INTRODUCTION
With increasing regulatory pressure prohibiting ocean-based
disposal of wastes and effluents, there is an increasing tendency to
dispose wastes in landfill sites. Such disposals are the preferred
option in India as well as in many other countries of the world. In
India the waste disposal can be assessed as problematical. The possible
reasons are low collection capacity, lack of landfill management,
reduced recycling activities, waste dispersion through livestock, a low
awareness with respect to waste problems and absence of garbage
incineration or only restricted to private companies, hotels and
hospitals and a low level of composting technology.
The raw waste in India is generally a mixture of domestic,
commercial and industrial activities. The composition of these wastes
(solid as well as effluents or leachates from them) is quite variable
depending upon the generating source, mode of collection and treatment
provided. Most of the material which comes from the domestic activities
(e.g., plant residues, weeds, household garbage, sewage sludge) will be
organic in nature and contains essential plant nutrients. The dumping
material of commercial and industrial wastes (like plastic bags, tires
of automobiles, lead batteries, parts of electronic equipments),
however, contain appreciable amounts of heavy and potentially toxic
metals such as As, Cd, Cr, Hg, Ni and Pb and organic pollutants. Their
continuous dumping on surface land may result in an accumulation in the
soil in the vicinity of the dumping site. The leachate runoff from these
sites during rainy seasons further aggravates this problem to the
surrounding areas.
Apart from the environmental pollution, there is a possibility that
pollutants from city dumping sites may contaminate the underground water
or may be absorbed by plants growing in the nearby agricultural fields
and may thus create human and animal health problems. It has also been
observed that the leachate of these dumping sites sometimes accumulates
in the low-lying areas (Williams, 2005; Meuser, 2010).
Management of city solid waste in the State of Haryana, India, was
found deplorable and the people's perceptions about solid waste
varied, depending on their life style, food habits, region, religion,
seasons. The wastes generated were dumped in a variety of places mainly
in open areas of the localities. It is collected on each day or
alternate day and then transported to the dumping sites by means of
various modes managed by municipal committees and/or through contractual
basis. Overall, the dumping sites are not properly guarded and well
maintained, resulting into an easy accessibility by stray animals.
Municipal solid wastes generally comprise of rotten food and household
articles, tree branches, papers, paints, sewage sludge, plastic and
bricks/rubbles. Though composition of solid wastes generated in the
cities needs to be studied, plastic is a great nuisance amongst the
various components of municipal waste and is growing at an alarming
rate.
The exact data of the waste being generated in each city/town of
concern was not available because of different reasons, such as:
* The waste collection is largely done on annual contract basis by
the contractors and for the sake of ease their workers dump the
collected wastes at nearby open fields or areas in and around the cities
and the entire waste does not reach the dumping sites
* The waste collected is estimated in terms of vehicle carrying
capacity/tractor trolleys coming to the dumping sites
* Data available on municipal solid waste management with
municipalities is scarce
* information is not publicly available on websites of the
municipalities
* Most of the officials and staff are reluctant to provide any
information on the present practices of solid waste management
The literature is very meager with respect to the possible effects
and composition of the solid waste in and around the city dumping sites.
The present collaborative study was therefore planned with the
objectives of the physicochemical characterization of the waste material
and the distribution and extent of toxic pollutants in selected dumping
sites.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Investigation sites: An extensive field survey was done at various
waste disposal sites in Haryana to evaluate the general solid waste
management procedure, present situation and nature and amount of waste
being collected and deposited in and around the cities. For the present
study various dumping sites were assessed by onsite observations and
finally three waste dumping sites i.e., Rohtak, Jind and Karnal (Fig. 1)
were selected on the basis of variability of the nature of dump being
received. The waste deposits varied ranging from relatively fresh (3-4
years) deposits at Karnal (Fig. 2) to very old deposits (35-40 years) at
Rohtak (Fig. 3). The Jind site (8-10 years) consisted largely of
construction debris and household waste and presently is situated in the
centre of the town (Fig. 4).
