Impact of municipal solid waste disposal on groundwater in Mysuru city, India using Geographical Information System

Mysuru city is among those cities that have been witnessing a drastic increase in urban areas and an inflow of population from its surrounding rural areas. The city has several well-known tourist attractions, which adds a good revenue to the city’s economy. These urbanization and tourism not only brings in prosperity to the city, but also the crisis of municipal solid waste management. The Mysuru City Corporation works hard to retain the title of the Cleanest City in India. The Land Use and Land Cover were assessed that clearly showed the development of settlement around the existing landfill site causing health hazards to the residents. To study the effects of the landfill site and several unauthorized disposal sites around the city on the groundwater resources, tools of Geographical Information System and Water Quality Index were used. The leachate formed from the MSW disposal sites drains down the soil, polluting both the soil and the groundwater. Groundwater quality were assessed based on certain chemical parameters & the standards prescribed by the Bureau of Indian Standards. The Inverse Distance Weighted method of spatial interpolation was applied to derive the groundwater quality for the study area based on the locations of the samples. To assess the quality of soil, samples were collected from in and around the landfill site. The environmental impact of the existing municipal solid waste landfill was found alarming and requires a new landfill site away from the inhabited areas.