Impact of municipal solid waste dump on ground water quality at Danda Lokhand landfill site in Dehradun city, India

Ground water contamination is generally irreversible i;e, once it is contaminated it is difficult to restore the original water quality of aquifer. Excessive mineralization of ground water degrades water quality producing an objectionable taste, odour and hardness. So keeping in view the importance of ground water and the effect of municipal solid waste dump on ground water. We select the present dump site Danda Lokhand on Sahastradhara road, in Dehradun. The residential areas around this dump site mainly have bore-wells and hand pumps. The depth of these bore-wells & hand pumps around the site varies from 350–450 feet. The purpose of this study was to assess the physico-chemical properties and microbial activity of underground water was evaluated within 3 months. The physico-chemical properties such as temperature, total dissolved solids, pH, electrical conductivity, alkalinity, total hardness, phosphate, chloride, residual chlorine & microbial activities were studied & analyzed. The present study is an attempt to observe the existence of pollution in ground water quality and its ill effects on human beings who settled near the dump site at Dehradun municipal corporation (DMC).