Collection of samples: For sampling, the sites were divided into
three blocks of > 1,000 [m.sup.2] each and then samples were taken
from surface (0-1 m) and subsurface (1-2 m) depths from approximately15
randomly selected places in each block using hand operated window
augers. A composite sample (1.0 kg) of each block for each sampling
depth was then made by quartering method. This way six waste samples
were collected from each site. Bulk duplicate samples (around 20 kg
each) were also taken from these sites for segregation purpose. The
samples were immediately transported to the laboratory on the day of
sampling.
Laboratory methods: The bulk samples were air-dried for several
days and segregated manually for different composition fractions. The
rest of the solid waste samples were also air-dried and separated into
< 2 and > 2 mm fractions. Both fractions were ground with the help
of wooden pestle and mortar and finally stored in cloth bags for
laboratory analysis. To analyze heavy metals the material was
additionally ground by a ball mill. For laboratory analysis,
internationally accepted and standardized analytical techniques were
used. They are summarized in Table 1.
[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]
[FIGURE 2 OMITTED]
[FIGURE 3 OMITTED]
[FIGURE 4 OMITTED]
RESULTS
Physical composition of the waste samples: The bulk representative
solid waste samples collected in duplicate from each site were manually
segregated for different composition fractions and the data on dry
weight basis are presented in Table 2. There was a variation with
regards to the composition of the wastes among three experimental sites.
A significant portion of Rohtak, Jind and Karnal municipal city solid
waste forming approximately two-thirds was fine material consisting of
both mineral particles and biodegradable organic waste, which included
vegetables, food and horticultural waste. The second category contained
construction and demolition waste, in first instance brick fragments. In
Jind and Karnal approximately 25% of the total waste consisted of the
rubble and in Rohtak it was about 20%. The remaining category of waste
like paper, plastic, metals, glass and timber constituted around 10-15%.
Among the nonbiodegradable materials, plastics, in particular
polyethene, was the highest fraction ranging from 3.4% in Jind to 5.7%
in Rohtak samples. It was followed by glass (0.8-1.2%) and then metal
pieces (0.2-0.4%). Wood and textiles including leather also constituted
a sizable fraction of the total material with values ranging from
2.4-5.3 and 0.9-4.3%, respectively. Maximum amount of recyclable and
biodegradable paper was found in Karnal samples (1.1%) in comparison to
0.2% in Rohtak and 0.4% in samples from Jind dumping site.
The moisture content of the waste samples on oven dry basis
(105[degrees]C, 48 h) varied from 14.3-26.1%, highest content being in
samples from Jind and Rohtak and the lowest in Karnal samples. The
samples were generally dominated by sand sized material ranging from
82.9-88.3%. The clay and silt sized material varied from 2.8-4.7 and
from 8.8-12.5%, respectively. In general, higher amount of clay and silt
were observed in sub-surface (1-2m) samples than surface (0-1 m)
samples, may be because of the leaching of finer material from upper
horizons to lower ones with rain water percolation.
Chemical properties of waste samples: The data on per cent organic
carbon (TOC), the pH value as well as Electrical Conductivity (EC) for
> 2 and < 2 mm solid waste fractions are presented in Table 3 for
all the three sites. The results indicated that all the samples showed
variations irrespective of the size fraction (> or < 2 mm). The
average organic carbon content of the waste samples varied from
3.8-5.4%. The variations in organic carbon content were not only
observed from one site to another, but within the blocks from the same
site indicating a large variation in the nature and type of the material
being collected and deposited at these sites. Between the surface 5
layer (0-1 m) and the subsurface layer (1 -2 m) no clear tendency was
possible to detect. Due to the relatively high nitrogen content, the C/N
ratio exhibited values between 9 and 14 that can be considered as narrow
and remembers on fertile agriculturally used soils.
With regards to the differentiation between the size fractions,
similar trend of values of the electrical conductivity was also observed
for all the experimental sites. Between the two analyzed soil depths, a
tendency was visible indicating higher values in the second horizon. The
average pH of all the samples was found near neutral at approx. 7.5 with
low variation.
