Metals contamination on soil and surface water (earth drainage) due to leachate migration from Piyungan land

Abstract

Decomposition of solid waste has the possibility of leached its heavy metal content into the leachate. Leachate flows into soil and surface water, causing possible leachate contamination onto the surrounding area. Monitoring of heavy metals contaminant is crucial to control the migration of leachate. This study focusses on the migration of leachate metals from the Piyungan landfill into the surrounding soil area and earth drainage. Triplicate soil and earth drainage samples were taken at ground level for each station to be analysed using the Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Based on metals measurement in soil, there are two paths of leachate migration. Even though the concentrations of As, Ni, Cr and Mn were reduced from the landfill until the downstream, all sampling stations show a high concentration in the soil above the standard limit for a residential area. Besides, these metals also show the concentration above the standard limit for earth drainage. Soil contamination occurred ages ago before this study was conducted based on Cu, Ba, Li, V, Co, and Ti accumulated in soil based on high concentration detected. However, these metals show a low concentration in earth drainage during sampling work was conducted in this study. While Pb, Mg, Zn, Cd and Sr were not migrated due to low concentration in all sampling stations except the station nearest to the landfill area. In general, the metals contamination in soil and earth drainage from the landfill will be tended to the hazardous condition in future. In addition, surrounding the landfill area is a residential area with agricultural activities at downstream. Thus, the effect on residents and plants could contribute to the hazard of metals contamination.