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A Comprehensive Review of Landfill Leachate Impact on Groundwater Quality and Public Health
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Researchers reviewed how landfill leachate — carrying pharmaceuticals, microplastics, heavy metals, and dissolved organics — migrates into surrounding groundwater through infiltration and redox-driven transport, documenting contamination plumes extending hundreds of meters from sites across Asia, Europe, and North America and linking exposure to kidney dysfunction, neurological disorders, and elevated cancer risk.
Landfill leachate is one of the major sources of groundwater pollution associated with municipal solid waste dumping. This review discusses the landfill leachate generation, composition, and migration mechanisms, and its environmental impact on the groundwater resources and human health. Usually, landfill leachate has a high level of nutrients, dissolved organic matter, major ions, and emerging contaminants, including pharmaceuticals, microplastics, and heavy metals. The leachate composition is also different depending on the nature of the waste, the age of a landfill, working practices, and climatic conditions. The migration of contaminants in the landfill bodies to the surrounding aquifers and soil systems is controlled by hydrogeochemical processes such as infiltration, dispersion, advection, adsorption, and redox reactions. Many studies performed in Asia, Europe, and North America have indicated degradation in water quality of the groundwater of the regions around landfill sites with the contaminant plumes stretching hundreds of meters around the landfill boundaries. In developing countries, particularly India, unlined landfill sites such as Ghazipur, Bhalswa, and Okhla are major sources of groundwater contamination due to inadequate containment systems. Exposure to contaminated groundwater can result in serious health effects, including methemoglobinemia, kidney dysfunction, neurological disorders, and increased carcinogenic risk. This review further highlights monitoring approaches, remediation technologies, and policy measures aimed at minimizing leachate-induced groundwater contamination. Ensuring groundwater protection in rapidly urbanizing regions requires improved landfill design, integrated monitoring systems, and the adoption of sustainable waste management practices.
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A Comprehensive Review of Landfill Leachate Impact on Groundwater Quality and Public Health
AI summary Read the abstract
Researchers reviewed how landfill leachate—containing pharmaceuticals, microplastics, heavy metals, and dissolved organics—migrates through soil into groundwater via infiltration, advection, and redox reactions, documenting contamination plumes extending hundreds of meters from unlined landfills and linking exposure to methemoglobinemia, kidney dysfunction, neurological disorders, and elevated cancer risk.
From surface to aquifer: a global synthesis of landfill leachate composition and its impact on groundwater systems
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This review of over 400 studies worldwide finds that landfills can leak a toxic mix of chemicals, heavy metals, PFAS "forever chemicals," and microplastics into groundwater, especially where rainfall is high and containment is poor. Older or unlined landfills pose the biggest risk, highlighting why proper engineering and long-term monitoring matter for keeping drinking water supplies safe.
Occurrence of per- and polyfluorinated substances, microplastics, pharmaceuticals and personal care products as emerging contaminants in landfill leachate: A review
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This review examines how landfill leachate -- the liquid that seeps out of waste dumps -- contains significant levels of emerging contaminants including PFAS ("forever chemicals"), microplastics, and pharmaceutical residues. These pollutants can leak into groundwater and surface water at concentrations influenced by landfill age and composition, posing ongoing risks to drinking water safety and human health.
Microplastics in landfill leachate: Occurrence, health concerns, and removal strategies
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This review examines how microplastics form and accumulate in landfill leachate, the liquid that drains from waste sites. As plastic waste breaks down in landfills, it releases microplastic particles that can contaminate surrounding soil and water. The authors assess health concerns from leachate-borne microplastics and evaluate removal strategies, highlighting an often-overlooked pathway for microplastic pollution.
Sources, distribution, and impacts of emerging contaminants – a critical review on contamination of landfill leachate
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This review examines how landfill leachate, the liquid that drains from garbage dumps, carries emerging contaminants including microplastics into surrounding soil and water. The authors warn that microplastics in landfill leachate are a growing environmental threat and call for better treatment technologies to prevent contamination of groundwater and nearby ecosystems.
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