SEASONAL DYNAMICS, HYDROCHEMISTRY AND NATURAL ATTENUATION OF LANDFILL LEACHATE IN NORTHERN NIGERIA: A REVIEW

Abstract

Concern about environmental protection has grown globally in recent years. Landfill is an unavoidable issue in the solid waste management system. In terms of simplicity, as well as low exploitation and capital costs, landfilling is recognized as the most common, desirable, integral, and indispensable solid waste management strategy for the sustainable disposal and elimination of residual wastes from separation, recycling, and incineration, both in fully industrialized and developing countries, accounting for approximately 95 percent of total municipal solid waste collected worldwide. Landfills are physically, chemically, and biologically complex heterogeneous systems by nature, with underlying hydrological conditions, refuse composition and compaction, temperature, moisture content, and seasonal variations as its defining characteristics. The difficulty in managing the resulting leachates, which are complex and highly contaminated wastewaters, is one of the main issues with the operation and non[1]treatment of landfilled waste. Furthermore, in developing countries with rapidly growing populations, such as Nigeria, solid waste dumping in landfills has increased significantly. The composition and characteristics of leachate are highly dependent on a variety of factors, including waste type, climate, organic matter content, landfill hydrogeological structure, and operational conditions. It is one of the most potentially hazardous sources of landfill emissions. There have been few reports of similar or related studies in Northern Nigeria. As a result, such studies are justified in providing recommendations that could aid in mitigating future environmental hazards.