Characterization of Leachate from Municipal Open Solid Waste in Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria

The increase in the growth of population and urbanization in most state capitals has resulted in generation of large volumes of solid waste. Municipal solid waste is generated daily with an average of 0.5-1.5 Kg/daily per household. Municipal solid waste has become a health hazard in Nigeria, which is yet to be tackled properly by the government and local authority. The methods used for the analysis of leachate samples were adopted from American public health association (APHA, 2012). This study characterizes the physico-chemical properties of leachate from municipal open solid waste in Makurdi, Benue state, Nigeria. The results showed that the colour and smell were light brown and malodourous respectively while the mean pH, temperature, Total solids, Total volatile solids, Suspended solids, Total dissolved solids, COD, BOD5, BOD5/COD ratio, Pb, Ni, Co, Cr and Cd were 7.79±0.02, 35.28, 5993.0±33.0 mg/L, 228.0±8.5 mg/L, 887.0±6.5 mg/L, 12168.0±22.1 mg/L, 868.00±0.12 mg O2/L, 373.000±0.002 mg O2/L, 0.46, 0.461.000±0.0010, 0.0845.000±0.0004, 0.2045.000±0.0009, 0.5211.000±0.0011 and 0.1565.000±0.0010 respectively. The leachate sample contain high concentration of organic and inorganic constituents including toxic metal content higher than the NESREA standards limit for drinking water.