Total and plant available nutrients of the waste samples: Similar
to the results presented in Table 3, a significant difference in
nutrient concentrations between the two size fractions > mm and <
2 mm was not recognizable as well. In tendency, however, slightly lower
magnitude of the nutrients was found in < 2 mm waste fraction
samples. Accordingly, the following results refer to the fraction < 2
mm, usually considered in soil analyses. The solid waste samples were
analyzed for total and plant available nutrients phosphorus (P),
potassium (K) and sulfur (S) using standard methods.
[FIGURE 5 OMITTED]
Total phosphorus content in samples of < 2 mm size fraction was
relatively higher in Rohtak site than Jind and Karnal (Table 4). While
the total potassium concentration revealed comparable results between
the three sites, clear differences for sulfur were discovered. It was
interesting to note that the total S content was fairly high and >
all other nutrients. In general, the results indicated that the wastes
are rich sources of potentially available plant nutrients.
For using the waste in agriculture the plant available nutrients
are predominantly of interest. As shown in Table 4, the plant available
concentrations of P, K and S mostly indicated higher values for Rohtak.
If the ratio of the available value and the total amount based on
average values is taken into account, available phosphorus has a value
of 3.2-6.7% and sulfur of 1.1-4.4% only. The macronutrient potassium,
however, even reached a value ranging as high as 28.8-39.1% (Fig. 5).
Contaminants of the waste samples: The analysis results of samples
of city solid waste collected from Rohtak, Jind and Karnal dumping sites
showed the presence of metals such as As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn
(Table 5). Based on the total concentration (aqua regia extract) in most
cases a significant difference between two size fractions results were
not possible to detect. In tendency, some elements revealed higher
values in the fraction > 2 mm, e.g., Cr, Cu and Zn in Karnal. Between
the three investigated sites some metals did not show clear differences
such as As, Ba, Ni and Pb. Apart, As and Ni indicated relatively low
concentrations in general. With reference to Cd the Jind site presented
enhanced values, while high Cr and Zn concentrations were focused on
Karnal. Cu amounting of a high level in all sites did not indicate
uniform tendencies, but this element reached extreme values in some
samples in Karnal (maximum: 1,964 mg[kg.sup.-1]), similar to Zn that
also showed extremely high concentration in some samples in Karnal
(maximum: 2,200 mg[kg.sup.-1]).
In both size fractions > 2 and < 2 mm, the concentration of
almost all the DTPA extractable metals was found more in subsurface (1-2
m) depth compared to surface layer (0-1 m) depth samples, contrary to
the total concentrations (Table 6). Most tendencies of the total
extraction solution (e.g., high Cd values for Jind, high Zn values for
Karnal, general high Cu concentrations) were also found in the DTPA
extraction method.
[FIGURE 6 OMITTED]
Cadmium is supposed to reveal the highest mobility. A ratio
DTPA/aqua regia extraction of 17.8-21.9% was found for this element,
while the results of the other calculated metals were much lower varying
between 6.7 and 7.9% (Cu, Pb), 2.1 and 3.6% (Ni, Zn) and 0.2 and 0.5%
(Cr). Moreover, the three sites of concern showed comparable results
(Fig. 6).
Additionally, for the present study subsurface groundwater samples
from the tube wells were collected from around the landfill sites of
Rohtak, Jind and Karnal. For the determination of heavy metals, the
samples have been collected in plastic bottles, which were previously
soaked and washed with nitric acid and rinsed with double distilled
water. The samples collected from shallow aquifers from Rohtak, Jind and
Karnal dumping sites showed high concentrations of Cd. Moreover, the Pb
concentrations in Rohtak were very high, while the other metals (Cu, Cr,
Ni, Zn) were generally rather small (Table 7).
Apart from the metals, several organic pollutants were also
involved in the dumpsite investigations. Surprisingly low concentrations
were detected referring to the Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
(PAH-EPA). Only one sample reacted positively revealing a value of 0.44
mg [kg.sup.-1](in Karnal). In general, PAH and benzo(a)pyrene
concentrations fell below the detection limit (0.05 mg [kg.sup.-1]for
benzo(a)pyrene). In most of the samples also the phenol index did not
exceed the detection limit of 1.2 mg[kg.sup.-1]. Exceptionally, one
sample of Rohtak (1.4 mg [kg.sup.-1]) and one of Jind (2.9 mg
[kg.sup.-1]) resulted in detectable values. In 14 out of 36 samples a
GC-MS screening was conducted in order to get an overview of the organic
pollutants usually present in the dumpsites. In all cases there was no
relevant amount of organic pollutants that would be capable of
measurement.
