Plant not enough to stop leachate pollution at Bandhwari: Experts

Leachate run-off from the landfill that is also percolating into the underlying aquifer has reportedly caused widespread damage to the surrounding environment and to human health.

The recently inaugurated leachate treatment plant (LTP) at Bandhwari landfill, 20 kilometres from Gurugram, will not be enough to address the issue of leachate pollution in the region, said environment experts.

The leachate run-off from the defunct Bandhwari landfill has been blamed for the contamination of water resources in the village and nearby areas. (PARVEEN KUMAR/HT PHOTO)

Leachate run-off from the landfill that is also percolating into the underlying aquifer has reportedly caused widespread damage to the surrounding environment and to human health. A 2016 report by the Central Pollution Control Board declared the region’s groundwater to be unfit for drinking, while a 2015 report by Rekha Singh, an approved environment expert from the Quality Council of India under the ministry of environment, forest and climate change, stated that contamination from the leachate has rendered high amounts of fluoride, phenolic compounds, cadmium and mercury in the groundwater. “It may cause serious health effects to the user,” Singh wrote in her report.

The LTP, built by Ecogreen Energy (the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram’s concessionaire for waste management ), is currently treating about 150 kilolitres of toxic leachate per day to mitigate this issue.

“We get around 1500 tonnes of waste daily, from which we get about 30 kilolitres of leachate,” said Paresh Jindal, deputy general manager (engineering), Ecogreen Energy. Thus, Jindal added, the LTP’s operational capacity of 150 kilolitres per day is sufficient to contain the amount of leachate.

Experts, however, said that the landfill is probably generating much more than 30 kilolitres of leachate per day. According to Singh, who has been following developments in Bandhwari since her 2015 report, the amount of leachate generated by such a landfill would be somewhere between 20 to 30 percent of the total weight of garbage. “This depends on conditions such as atmospheric moisture, nature of waste and exposure to rainfall,” Singh said.

With a heavy monsoon presently underway, and because of the fact that the majority of garbage received at Bandhwari is mixed municipal waste with significant moisture content, the landfill, according to Singh, was probably generating more than 300 kilolitres of leachate per day, more than double the daily operating capacity of the LTP.

Activist Vaishali Rana Chandra said, “Even if the LTP is able to contain leachate caused by fresh, incoming garbage, it is still unclear how will it get rid of the 2,50,000 odd tonnes of waste that has already accumulated at the site and is continuing to generate leachate, which is in direct contact with the soil below.”

Ankit Aggarwal, Ecogreen Energy’s CEO, said, “As per our calculations and experience, the leachate from fresh waste is roughly five percent. The estimate of 20 to 30 percent is generic and is not applicable for
Gurugram.”