Groundwater quality and public health of the community around Mojosongo landfill, Surakarta city

Abstract

Surakarta city is one of the central java cities in Indonesia; its waste management system is open dumping which is unsustainable. The Surakarta city final disposal of solid waste, Putri Cempo landfill is located in Mojosongo. Due to the increase of waste generation and its characteristics and lack of best practices of solid waste management of the city, currently, the landfill is reported overloaded for years. Improper solid waste management is one of the major sources of environmental pollution deteriorating groundwater quality around landfills. Groundwater is an important natural resource considered as accessible and protected water source for domestic, agriculture and industries however it is being polluted by various human activities. The community around Mojosongo landfill use groundwater for that reason this study aims to assess the groundwater quality and as well as the condition of the public health of the community around the Mojosongo landfill, considering the foul smell found in the area, originated from decomposed organic wastes. Thus to check the groundwater quality; the well water samples around the landfill at two locations were analyzed in Laboratory. Parameters analyzed are PH, TDS, COD, BOD, Cu, Zn, Fe, Mn, Cl, Nitrite, Nitrate and total coliform. The results revealed that the concentration of all parameters except for COD, NO3 and total coliform, meet the desirable limits of safe drinking water. The distance from the landfill and the topography also influences the quality of groundwater. Based on the conducted interviews, the study has confirmed that the dumpsite of Surakarta city has a lot of impacts to the community’s public health such as regular cough found in children, diarrhea, fever, respiratory infections etc. Consequently, the groundwater is polluted due to the existing condition of the landfill site in this study area; the public health of the community around the landfill is also concerned.