DISCUSSION
The composition of the waste is heterogeneous, but the mineral
partition appeared to be dominant, since the TOC values ranged between
3.8 and 5.4%. Thus, the current dumping sites can be classified as sites
that consist mainly of nonbiodegradable material. The low TOC values are
caused by the long-term biodegradation and furthermore by consumption
related to animal impact. Organic materials were partly removed, since
animals consume the edible percentages. Besides cows, pigs and dogs, the
birds use the widespread unplanned heaps of garbage in city areas,
leading to an uncontrolled dispersion of the organic waste materials.
Normally, the organic matter content in Indian dumpsites indicates
values between 34.9 and 47.5%, nitrogen between 0.39 and 0.54% and the
C/N ratio exhibited results from 11 till 30 (Rawat et al., 2008). These
values correspond more or less to the results presented in Table 3.
Other studies dealing with Indian waste production mentioned C/N
ratios from 25-40. The ratios are typical for waste deposits containing
ash residues (Meuser, 2010). Other examples of solid waste
investigations even resulted in C/N ratios up to 950 (Gautam et al.,
2009). In fact, it is visually difficult to distinguish ashes from fine
earth. In publications given by the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy
Resources of India ashes and fine earth are statistically not separated.
The values of the ash-soil-mixture were measured in a number of cities
such as Kolkata (34.0% of the garbage volume), New Delhi (36.0%) and
Mumbai (45.6%) (MNCES, 1996). Moreover, the high percentage of fine
earth resulted from the special situation in Indian cities, where the
inhabitants sweep away the waste around their residents on unpaved
areas, so that a lot of loose soil material is combined with the waste
particles.
There is no doubt that the composition of the dumpsites may
continuously change, because man-made influences occur permanently. Rag
pickers, for instance, search for valuable material just after
depositing which surely is in charge with a decrease of metals in the
long run. Nevertheless, the finding rates of the considered dumping
sites in Haryana in association with the inert materials correspond with
results from the MNCES (1996). In the above mentioned cities the
percentage of plastics ranged from 0.7-2.0%, of metals from 0.7-3.6% and
of glass from 0.2-0.6%, respectively.
The neutral pH values analyzed can be explained by the potentially
calcareous material such as bricks and mortar. The results agree on
other Indian dumpsites in Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata and Delhi, which
indicated pH values varying from 7.8-8.2 (Rawat et al., 2008).
No definite trend of variation in nutrients content was observed
with respect to different waste dumping sites. As expected, all the
waste samples contained sufficient amounts of available P, K and S as
per the criteria outlined for agricultural soils in India defined as p
> 20 kg [h.sup.-1](Olsen, 1954), K > 248 kg [h.sup.-1] (Page,
1983) and S > 40 kg [h.sup.-1] (Chesnin and Yien, 1950),
respectively. Taking a specific density of 1.5 g [cm.sup.-3] and a depth
of 20 cm into account the values for available P should exceed 6.6 mg
[kg.sup.-1]and for available K 82 mg [kg.sup.-1]. Accordingly, the
measured nutrient concentrations of the waste samples reveal extremely
higher values than the criteria defined for agricultural soils.
Household waste deposits, however, result in densities of about 0.5 g
[cm.sup.-3] only (Meuser, 2010), so that the nutrient criteria have to
be multiplied by three leading to values of 19.8 mg [kg.sup.-1] for P,
246 mg [kg.sup.-1] for K and 120 mg [kg.sup.-1] for S, respectively.
Nevertheless, the waste samples indicate a high nutrient supply in any
case. These results exceeded intensively the long-termed used garden
soils which were fertilized with household waste, e.g., in Nanjing
(China), where the available P content ranged between 40 and 110 mg
[kg.sup.-1] (Zhang et al., 2001).
