Contaminated Landfill Leachate Released into Wastewater Treatment Plants and the Environment

Landfills are thought be the final resting place for solid and liquid waste, but so many people don’t realize the hazards that can still come from that waste. When water runs through the waste in a landfill it produces leachate, a liquid waste that contains a mixture of contaminants from the waste that is has passed through.

The USGS (US Geological Survey) conducted a 2015 study focusing on contaminants of emerging concern in landfill leachate in the U.S. As a result of their research, “Scientists determined that final leachate samples contained 101 of the 190 chemicals analyzed for the study, with chemicals present in every final leachate sample collected at levels ranging from as low as 2 nanograms per liter (ng/L) to as high as 17,200,000 ng/L”.

Here’s what was said about the purpose of the study: “This research is part of continuing USGS efforts to quantify the contribution of contaminants in leachate released from landfills to various pathways that ultimately lead to the environment. Use of landfills as a means of waste disposal will likely increase as the global population continues to increase… The study is intended to inform landfill managers, stakeholders, and regulators about chemicals present in landfill leachate disposed offsite to environmental pathways”.

For the full USGS article on the study, read here.

We applaud the USGS for raising awareness to the fact that landfills are only one step in the cycle of water pollution. To protect our water and our environment, we need to eliminate hazardous waste, not just dump it.