Bull Eng Geol Environ

DOI 10.1007/s10064-014-0577-9

ORIGINAL PAPER

An investigation of the potential environmental contamination

from the leachate of the Rasht waste disposal site in Iran
Mohammad Nakhaei • Vahab Amiri •

Khalil Rezaei • Firouz Moosaei

Received: 28 October 2013 / Accepted: 28 January 2014

Ó Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

Abstract This research deals with detecting the under- barrier to infiltration and movement of contaminant to the
ground layer geometrics and conditions, probable faults deep subsurface.
and crushed zones, thickness of alluvium, determination of
pollutant plume development, and groundwater quality in Keywords Waste disposal site  Visual HELP 
the study area. The Visual HELP and HYDRUS programs HYDRUS  Contaminant  Leachate  Rasht  Iran
were used to evaluate hydrologic properties and contami-
nant transport, respectively. All required data which con-
sisted of the geotechnical study (drilling the borehole and Introduction
dug well), the geophysical study (geoelectrical sounding),
and geochemical analysis of water and leachate samples Exposures to environmental contaminants are significant
were collected in the field operations. According to the risk factors in human health and disease. To understand and
results of ten years of hydrologic data evaluation of this manage these risk factors, environmental and public health
site by using the Visual HELP program, the mean rate of managers must have knowledge of the source of the
leachate percolation from this site was equal to 1.095 m exposure, the fate of contaminants, exposure levels, and
per year. From the interpretation of the vertical electrical routes of the exposure for such contaminants (Jhamnani
resistivity soundings curves which was calibrated by the and Singh 2009). Municipal solid waste (MSW) has
geotechnical borehole log, a four-layer geoelectrical model already become one of the main factors which adversely
was recognized. These layers consisted of surface layer influences the environment during the course of city con-
(loose and fine grained topsoil), medium grained alluvium, struction and growth. Landfills have been identified as one
saturated layer, and high resistivity bedrock. The physico- of the major threats to groundwater resources; areas near
chemical analysis of ten surface and groundwater sample landfills have a greater possibility of groundwater con-
indicated that these samples were not contaminated by tamination because of the potential pollution source of
leachate yet. Based on 1D, 2D and 3D modeling of con- leachates originating from the nearby site (Nixon et al.
taminant transport using the HYDRUS 1D and the HY- 1997; Aldecy et al. 2008). Such contamination of
DRUS 2D/3D program, during the ten years of the onset of groundwater resources poses a substantial risk to the local
leachate seepage, contaminant plume migrated a short resource user and to the natural environment (Mor et al.
distance (\200 m) due to high compaction of fine grain 2006). Municipal landfill leachates are highly concentrated
sediments. In addition, the high compaction of a third layer complex effluents which contain dissolved organic matters;
(M3) in a depth of more than 40 m introduces a natural inorganic compounds, such as ammonium, calcium, mag-
nesium, sodium, potassium, iron, sulphate, chloride and
heavy metals such as cadmium, chromium, copper, lead,
nickel, zinc, among others (Lee et al. 1986; Christensen
M. Nakhaei  V. Amiri (&)  K. Rezaei  F. Moosaei
et al. 1998; Ogundiran and Afolabi 2008).
Department of Applied Geology, Faculty of Earth Sciences,
Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran The produced leachate from waste disposal sites can
e-mail: [email protected] migrate to the surface and groundwater. The resultant