Compared with the nutrient assessment mapped out for anthropogenic
soils in urban environments (Meuser, 2010) the total P content is
assessed as being very high, if the value exceeds 0.15%. Analogous
values (very high) are for plant available p > 157 mg [kg.sup.-1] and
for plant available potassium > 183 mg [kg.sup.-1]. With respect to
the total P content (0.25-1.09%) the results corresponded to the
analyses of Indian composts amounting 0.1-0.8% P. The published values
for K (0.1-2.0%) are of similar magnitude like the measurements in
Haryana (0.43-1.09%) and the analyzed S values (0.3-4.7%) are in the
order of the compost results (0.5-3.0%) (World Health Organization,
1985). European municipal solid waste composts are also rich in
macronutrients as values of 0.23-0.32% (total P) and 0.30-0.87% (total
K) were observed (Umweltbundesamt, 2001).
Therefore, it can be concluded that the dumping sites are nutrient
storage places that should not be underestimated in future in a line
with ideas of urban mining. Particularly, the potassium source for soil
fertilization based on treated waste material could be of relevance,
because this element showed high plant availability. The possibility of
using the waste material for fertilizing purposes may mainly be
restricted to the contaminant concentrations expected. It has been
reported that samples from large landfill sites in different European
countries indicated high contaminant heterogeneity. Most of the
parameters involved revealed higher concentrations in household
landfills than in landfills consisting predominantly of inert
construction debris. It should be noted that the concentrations changed
with time depending on the stage of decomposition (residual accumulation
of metals). With reference to the total metal concentration the arsenic
content agreed on the measurements resulting from waste deposit
investigations in different European, Asian and American studies
(1.8-10.0 mg[kg.sup.-1]). Same tendencies were possible to observe for
the elements chromium (40-200 mg [kg.sup.-1]) and nickel (30-50 mg
[kg.sup.-1]) (Williams, 2005).
On contrary, the cadmium values of the Indian dumpsites fell partly
below the reported concentration of 1-150 mg [kg.sup.-1]. However, the
results from Jind appeared to indicate an enhanced level, e.g., in
comparison with dumpsite analyses in Leeds, United Kingdom (0.4-1.8 mg
[kg.sup.-1]). The variation for copper (200-700 mg [kg.sup.-1]), lead
(100-2,000 mg [kg.sup.-1]) and zinc (400-1,400 mg [kg.sup.-1]) stemming
from the investigations mentioned showed comparable tendencies, some
values of the Karnal analyses, however, revealed extremely high Cu and
Zn concentrations. Looking at the investigation in Leeds the measured
values in the Indian dumpsites were much higher with respect to copper
(41-100, with a mean value of 64 mg [kg.sup.-1]), lead (33-247, mean
value 101 mg [kg.sup.-1]) and zinc (149-313, mean value 226 mg
[kg.sup.-1]) (Williams, 2005). A possible reason is the room heating and
cooking in poorer localities, where different materials are burnt in
portable steel stoves. Residues of at least 15-20% are left as small
pieces of coal and ash and in India it is an easy and common method to
dispose of this material on unpaved areas close to the site of origin.
On the other hand, the elevated values of Cu, Pb and Zn,
particularly found in Karnal, should be considered exceptionally, since
most of the values in Rohtak and Jind are compatible with dumpsite
analyses generally published. Similarly, results from solid waste
compost material in Kolkata indicated lower values, e.g., 60-300 mg kg-1
for Cu, 100-200 for Pb mg [kg.sup.-1]and 200-900 mg [kg.sup.-1] for Zn
(Hoitink, 1993). In addition, it should be mentioned that the distinct
dumpsites and composting facilities might demonstrate a wide range of
metal values depending on the industrial influence in the vicinity of
the specific location. For instance, a singular investigation of a
compost pile in Panipat (in the same State of Haryana) revealed moderate
Cu (37-149 mg [kg.sup.-1]), Pb (13-67 mg [kg.sup.-1]) and Zn (82-168 mg
[kg.sup.-1]) concentrations, but problematical Ni (225-337 mg
[kg.sup.-1]) and Cr (411-647 mg [kg.sup.-1]) values that can be
associated with specific industry branches (e.g., dyeing manufactories)
nearby. Apart, the phenol index of this pile ranged between 2.0 and 4.2
mg [kg.sup.-1].
