Physico-Chemical Studies of Soil and Groundwater Around a Municipal Solid Waste Dumpsite in Gombe Metropolis

Physico-Chemical Studies of Soil and Groundwater Around a Municipal Solid Waste Dumpsite in Gombe Metropolis

Chapter One

Aim and Objectives of Study

Aim

To study the physico-chemical parameters of soil and groundwater around a municipal solid waste dumpsite in Gombe metropolis

Specific Objectives

To assess the physico-chemical parameters of groundwater samples collected from east, west, north and south around the dumpsite.
To compare the physico-chemical parameters of groundwater samples collected around dumpsite and control sample (800m) away from dumpsite with the international standard for drinking water.
To assess the physico-chemical parameters of soil samples collected around the dumpsite.
To compare the physico-chemical parameters of soil samples around the dumpsite with the control site (500m) away and samples from (20m) outside the dumpsite.
To compare the heavy metal contents of groundwater and soil samples from the dumpsite and samples from the control site.
To compare the physico-chemical parameters and heavy metals contents recorded for groundwater and soil samples during the rainy and dry seasons.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

Meaning of waste

Waste is anything which has no use or is not profitable to the disposer. These include anything produced in excess, be it food remains, metal, papers, plastics, cans etc. Waste is any substance which is discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. Waste is any matter, whether solid, liquid, gaseous or radioactive, which is discharged, emitted or deposited in the environment in such volume, consistency or manner as to cause an alteration of environment. Waste generated from commercial or industrial sources that are highly odorous and potentially hazardous to human or environment and as such requires a higher level of control¹³.

Solid waste

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), defined solid waste as “any useless, unwanted or discarded materials with insufficient liquid content to be free flowing”. According to Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) solid wastes are useless, unwanted or discarded materials that arise from man’s activities and cannot be discarded through sewer pipet¹⁷.

Solid wastes could be defined as non-liquid and non-gaseous products of human activities, regarded as being useless¹⁸. Solid waste is also used to describe non-liquid waste material arising from domestic, trade, commercial & public services. It comprises of countless different materials which include dust, food wastes, packaging in form of paper, metal, plastics or glass, discarded clothing, garden wastes, pathological waste, hazardous waste and radioactive waste¹⁹. The property of solid waste produced differs in different countries. The organic matter in solid wastes in developing countries is much higher than that in the wastes in developed countries²⁰. Solid waste is an inevitable and unwanted byproduct of our daily activities. Indiscriminate disposal of solid waste has adverse effect on lives and the environment in general. In medieval times, epidemics associated with water contaminated with pathogens decimated the population of Europe and even more recently (21th century), cholera was a common occurrence. Some of the direct health impacts of the mismanagement of waste are well known and can be observed especially in developing countries²¹. But the waste characteristics change slightly with respect to different geographical regions and seasons²².

Solid wastes can be classified in a number of ways, on the basis of source, environmental risk, utility and physical property. On the basis of source which is commonly used, solid waste are classified as municipal solid waste, industrial solid waste, agricultural waste, healthcare waste, radioactive waste, human and animal waste.

The generation of solid wastes from household, industries, market, abattoir, and shops result in improving the standard of living of the inhabitants. These solid wastes can as well contaminate groundwater.

Although solid waste is an asset when properly managed, its volume has continued to increase tremendously in recent times in Nigeria as a result of socio-economic development including wage increases. In Nigeria, much has been and is being invested on the disposal of municipal solid waste in cities. But little progress has been made because of several financial, technological and institutional constraints within the public and the private sectors^23,24. Solid waste problem has received attention by many environmental scientists and appreciable researches have been carried out on solid waste. Most of the studies on solid waste are aimed at evaluating the potential problems associated with solid wastes and their impact on the environment²⁵.

In recent times, Awake Magazine (2000) alerted that New York city alone produced enough garbage each year to bury the city’s huge central park under four meters of refuse. The same warning notes were made of the quantity of garbage produced by the people of Germany annually. In India, the generation of solid waste stood at between 300 to 600g per person per day resulting in 850 to 1200 million Rupees being spent every year for waste disposal/management²⁶. Each year, billions tones of solid wastes are generated which are in need of proper treatment to maintain the life and property of the public. Improper management of solid wastes has direct adverse effect on soil and water quality²⁷. Okpala (1986) in his studied correlated increased in solid waste generation in the urban centers in Nigeria with increase in population and finally discovered and concluded that there is a direct relationship²⁸. Muoghalu (1998) examined in great detail the incidence and magnitude of solid waste generation in Nigerian urban centers. The study associated these two variables with social class and level of income and concluded that they are related²⁹.