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contamination brings a latent hazard, which cannot be into the ground water system, there is a need to study the
ignored, to the cities. Currently, many MSW landfills degree of pollution in the groundwater and to assess the
cannot meet environmental standards and present a serious migration and dispersion potential of pollutant species and
threat to the environment. Leachate from a MSW landfill is their impact on water quality.
a latent pollution source and the occurrence of leachate Because there was no information about the environ-
leakage, due to poor management can result in serious ment impact of the Rasht waste disposal site, the
environmental contamination in the surrounding areas of researchers tried to collect all primary data just during this
waste disposal sites. Therefore, numerical simulation of the study for the first time. So, during the main objectives of
environmental pollution process from MSW landfill this study- the hydrological evaluation and contaminant
leachate is important to the evaluation of environmental transport modeling of the Rasht waste disposal site—all
risk associated with MSW landfills, to understand the required and complementary data were collected. For this
mechanisms that control leachate formation, quality, aim, the authors used the Visual HELP and HYDRUS (1D,
quantity, most importantly migration characteristics (El- 2D and 3D) programs for evaluation of hydrologic prop-
Fadel et al. 1997b) and also to the environmental pollution erties and contaminant transport modeling, respectively. In
control process. With the MSW problems being increas- this research, all required data were collected in field
ingly prominent, the occurrence of groundwater contami- operations, which consisted of geotechnical study (drilling
nation is increasingly frequent; accordingly, the study of the borehole and dug wells), geophysical study (geoelec-
groundwater contamination resulting from MSW landfill trical sounding), geochemical analysis of water and
leachate has become an increasingly focused issue. Many leachate samples, and field excursion for collecting sup-
researchers have carried out experimental and theoretical plementary data.
studies on MSW landfill leachate and groundwater con-
tamination, including the mechanisms driving leachate
generation, its translation and transport process, its quality Materials and methods
and environmental effects, pollution range, distribution
characteristics and its fate in the environment. Incidents of Water flow and contaminant transport
groundwater contamination by landfill leachate have been in the unsaturated zone
widely reported since the early 1970s (Zanoni 1972; Gar-
land and Mosher 1975; Dunlap et al. 1976; MacFarlane The unsaturated zone is often regarded as a filter removing
et al. 1983; Reinhard et al. 1984; Albaiges et al. 1986; undesirable substances before they affect aquifers, and the
Butow et al. 1989; El-Fadel et al. 1997a; Malina et al. hydrogeological properties of the unsaturated zone are the
1999; Longe and Kehinde 2005; Longe and Enekwechi most important factor for groundwater deterioration
2007). induced by surface contamination (Stephens 1996; Selker
Recently, solid waste has been one of the major con- et al. 1999). The knowledge and understanding of water
tributors to the environmental problems in Iran. The flow and solute transport in the unsaturated zone is
problem of groundwater contamination by waste disposal becoming increasingly important, especially in terms of
sites is steadily growing worse in Iran due to the way of water resources planning and management, water quality
managing the municipal solid wastes. Solid waste disposal management, and the mitigation of groundwater pollution.
sites are well known to release large amounts of hazardous The presence of different phases (soil/sediment matrix,
and deleterious chemical (leachate). Leachate is produced water, solute and air) results in many different physical and
primarily in association with precipitation that infiltrates chemical processes taking place. These processes are often
through the wastes and normally results in the migration of complex and require simplifying assumptions to provide
leachate into the groundwater zone and pollutes it. There is achievable and verifiable results in terms of water and
little or no monitoring of the extent of leachate infiltration solute solution profiles in the shallow sediments (Selker
and its movement into the groundwater at waste disposal et al. 1999; Gandola et al. 2001).
facilities in Iran. Hence, the extent of short and long term
contamination of groundwater is unknown. In this study, Water flow
one of the most important active waste dump sites at Rasht
province, Iran, is evaluated. In this site, the waste dumping The process of uniform variably saturated flow is generally
was started in 1983 and, according to municipality reports assumed to be governed by Darcy’s law and the conser-
for 1997, with per capita waste generation in this city, vation of mass. The theoretical basis for the equation
which is about 800 g per day, about 470 metric tons of describing saturated and unsaturated flow and solute
domestic waste was dumped in this location. Since the transport has been well documented in the literature (for
Rasht waste disposal sites have the potential to deteriorate example; Bear et al. 1995; Zheng and Bennett 1995;

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An investigation of the potential environmental contamination

Domenico and Schwartz 1998; Sudicky 1998; Radcliffe solute transport modules exist in the different codes. Some
and Šimůnek 2010). The uniform variably-saturated water modules simulate single-component transport, while others
flow is described using the Richards equation (Šimůnek contain biogeochemical modules for simulating potentially
et al. 2011): very complex interactions between the various solutes. In
  
