Impact of Landfill Leachate on Groundwater Quality – A Comparison Between Three Different Landfills in Morocco

Abstract

In this work, physicochemical and bacteriological analyses of leachate collected from three different landfills in the Marrakech region in Morocco were carried out. The results showed that the leachate is highly loaded with organic matter, chemical and bacteriological elements and some heavy metals, this load depends of the nature of landfill (rural or urban) and also of its age (young or old), the values of the parameters exceed the limit values for discharge into the natural medium. Physicochemical and bacteriological analyses of groundwater from wells downstream of these landfills were also carried out; The results showed that they had medium to poor quality according to the type of landfill. This is due to the presence of organic matter, total coliforms, total phosphorus and total nitrogen in many studied wells.