CHAPTER THREE

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Study Area

The study area is Gombe metropolis; it is located between latitude 10°15′N and 11°10′E. The LGA has an area of 52km² and a population of 266,844 persons according to 2006 population census; today the population is projected to be 399,531 persons using 3.2% growth rate¹²⁴. Gombe state was created out of the Bauchi state on 1st October 1991 with its headquarters situated in Gombe. It shares common borders with Borno, Yobe, Taraba, Adamawa and Bauchi states. It is characterized by a tropical climate with two distinct seasons; a rainy season (May-October) and a dry/ harmattan season (November-April). Based on the vegetation classification of Nigeria, the study area falls into Sudan savanna climate. The monthly mean temperature records show a range from 18 ^oC to 39 ^oC, with an average annual rainfall of 850 – 954mm¹²⁵. A large part of the existing town is at the foot of the Akko escarpment and on a shallow dish-like site. However, there is a westward expansion of the town up-hill the escarpment. The Gombe municipal dumpsite is located at the Herwagana Quarters. It is open dumpsite in an upland area; with the east transect located low land of the dumpsite. Its topography is basically plane except a few sloppy terrain which ends in a ravine. The area lacks functional drainage system, and it is always flooded each time it rains heavily. Due to poor disposal of solid wastes, the area is faced with the problem of indiscriminate dumping of wastes, as shown in plate 1.

CHAPTER FOUR

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Results of physico-chemical parameters and heavy metals of groundwater during wet and dry seasons.

The results of physico-chemical parameters and heavy metals content of groundwater samples around the municipal solid waste dumpsite during wet and dry seasons are as shown in (Tables 4.1 to 4.10);

CHAPTER FIVE

Conclusion

The results of this study assessed the physico-chemical and heavy metal contents of soil and groundwater around a municipal solid waste. The results revealed that most of the parameters determined, during the wet and dry season were not above the limits set by WHO international standard. The physico-chemical parameters determined, for all the borehole water and control water samples were below the international standards for drinking water except for high PO₄^3- content (1.13 to 2.17 mg/L) recorded for the borehole water samples in both seasons and Cr (0.01 to 1.2 mg/L) which exceeded the WHO permissible limit of 0.1 mg/l and 0.05 mg/L respectively. BH₁ samples recorded significant increase in salinity, NH₄⁺-N, PO₄^3-, Fe, Mn and Cr. BH₂ recorded significant increase in Na, PO₄^3-,NH₄⁺-N, Fe and Cr. BH₃ recorded significant increase in salinity, Na, PO₄^3- and a significant decrease in SO₄^2- values. The physico-chemical parameters of the soil show that strong linear relationship does not exist between some physico-chemical parameters and heavy metals in the dumpsite. The concentration of heavy metals in the soil samples from the dumpsite and 20m outside the dumpsite and the control site were below that of international standards. Soil samples from the dumpsite recorded significant increase in heavy metals Fe, Pb, Zn, Ni, Cr, Cd, Cu and Mn contents in both seasons at P<0.05; compared with the results from the control site.

Recommendations

At present, all the groundwater studied are suitable for domestic purposes with exception of borehole one.
Periodic monitoring of groundwater and soil around the dumpsite should be encouraged by both government and individuals so as to assess the parameters on short notice.
Seminars and campaign programs should be set up to sensitize the populace on the dangers of solid waste to the environment and human health.
The State and Federal Ministry of Environment should adopt a good waste management approach so as to minimize the indiscriminate disposal of waste to the environment.

REFERENCES

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El-Fadel, M., Findikakis, A. and Leckie, J. O.’ (1971) ‘’Environmental impact of solid waste-land filling’’. Journal of Environmental and Management, 50, 1-25.
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Ludwig, C., Hellweg, S., Stucki, S. (Eds.) 2003. Municipal Solid Waste Management: Strategies and Technologies for Sustainable Solutions. Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
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Susu, A. A. and Salami, L. (2011). “Surface and groundwater contamination and remediation near municipal landfill sites” Proposal for joint research efforts with the ministry of environment on surface and ground water contamination and remediation near municipal landfill sites.
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Hunachews, B. and Sandip, B. (2011). “Assessments of the pollution status of the solid waste disposal site of Addis Ababa city with some selected trace elements, Ethiopia” World Applied Science Journal.14(7): 1048-1057.

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