There are no governmental threshold values for assessment purposes
in India. The Municipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rules
(2000) did not include quality standards. For this reason, the
permissible and toxic limits respectively given by Chapman (1966) and
Soler-Rovira et al. (1996), as used by several other workers in India
were followed for interpretation. The mean potentially available metal
content detected by DTPA extraction exceeded the permissible critical
limits for cadmium (0.5 mg[kg.sup.-1]) in a number of samples. Contrary
to that, the upper critical limits of Cr (10 mg [kg.sup.-1]), Cu (5/30
mg [kg.sup.-1]), Ni (50 mg [kg.sup.-1]), Pb (20 mg [kg.sup.-1]) and Zn
(150/200 mg [kg.sup.-1]) did not seem to be problematical.
The high mobility of Cd could be confirmed by the ratio of
DTPA/aqua regia extraction. Up to approx. 22% of the total concentration
was calculationally available. The lower percentages of e.g., Pb and Zn
are linked to the neutral pH value analyzed, since the mobility is
expected to increase at pH values below 6.0 (Zn) and 5.0 (Pb) (Brummer
et al., 1986). Accordingly, the rest of the toxic metals contents were
still below their permissible limit. Leachate from household waste dumps
usually contain between 0.01 and 0.10 mg [L.sup.-1]Cd (Williams, 2005),
in this study all sites exceeded this level. For Pb, values ranging from
0.04-1.90 mg [L.sup.-1] were recorded and in Rohtak a comparably
enhanced concentration was found. On the contrary, the detected results
referring to Cu, Ni and Zn can be considered as relatively low in
comparison to the mentioned research studies published in Williams
(2005). The oriented analyses of the tube well samples underline the
elevated Cd (and Pb) mobility leading to considerable downward
percolation of the metals.
The dumping grounds were mainly open low-lying areas in or next to
the cities. The waste was generally dumped without any segregation into
biodegradable and nonbiodegradable parts. The municipal solid waste came
from domestic, agricultural and commercial sources and there was also
construction rubble. Especially in Jind, it cannot be excluded that
medical waste from the adjacent hospital was dumped simultaneously to
the household waste.
However, the analyzed organic pollutants did not indicate
problematical concentrations. Apart from an only negligible portion of
hazardous wastes, biodegradation is possible to reduce the
concentrations considerably. The higher temperature characteristic of
the Indian climate resulted in a higher rate of biodegradation and odor
development of reductive gases. Especially (the odorless) methane is
produced continuously in large quantities independent of the landfill
management. Even after the waste was buried at the sites methane
generation might take place permanently. The neutral pH value of the
waste that has been analyzed improved the methanogenesis. Thus, in
Indian dumpsites CH4 generated ranged from 146-454 mg [m.sup.-1]
[h.sup.-1]. By comparison in Swedish dumpsites (humid, continental
climate) the range was 0.5-320 mg [m.sup.-1] [h.sup.-1] (Rawat et al.,
2008). The methane generation might be a good indication of the high
biodegradation rate probably transferable to organic pollutants as well.
CONCLUSION
The analyzed waste samples indicate high plant nutrient content.
Therefore, the dumping sites are plant nutrient deposits, particularly
for K, which showed high plant availability. The deposits could be used
in future in a line with ideas of urban mining. The metal concentrations
were on a similar level as reported from other European or Asian
studies. Because the composition of the dumpsites may continuously
change due to man-made influences, the use of the waste material for
fertilizing purposes may be restricted mainly due to the toxic heavy
metal concentrations. The analyzed organic pollutants did not indicate
problematical concentrations. Using the dumping sites as source of plant
nutrient requires monitoring, especially of the metal concentrations.