ohðhÞ o oh this section we provide brief descriptions of the HYDRUS
¼ KðhÞ KijA þ KizA  SðhÞ; ð1Þ transport modules (Šimůnek et al. 2011). Solute Transport
ot oxi oxj
(Convection-Dispersion Equation) flow is described using
where h = volumetric water content (L3 L-3); h = pres- the Eq. (4):
sure head (L); K = unsaturated hydraulic conductivity  
oðq sÞ oðh cÞ o oc
(L T-1); KiiA = components of a dimensionless anisotropy þ ¼ h D þ qc  /; ð4Þ
ot ot oz oz
tensor KA (which reduces to the unit matrix when the
medium is isotropic); S = general sink/source term in which c is the solution concentration (M L-3), s is the
(L3 L-3 T-1) accounting for root water uptake; t = time adsorbed concentration (M M-1), h is the water content
(T); and xi = spatial coordinate (L). (L3 L-3), q is the soil bulk density (M L-3), D is a dis-
Because of the strongly nonlinear make-up of the persion coefficient (L2 T-1), q is the volumetric flux
Richard equation, only a relatively few simplified analyti- (L T-1) and / is the rate constant representing reactions
cal solutions can be derived. Most practical applications of (M L-3 T-1).
Eq. (1) require a numerical solution, which can be obtained
using a variety of methods such as finite differences or HELP program
finite elements. Equation (1) is generally referred to as the
mixed form of the Richards equation since it contains two The Hydrologic Evaluation of Landfill Performance
dependent variables (i.e., the water content and the pressure (HELP) model is a quasi-two-dimensional, deterministic,
head). Solutions of (1) require knowledge of two soil water-routing model for determining water balances. The
hydraulic functions describing the soil water retention and HELP model requires daily climatologic data, soil char-
hydraulic conductivity properties of the porous material. acteristics, and design specifications to perform the ana-
The soil water retention curve (or also called the soil water lysis. This program assumes Darcian flow for vertical
characteristic curve, the capillary pressure-saturation rela- drainage through homogeneous, temporally uniform soil
tionship, or the pF curve) describes the relationship and waste layers. Percolation through soil liners is modeled
between the water content and the pressure head. by Darcy’s law, assuming free drainage from the bottom of
The HYDRUS software (Šimůnek et al. 2011) imple- the waste dump in the disposal site. Vertical drainage is
ments the soil-hydraulic functions of van Genuchten (1980) assumed to be driven by gravity alone and is limited only
who used the statistical pore-size distribution model of by the saturated hydraulic conductivity and available
Mualem (1976) to obtain a predictive equation for the storage of lower segments. In the HELP model the unsat-
unsaturated hydraulic conductivity function in terms of soil urated hydraulic conductivity is computed by the Campbell
water retention parameters. The expressions of van Ge-
nuchten (1980) are given by Eqs. (2 and 3):
8 Table 1 Separated blocks from the Rasht waste disposal site
< hs  hr
hr þ h\0
hðhÞ ¼ ½1 þ jah jn m ð2Þ Block Area Waste thickness Angle of block
: no. (hectare) (m) bottom
hs h0
m 2 1 6.5 45 25
KðhÞ ¼ Ks Sle ½1  ð1  S1=m
e Þ  ; ð3Þ
2 2 15 18
in which hr and hs denote the residual and saturated water 3 2.8 20 15
content (-), respectively. The Ks is the saturated hydraulic
conductivity (L T-1); a is the inverse of the air-entry value
(or bubbling pressure) (L-1). n is a pore-size distribution
index (-), and l is a pore-connectivity parameter assumed Table 2 Hydrologic properties of wastes
to be 0.5 (-). Vertical percolation parameters of municipal waste
Total porosity (vol/vol) 0.67
Solute transport
Field capacity (vol/vol) 0.29
Wilting point (vol/vol) 0.07
While water flow in the various software packages is
Sat. hyd. conductivity (cm/day) 86.4
simulated in a relatively similar manner (i.e., using the
Subsurface inflow 0
Richards equation to describe uniform flow), different

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 M. Nakhaei et al.

