Unmanaged Landfills Can Pollute Groundwater

Water, the most abundant compound in the universe, is also the most widely recognized and used. We rely on this precious commodity for several different things including transportation, washing, cooking, helping things grow and, of course, drinking. Basically speaking, if we ran out of water, all living things on Earth would eventually die.
Sound overly dramatic?  Well, maybe.  Although the previous fact is true, with over 70 percent of the Earth's surface covered with it, water shouldn't be endangered in any way.....or is it?

Ninety-seven percent of the water on Earth is salt water. Oceans and seas make up the vast majority of all water sources, with glacial ice and freshwater making up the other meager 3 percent.

With this extremely small amount of freshwater available for everything we use it for, we should protect it at all costs.  In looking at the things that we do on a daily basis, these things couldn't possibly harm our water sources.  On a day to day basis, we work, cook, clean, play, shower, repeat. See...our daily lives don't have a chance of polluting or contaminating the water we strive to protect.

When we clean, we use chemicals. The empty bottles go into the trash.  When we cook, scraps and empty containers also go into the trash.  Showering involves chemicals and soap which goes down the drain and, hopefully, is diverted to a waste water treatment facility and not to a nearby pond or river.

Believe it or not, throwing things into the trash and, in turn, the landfill, can actually contribute to groundwater contamination if the landfill is not managed properly. Landfills have been identified as one of the major threats to groundwater resources.  The  solid waste in landfills gradually release  by-products from the process of decomposition that could get into groundwater  Such liquid containing a multitude of organic and inorganic compounds is called "leachate". This leachate accumulates at the bottom of the landfill and filters through the soil. The basic  job of a conventional, modern landfill design is to contain or store waste so  the exposure to humans and the environment could be minimized.

A properly built and managed landfill can combat the dangers of leachate seeping into the surrounding soil and eventually, the groundwater. Modern landfills are precisely engineered in order to be in compliance with federal regulations. Contaminants would have to travel through the following layers of a landfill:

1. New Cells
2. Old Cells
3. Soil Layer
4. Drainage Layer
5. Gravel
6. Geotextile Mat
7. Leachate Collection Pipe
8. Plastic Liner
9. Compacted Clay, and finally
10. Our Groundwater 

As you can imagine, as long as today's landfills are initially engineered properly and managed in a way that protects the environment, our water sources are in no danger of contamination from landfill runoff.

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