Effect of Municipal Solid Waste Open Dumping on Soil, Water, Crop, Human Health and Its Prospectives

ABSTRACT

Characterization of heavy metals in 5 Km2 range of dumping yard in relation to soil, water and crop has been studied. The concentration of Cd (4.05 mg/kg) in soil was higher than the permissible limit of WHO (3 mg/kg) and in descending order of metals in soil was found to be Fe> Cr>Cd>Ni>Zn>Cu>Pb and in bore well water it was Cr, Fe, Pb, Cd, Zn and Cu (23.20, 0.63, 0.31, 1.19 and 0.69 mg/l respectively) than the permissible limit (0.54, 0.40, 0.068, 0.03, 0.22, 0.018 mg/l) and their respective concentration ordered as Fe>Zn>Cu>Pb>Cd>Ni>Cr. Further the vegetables grown nearby dumping yard was highly contaminated by Cr in range (2.78 to 12.78 mgkg-1) in tomato, beans and cabbage and even in ragi and green gram Cr was high (1.78 to 14.96 mgkg-1). i.e., in Tomato; Cd>Fe>Cr>Zn>Pb>Ni>Cu, Beans; Cr>Cd>Pb>Fe>Zn>Cu>Ni, Cabbage; Cr>Cd>Pb>Fe>Zn>Cu>Ni, Ragi; Fe and Zn were below permissible limit and Pb, Ni, Cu, Cd are BDL and Green gram; Cr>Fe>Zn>Pb>Cu > Ni>Cd. In support of results, primary survey was conducted in nearby 20 villages circumventing the dumping yard. A total of 150 respondents were randomly enquired to know their level of knowledge and health status as result of open dumping site. The results revealed that 43.33%, 36% and 20.67% as medium, high and low impact in relation to heath and knowledge aspect of dumping site. Thus there is a considerable impact on environment and humans due to the presence of heavy metal in crop, soil and water.