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3.0.CO;2-T
Corresponding Author: R. Anlauf, Osnabrueck University of Applied
Sciences, 49009 Osnabrueck Germany
(1) H. Meuser, (2)R.S. Grewal, (1)R. Anlauf, (2)R.S. Malik, (3)R.K.
Narwal and 4Jagmohan Saini
(1) Osnabrueck University of Applied Sciences, PO Box 1940, 49009
Osnabrueck Germany (2) Department of Soil Science CCS Haryana,
Agricultural University, Hisar 125004, India (3) Department of Economic
and Statistical Analysis, Government of Haryana, Fatehabad, India (4)
Assist. Manager, Chambal Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd., Shri Ganganagar
(Rajasthan), India
Table 1: Analytical methods
Parameter Method
Water content Gravimetric method (ISO 11465:1993-12)
Texture Piper (1966) (ISO 11277: 2002-03)
Total Organic Walkley and Black (1934)
Carbon (TOC) (ISO 10694: 1995-03)
pH value Glass electrode method in CaCl2 (1:5)
(ISO 10390: 2005-02)
Electrical Conductivity bridge method in H2O (1:5)
Conductivity (EC) (ISO 11265: 1996-10)
Total nitrogen ISO 13878: 1998-03
Total phosphorus Koenig and Johnson (1942)
Available phosphorus Olsen (1954)
Total potassium Page (1983)
Available potassium Page (1983)
Total sulfur Chesnin and Yien (1950)
Available Sulfur Chesnin and Yien (1950)
Aqua regia extractable EN 13657: 2002-10, EN ISO
metals 11885: 2009-05
DTPA extractable metals Lindsay and Norvell (1978 ISO
14870: 2001-12)
Polycyclic aromatic Hein (1994)
hydrocarbons PAH-EPA)
Phenol Index ISO 6439: 1984-06Table 2: Waste composition (%) of the investigated sites at Rohtak,
Jind and Karnal
Site Rohtak Jind Karnal
Fine earth 65.1 65.6 61.8
(mineral and
organic) (%)
Construction 20.1 25.2 24.4
rubble (%)
Wood (%) 5.3 3.0 2.4
Plastics (%) 5.7 3.4 5.0
Glass (%) 1.2 1.1 0.8
Metal (%) 0.2 0.4 0.2
Paper (%) 0.1 0.4 1.1
Textiles, Leather 2.3 0.9 4.3
(%)
Table 3: Total Organic Carbon (TOC), Total Nitrogen (TN), C/N
ratio, pH value and Electrical Conductivity
(EC) in Rohtak, Jind and Karnal dumping sites
TOC TN C/N pH EC
Location Depth (%) (%) ratio (CaCl2) (dS
[m.sup.-1])
Size fraction > 2 mm
Rohtak 0-1 4.7 0.46 10 7.6 1.44
1-2 3.9 0.36 11 7.6 2.11
Jind 0-1 5.4 0.48 11 7.5 0.95
1-2 5.1 0.58 9 7.5 1.48
Karnal 0-1 4.5 0.52 9 7.5 1.85
1-2 4.9 0.34 14 7.6 2.17
Size fraction < 2 mm
Rohtak 0-1 3.9 0.34 11 7.6 1.12
1-2 3.8 0.34 11 7.6 1.92
Jind 0-1 4.2 0.37 11 7.5 0.78
1-2 4.2 0.42 10 7.5 1.39
Karnal 0-1 4.0 0.45 9 7.5 1.23
1-2 4.5 0.36 13 7.6 1.67Table 4: Total (%) and plant available (mg kg-1) phosphorus
potassium and sulfur content in Rohtak, Jind and Karnal for the
size fraction < 2 mm
P K S
Total concentration (%)
Rohtak 0.68 0.74 1.36
mean