Table 3 Hydrologic parameters of three blocks of the Rasht waste disposal site in ten years of evaluation
Block no. Measurement unit Precipitation Runoff Evapotranspiration Soil water Percolation or leakage

1 Volume (m3) 869,170 453.23 137,200 9,227,400 694,950

Rate (m) 13.37 0.69 2.11 141.96 10.69
2 Volume (m3) 267,440 162.41 42,318 563,080 223,370
Rate (m) 13.37 0.08 2.11 48.15 11.1
3 Volume (m3) 374,410 203.46 59,205 1,787,900 310,440
Rate (m) 13.37 0.007 2.11 63.85 11.08

Table 4 Summary of physical properties of geological structures at hydraulic equation using Brooks-Corey parameters. In this
the waste disposal site study, the main application of Visual HELP was determi-
Properties Value nation of the leachate production rate (Schroeder et al.
1994).
Water content (%) 8–12
Poisson coefficient 0.3–0.4
HYDRUS program
Permeability (cm/s) 10-3–10-4
Elasticity module (kg/cm2) 650–750 HYDRUS numerically solves the Richards equation for
3
Specific weight in dug wells (g/cm ) 1.8 saturated-unsaturated water flow and convection-dispersion
Mean particles density of borehole materials (g/cm3) 2.72 type equations for solute transport. The governing flow and
transport equations are solved numerically using Galerkin-
type linear finite element schemes. The governing con-
vection-dispersion solute transport equations are written in
a very general form by including provisions for nonlinear
non-equilibrium reactions between the solid and liquid
phases, and a linear equilibrium reaction between the liquid
and gaseous phases. The transport models also account for
convection and dispersion in the liquid phase, as well as for
diffusion in the gas phase, thus, permitting one to simulate
solute transport simultaneously in both the liquid and
gaseous phases. In this study, water flow and contaminant
transport are investigated in the three states of 1D, 2D and
3D by HYDRUS software (Šimůnek et al. 2011).

Study area

The solid waste disposal site of Rasht city is located in

Saravan County, at latitude 37°, 040 N and longitude 49°,
370 E. This site covers about 12 hectares in the area where
the geological formation consists of mainly thin layers of
dense silty sand with gravel and cobble, and very dense
crushed rocks. In this area, there are not thick and extended
alluvium deposits, so this area cannot be considered as an
aquifer. The topography in the vicinity of the waste dis-
posal site is generally rough, with local elevations at the
site ranging from a high of 320 m above sea level to a low
of 100 m. This area has the close structure so that it can be
considered as a separate watershed. The climate of the area
is Mediterranean which is characterized by temperature
(mean annual of &16 °C), and relative humidity (&82 %).
This area is one of the wettest areas in Iran because of its
Fig. 1 The location of VES stations and profiles in the study area average annual rainfall (&1,360 mm). Generally, the

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An investigation of the potential environmental contamination

Fig. 2 Geoelectrical pseudo-section and interpreted geological section of profile N.2. (For example)

Fig. 3 Iso-resistivity map of first layer (left) and Iso-thickness map of second geoelectrical layer (right)

123
 M. Nakhaei et al.

Fig. 4 Position of sampling

points and separated blocks of
the waste disposal site

regional pattern of groundwater movement is controlled by The main climatic data which was used in the Visual
topography. Hence, according to the topography, the HELP program consisted of precipitation, temperature and
approximated regional groundwater flow direction is solar radiation. These data were collected from the Rash
dominantly towards to the north of the study area (to the synoptic station for ten years (2002–2012). After model
Siahroud River). design for three blocks, the HELP program was run for
each block separately. The results are presented in Table 3.
As shown, the mean rate of leachate percolation from this
Results and discussion site is equal to 1.095 m per year. The rate of recharge to the
waste disposal site is assumed to be greater than that to the
Hydrological evaluation of site surrounding area because the sand and gravel used as cover
material allows rapid infiltration and minimal evapotrans-
In the first step of this study, the researchers focused on piration. Channeling of water through the refuse has
hydrological evaluation of this site by using the Visual allowed leachate to move down toward the base of the
HELP program. In this part, construction of a site model waste disposal site even though the capacity of the material
for entering the data and analysis of its performance was to retain moisture may not yet have been reached.
necessary. In the study area, because of rough topography
and heterogeneous structure (different slope of bottom and Geotechnical evaluation of the site
also thickness of waste), this site divided into three discrete
blocks (Table 1). In this part, determination of the physical and geotechnical
The presented properties in Table 1 are based on visual properties of thegeological structure of this site was fol-
observations by the authors, field measurements, analysis lowed. For this aim, one geotechnical borehole and two
of the satellite images, available reports and several inter- dug wells were excavated in northern and southern parts of
views and meetings with responsible persons in the the disposal site, respectively. The depth of the geotech-
municipality of Rasht city. The mentioned blocks cover nical borehole was 35 m (with a 95–112 mm diameter) and
about 11.3 hectare of the study area (Fig. 4). For each two dug wells excavated to depths of 4 m and 2 m.
block designation in the HELP model, only the thickness of According to soil and rock cores which were prepared from
waste was used. Determination of the rate of leachate the borehole, and based on unified soil classification, the
leakage from the bottom of the waste disposal site was the soil type at a depth of 0–13 m is SM (silty sand with
main aim of this part of the study as an introduction to gravel), at a depth of 13–20 m is very dense and dry cru-
contaminant transport in the next part. The hydrologic shed rock, and at a depth of 20–35 m is the high com-
properties of wastes and relevant parameters to vertical paction SM type. There was no evidence of water or sharp
leachate leakage are presented in Table 2. increase in soil moisture in the borehole and dug wells. A

