Temporal variation of leachate pollution index of Indian landfill sites and associated human health risk

The present study investigated the variation in leachate pollution index (LPI) of four municipal solid waste (MSW) dumping sites: non-engineered (Okhla, Ghazipur, Bhalswa) and engineered (Narela-Bawana) of Delhi, India. A review of 142 screened studies from Google Scholar database was done for synthesis of information on LPI parameters. Further, the rate constant determination and human health risk assessment for various leachate parameters was done. Results showed the following LPI trends: Okhla landfill: irregular with exceedance to threshold value; Bhalswa landfill: exponential increase; and Narela-Bawana landfill: linear increase. Parameters such as pH, dissolved solids, copper, nickel, zinc, and chromium of Bhalswa landfill, exhibited an exponential decay with LPI variation. Whereas, for Narela-Bawana’s leachate BOD and COD parameters, an exponential decay in LPI vs zinc and linear increase for LPI vs lead was observed. For all dumping sites, a positive correlation was observed between heavy metals and LPI. In case of human health risk assessment, order of oral risk posed by Okhla’s metals was cadmium > chromium > nickel > lead, with maximum hazard quotient (HQ) of 1.61 for cadmium. For Ghazipur and Bhalswa landfills, cancer risk values for both adult and child sub-populations were observed to be maximum for cadmium followed by nickel, chromium, and minimum for lead. For Narela-Bawana landfill, the order of cancer risk was as follows: chromium > nickel > lead. HQ for Pb-contaminated groundwater exceeded the threshold limit in Ghazipur and Bhalswa landfills. For dermal groundwater exposure, cadmium for Okhla (adult 2.3 × 10⁻⁴ and child 1.4 × 10⁻⁴), Ghazipur (adult 9 × 10⁻⁵ and child 5.2 × 10⁻⁵), and Bhalswa (adult 1.5 × 10⁻⁴ and child 8.6 × 10⁻⁵) was observed to have maximum cancer risk. The analyzed year-wise LPI trend, calculated rate constants, and human health risk values from present study provide a basis to waste managers and regulators for understanding various waste sources. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]