Modeling the effect of chloride contaminant migration on groundwater

Municipal solid waste (MSW) is considered to be one of the biggest challenges facing most of the developing countries including Egypt. Notwithstanding the fact that there are various methods used in the disposal of MSW, landfilling remains an attractive disposal method out of purely economical aspects. This study presents the effect of improper landfilling of waste on groundwater quality. Moreover, a commercial software package has been used in this study to simulate the effect of liner deterioration over time and contaminant migration on groundwater underneath the sanitary landfill site. This model has been validated using three groundwater samples collected from the landfill site over different periods. Two samples were collected from the downstream point, while the third samples were collected from upstream point. The model output and analyzed samples indicated that the concentration of chloride in groundwater downstream El-Sadat landfill is almost double the concentration of the chloride the upstream samples. The downstream shows chloride concentrations of 250: 287 mg/lit and model results after 4000 days show a concentration of 245: 250 mg/lit, compared to 125 mg/lit in the upstream. The model results and the measured concentrations are in satisfactory agreement.