Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

STUDY OF MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE (MSW) DUMPING IN A RAIN CATCHMENT AREA

Anju Singh, Richa Gautam, Rajan Sharma and Manju Raina

Abstract

An increasing amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) and its consequent disposal have become a major environmental issue in urban areas. Municipal waste arises from residential, commercial, institutional and industrial sources. It is composed of paper, plastics, glass, cloth, metals, organic waste, inorganics, and ashes etc. The MSW dumping site in this case is surrounded by reserve forest with plant density of 40-50%, a residential colony and a rain catchment area. 40 samples of MSW and 2 control soil samples were analyzed for 20 parameters including pH, organic matter, specific gravity etc. This paper presents a study about the impact of open MSW dumping on land. It also suggests various mitigation measures which are cost effective and require less resources for example minimizing wastewater generation, managing non- point source pollution, decreasing soil erosion, development of comparative information to enable site selection, providing physical barriers etc, which could lead to redevelopment of the study area and reversing the problems that persist there.