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An investigation of the potential environmental contamination

Table 5 Coordinates of the sampling locations and their direct dis- VES success must rely on the careful interpretation and
tance to the waste disposal site integration of the results with the other geologic and hydro-
Sampling Sample Position Direct distance to geologic data for the site. Therefore, lithological informa-
point source disposal site (m) tion obtained from the geotechnical borehole log could be
used to calibrate the VES field curves. Where test hole-log
p1 Leachate 37°040 2800 N, 10
49°370 4800 E information was available, the solution to automatic
p2 Leachate 37°040 3700 N, 365 interpretation procedure was constrained by keeping
49°370 3900 E known layer thicknesses constant during the program
p3 Leachate 37°050 3200 N, 1,980 computations. Measuring the current penetration depth was
49°370 4900 E calculated to be 0.5001(AB/2)0.998 by a correlation
p4 River 37°050 3500 N, 2,140 between depth and AB/2 graphs. It is equal to approxi-
49°370 2200 E mately AB/4. From the interpretation of the resistivity
p5 Deep well 37°050 3100 N, 2,000 curves, a four-layer resistivity and thicknesses indicated
49°370 3900 E
four subsurface layers (Fig. 2, for example). These layers
p6 Deep well 37°030 1600 N, 1,670
49°370 1600 E
consisted of a surface layer (loose and fine grained topsoil),
medium grained alluvium, a saturated layer, and high
p7 Deep well 37°030 3900 N, 1,400
49°380 3600 E resistivity bedrock.
p8 Deep well 37°030 3800 N, 2,420 Depth and thickness of sub-surface layers were identi-
49°390 2500 E fied and the extent of the probable aquifer and type of
p9 Deep well 37°030 5400 N, 960 bedrock were also indicated. Average thickness and resis-
49°380 2900 E tivity of the thin, organic pollutant-rich, top layer were
p10 Deep well 37°050 1500 N, 2,500 calculated in the upstream as 2 and 2X-m and in the
49°390 1200 E downstream as 7 m and 5X-m, respectively (Fig. 3, left).
The aquifer thickness increases towards the downstream
and central parts of the adjucent valley. The average
summary of the physical properties of the geological thickness of the low resistivity saturated alluvial aquifer in
structure in the waste disposal site is presented in Table 4. the central and eastern part has been estimated to be about
42 m and in the west about 10 m (Fig. 3, right). Also, we
Geoelectrical evaluation of the site can separate two distinct areas in the east and west sides
based on the difference of electrical resistivity. The bed-
Geoelectrical methods have an important, albeit difficult rock of the aquifer shows different resistivity values due to
role, to play in landfill investigations. In the present eco- two types of bedrock and respect to same degree of satu-
nomic conditions, with the environmentally sensitive ration and values of small tectonically fractures with the
regime, model development is essential in gradients for a NE-SW direction. Bedrock generally consists of sandstone
successful site investigation of landfills (Meju 2000; and mudstone, but in some parts it has appeared as lime-
Lashkaripour and Nakhaei 2005; Svensson 2008; Teixidó stone and intermediate volcanic rocks.
2012). This research project deals with detecting the
underground layers geometrics and conditions, probable Hydrochemical evaluation of site
faults and crushed zones, thickness of alluvium, determi-
nation of pollutant plume development, and groundwater In this part of the study, the water (surface and ground-
quality in the study area. The resistivity survey was com- water) and leachate samples were analyzed for testing the
pleted with 24 Vertical Electrical Soundings (VES) by the amount of contaminants and toxic elements. The ten
Schlumberger array in five profiles include 4–9 sounding samples were collected randomly from different distances
stations, with a maximum current electrode spacing (AB) from the center of the waste disposal site (to a maximum
ranging from 600 to 800 m, in two stages. The profile direct distance 2,500 m) during November, 2012 (Fig. 4).
spacing was 400 m and sounding spacing was 50 m. A Global Positioning System (Garmin GPS model) was
Position and extension of all the VES’s are indicated in used to take the coordinates of the sampling locations
Fig. 1. Five geoelectrical sections were drawn along the (Table 5).
profiles. The apparent resistivity measurements were made The samples were collected according to standard
with GEOB 2003 equipment that is light and powerful for methods, in 1 liter polyethylene bottles and were to be
deep penetration. The field curves were interpreted by the properly sealed, and analyzed for 26 physical and chemical
well-known method of curve matching with the aid of the parameters (APHA 1998). Samples analysis was done in
Russian software IPI2WIN. the Gilan Regional Water Corporation (GRWC) laboratory.

