Environmental Impact Assessment of Improper Dumping of Municipal Solid Waste in Salem City, Tamilnadu, India

Abstract

Salem City is one of the hundred cities selected under the Smart Cites Mission Program by the Government of India and positioned at sixth place out of twelve selected Smart Cities in Tamil Nadu State with an area of 100 sq.km and a population of 8,51,577. It generates around 335 MT per day of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) at a rate of 393 gram per capita per day. At present the entire solid waste generated from the city has been dumped in an unscientific manner in Erumapalayam Landfill area of 28 acres which is located 12 km away from the city. The open dumping of Salem City MSW in the landfill area due to without liners and without a leachate management facility causes groundwater pollution and as well as saturation of an existing landfill site. Hence, in the present study an attempt has been made to quantify the impacts on land and water environments due to improper disposal of Salem city MSW in and around the Erumapalayam Landfill through an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study. From the detailed investigation of the water quality analysis of ground water in and around the dumping yard, it was found that the ground water was not suitable for drinking at places within 1000m radius of the landfill and this was exclusively due to the infiltration of leachate from the dumping yard which caused the ground water pollution. Similarly, the Environmental Impact Assessment study on soil environment revealed that the top soil layer is not polluted due to the improper dumping of MSW in the landfill area at present, nevertheless if the prevailing situation continues, it will affect the soil fertility in the near future.