insecurity due to the dumpsite leachate percolation into groundwater. Most developing countries are now struggling with the challenge of managing a large number of solid wastes and their environmental impacts [ 3 – 5 ].…”

“…These situations predict difficult times for the future of environmental management in Nigeria [ [9] , [10] , [11] , [12] ], and the rest of the African nations [ [13] , [14] , [15] ]. Therefore, the prevailing indiscriminately disposal of solid wastes in open dumpsites in developing nations has reached a critical situation that poses hazardous impacts on human habitations [ 2 , 16 , 17 ]. Recent studies indicate that unattended solid waste at an open dumpsite can degenerate into serious health and environmental hazards [ [18] , [19] , [20] , [21] ].…”

“…A study indicates that about 2.01 billion tonnes of solid waste are generated all over the world annually, which is expected to grow to 2.2 billion tonnes by 2025 [ 22 ]. [ 2 ] describes waste management in developing nations, especially Nigeria as a wobbly one due to poor technical capacity and the high financial burden of waste management, supported by Ref. [ 8 ].…”

“…The technique has been widely used in prospecting for groundwater exploration and leachate plumes [ 26 ]. Though; the details on the characteristics of dumpsite leachates may sometimes be difficult to evaluate with a geophysical technique alone, especially the level of risk associated with seeping contaminants [ 27 , 28 ], integrated geophysical technique with physiochemical water analysis can provide a total characterization of dumpsite leachate plume contaminants generated by MSW [ 2 , 23 , 24 ]. Therefore, the combined electrical resistivity technique and physiochemical water analysis appear to be more suitable for such kinds of environmental studies [ 2 ].…”

“…Though; the details on the characteristics of dumpsite leachates may sometimes be difficult to evaluate with a geophysical technique alone, especially the level of risk associated with seeping contaminants [ 27 , 28 ], integrated geophysical technique with physiochemical water analysis can provide a total characterization of dumpsite leachate plume contaminants generated by MSW [ 2 , 23 , 24 ]. Therefore, the combined electrical resistivity technique and physiochemical water analysis appear to be more suitable for such kinds of environmental studies [ 2 ]. The top priority of this study is to investigate groundwater vulnerability to open dumpsites leachate plumes and its potential environmental risk using electrical resistivity and water analysis.…”