International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract—Physical, chemical and bacteriological analyses of water samples from three boreholes located near a landfill at Akure, Nigeria was carried out to ascertain the magnitude of dumpsite pollution on groundwater quality. Borehole locations were at radial distances of 50m, 80m, and 100m respectively away from the landfill. The parameters determined included; turbidity, temperature, pH, Dissolved oxygen (DO), total dissolved solids (TDS), Total Hardness, Total Iron, Nitrate, Nitrite, Chloride, Calcium and heavy metals such as Copper, Zinc and Lead using convectional equipment and standard laboratory procedures. Most of these parameters indicated traceable pollution but were below the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Nigerian Standard for Drinking water quality (NSDWQ) limits for consumption. The pH ranged from 5.7 to 6.8 indicating toxic pollution, turbidity values were between 1.6 and 6.6 NTU and temperature ranged from 26.5 to 27.50C. Concentrations of iron, nitrate, nitrite and calcium ranged from 0.9 to 1.4 mg L-1, 30 to 61 mg L-1, 0.7 to 0.9 mg L-1 and 17 to 122 mg L-1 respectively. For heavy metals, zinc ranged between 0.3 and 2.3 mg L-1 and lead ranged from 1.1 to 1.2 mg L-1. The landfill was not directly responsible for the presence of Chromium in one of the wells but could be traced to an abattoir near the well. Bacteriological examinations revealed severe pollution in all the wells. Statistical analyses indicated significant differences among all the parameters tested for in the samples at 95% level. The results showed that all but one of the boreholes was strongly polluted but require urgently certain levels of treatment before use. Public enlightenment on waste sorting, adoption of clean technology, using climate change mitigation strategies and the use of sanitary landfill to prevent further contamination of ground water flow are recommended.

Index Terms—Groundwater; Landfill; Wastes; Quality; Pollution; Akure.

Manuscript received March 4, 2011. Dr. C. O. Akinbile is Senior Lecturerat the Department of Agricultural Engineering, Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria but currently a TWAS-USM Post-doctoralfellow at the School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM),Malaysia. (Phone: +60-16436-3925; fax: +60-4594-1009: e-mail: cecoakinbile@eng.usm. my).
Dr. Mohd Suffian Yusoff is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Sains Malaysia. (e-mail: suffian@eng.usm.my)

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Cite: Christopher O. Akinbile and Mohd S. Yusoff., "Environmental Impact of Leachate Pollution on Groundwater Supplies in Akure, Nigeria," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 81-86, 2011.