Pollution Research Paper

GEOPHYSICAL TECHNIQUE FOR SENSING OF SOLID WASTE DUMP SITE-INDUCED GROUNDWATER CONTAMINATION LEACHATE

M. MATHIAZHAGAN, T. SELVAKUMAR AND MADHAVI GANESAN

Abstract

Electrical resistivity methods have been widely used to study groundwater contamination. The decrease in resistivity caused by salinization of groundwater helps to identify the contaminant zones. Resistivity sounding determines the thickness and resistivity of different horizontal or low dipping subsurface layers including the aquifer zone. Surface geophysical surveys provide an effective way to image the subsurface and the groundwater zone without a larger number of observation wells. Resistivity sounding generally identifies the subsurface formations, the aquifer zone as well as the formations saturated with saline/brackish water. The protection of groundwater resources from pollution has been a high priority topic in recent years. The paradox of the modern society is that some of our efforts towards economic prosperity and increased standard of living could be detrimental to the overall quality of life due to encroachment upon the nature beyond its sustenance level or rejection of pollutants to environment exceeding its assimilative capabilities. With the increasing concern for groundwater protection, problem of predicting the movement by pollutants has gained greater attention. This project aims to detect Groundwater pollution of municipal solid waste dumpsite of Perungudi Dumping Yard at Chennai. The study area is bounded by Pallikaranai Marsh land in the west and Buckingham Canal in the east. In the recent years, Geophysical technique applications are used for Groundwater exploration. The Schlumberger configuration was used to create one dimensional apparent resistivity model. The apparent resistivity ranges from 0.2 Ohm-m to 317 Ohm-m. The low apparent resistivity indicated that the groundwater has been contaminated by leachate. The maximum impact of dump yard was observed upto approximately 1.5 km to 1.75 km through resistivity method.