Sustainable management of landfill leachate by irrigation

Leachate from domestic landfills is a significant environmental hazard. In the urban environment, irrigation of recreational turf and parkland with nitrogen-rich landfill leachate provides both low-cost treatment that minimises pollution of surrounding waters and a valuable water resource. Of particular interest is the capacity of the turf-soil system to ameliorate the ammonium-rich leachate. To address this issue, a two-year field trial was completed at the Newington Landfill irrigating with saline, ammonium-rich leachate. The field trial suggested that in situ bioremediation is sustainable provided that management strategies such as dilution of leachate to reduce solution electrical conductivity to 3.6 dS m super(-1) are adopted. Furthermore, pollution due to leaching of nitrogen can be minimised by managing the soil to enhance in situ denitrification of applied nitrogen. The management regimes adopted during the Newington field trial enabled nitrogen application rates in excess of 1400 kg NH sub(4) super(+) ha super(-1) yr super(-1). However, the capacity of the system to ameliorate the leachate appears limited by soil salinity and sodicity rather than the control of nitrogen leaching by denitrification, suggesting that rates of up to 3500 kg NH sub(4) super(+) ha super(-1) yr super(-1) may be viable if the salinity hazard can be effectively managed.