range 0.25-1.09 0.52-1.09 0.92-2.02
Jind mean 0.31 0.61 3.91
range 0.25-0.38 0.54-0.72 0.37-4.09
Karnal 0.32 0.58 4.39
mean
range 0.25-0.47 0.43-0.93 2.81-4.69
Plant availableconcentration
(mg k[g.sup.-1])
Rohtak 218 2,086 606
mean
range 136-383 1,005-3,538 294-960
Jind mean 209 1,969 443
range 98-328 1,403-2,758 290-618
Karnal 149 2,277 576
mean
range 84-227 1,128-4,180 384-1,112Table 5: Aqua regia extractable metals (mg kg-1) in Rohtak, Jind and
Karnal for the size fractions Great than 2 mm and Lass than 2 mm
As Ba Cd
Site (mg [kg.sup.-1]) (mg [kg.sup.-1]) (mg [kg.sup.-1])
Size fraction > 2 mm
Rohtak mean 5.3 318 1.4
range 4.2-7.7 260-640 0.5-2.2
Jind mean 4.1 303 3.6
range 3.6-4.5 249-434 0.5-7.9
Karnal mean 4.5 284 1.0
range 4.3-5.0 42-470 0.4-1.6
Size fraction < 2 mm
Rohtak mean 4.9 375 1.3
range 2.8-9.8 302-488 0.5-2.1
Jind mean 3.9 280 4.2
range 3.6-4.2 225-368 0.4-11.0
Karnal mean 4.3 345 1.1
range 3.3-5.1 228-463 0.4-1.8
Cr Cu Ni
Site (mg [kg.sup.-1]) (mg [kg.sup.-1]) (mg [kg.sup.-1])
Size fraction > 2 mm
Rohtak mean 70 179 35
range 51-85 99-256 29-49
Jind mean 49 325 28
range 39-55 50-971 25-29
Karnal mean 128 680 43
range 83-172 86-1,964 28-55
Size fraction < 2 mm
Rohtak mean 68 187 32
range 47-87 108-336 26-46
Jind mean 46 173 27
range 36-54 36-368 22-29
Karnal mean 93 290 32
range 45-137 78-596 24-34
Pb Zn
Site (mg [kg.sup.-1]) (mg [kg.sup.-1])
Size fraction > 2 mm
Rohtak mean 186 382
range 77-315 208-614
Jind mean 137 341
range 48-234 190-551
Karnal mean 155 789
range 76-369 218-2,200
Size fraction < 2 mm
Rohtak mean 178 334
range 107-277 195-488
Jind mean 125 320
range 31-176 143-618
Karnal mean 155 450
range 40-262 210-772Table 6: Average soluble (DTPA extractable) heavy metal concentration
(mg kg-1) in Rohtak, Jind and Karnal for the size fraction Lass than 2
mm and the depths 0-1 m and 1-2 m
Site Depth Cd (mg Co (mg Cr (mg Cu (mg
(m) [kg.sup.-1)] [kg.sup.-1]) [kg.sup.-1]) [kg.sup.-1])
Rohtak 0-1 0.18 0.13 0.23 10.6
1-2 0.31 0.15 0.26 15.6
Jind 0-1 0.48 0.16 0.20 13.0
1-2 1.37 0.18 0.25 14.1
Karnal 0-1 0.16 0.20 0.24 14.4
1-2 0.25 0.20 0.21 27.6
Site Ni (mg Pb ((mg Zn (mg
[kg.sup.-1]) [kg.sup.-1]) [kg.sup.-1])
Rohtak 1.60 11.1 9.1
0.77 12.7 9.6
Jind 0.42 8.4 8.9
0.55 9.9 9.9
Karnal 0.98 11.7 9.3
0.99 14.5 10.2Table 7: Average values of heavy metals in tube well waters
(mg [L.sup.(-1)) collected in the vicinity of Rohtak, Jind and Karnal,
dumpsites
Cd Cu Cr
((mg [L.sup.-1]) (mg [L.sup.-1]) (mg [L.sup.-1])
Rohtak(n=3) 0.27 nd nd
Jind (n=3) 0.22 nd nd
Karnal (n=3) 0.26 nd nd
Ni Pb Zn
(mg [L.sup.-1]) (mg [L.sup.-1]) (mg [L.sup.-1])
Rohtak(n=3) 0.07 1.02 0.09
Jind (n=3) 0.06 0.02 0.15
Karnal (n=3) 0.08 0.02 nd