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Table 6 Physical and chemical properties of water and wastewater samples

Parameter Unit p1 p2 p3 p4 p5 p6 p7 p8 p9 p10

pH – 8.58 8.59 8.67 8.57 7.83 8.12 8.21 7.66 7.65 7.49
Turbidity FNU 290 330 240 0.58 0.61 0.53 0.71 1.02 0.95 1.05
Color HAZEN 12,700 9,200 4,600 12 15 14 9 8 23 26
Temp. °C 25 25 24 24 24 24 24 24 24 24
EC ls/cm 21,900 21,000 9,700 360 597 584 882 1,380 894 1,428
TDS mg/l 13,797 13,220 6,111 227 376 368 556 869 563 900
Ca mg/l 76,000 76,000 40,000 48 62 90 98 96 68 90
Mg mg/l 45,600 45,600 21,600 7.2 21.6 7.2 9.6 44.4 43.2 44.4
Na mg/l 202,400 188,600 87,400 9.89 21.62 13.34 69.92 101.1 37.95 128.8
K mg/l 148,200 148,200 62,400 1.56 3.51 3.9 1.17 5.07 3.51 12.09
Cl mg/l 213,000 213,000 71,000 7.1 17.75 21.3 78.1 195.25 78.1 177.5
SO4 mg/l 124,800 96,000 86,400 19.2 36.51 38.88 93.6 149.76 61.92 219.84
CO3 mg/l 2,000 2,000 2,000 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0
HCO3 mg/l 9,400 9,400 3,800 2.8 4.3 4.4 4.7 4.5 5.3 4.6
TH mg/l 380,000 380,000 190,000 150 245 255 285 425 350 410
NH4 mg/l 2,068 1,780 700 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
NO3 mg/l 653 632 260 2.94 1.62 8.93 11.05 0.61 0.023 1.03
NO2 mg/l 0 0 0 0 0 0.011 0 0.033 0 0.052
PO4 mg/l 60 55 20 0.12 0.42 0.1 0.81 0.05 0.22 0.09
Fe mg/l 0.6 1 0.3 2.44 1.73 1.37 2.03 2.8 1.37 2.71
Mn mg/l 0.1 0.38 0.012 1.28 0.97 0.79 1.46 1.51 0.86 1.87
Sio2 mg/l 312 240 88 7.14 15.53 10.55 14.71 17.68 20.07 8
H2S mg/l 19 16.8 14 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.03
TSS mg/l 86 82 34 2 2 2 2 2 2 2
BOD mg/l 1,092 820 630 18.6 6.4 32.5 7.8 6.5 5.85 4.65
COD mg/l 5,060 4,350 1,680 50.2 24 10.2 26.8 22.6 18.4 14.1

Results of water and wastewater analysis in ten positions Table 7 The hydraulic parameters (van Genuchten-Mualem param-
are presented in Table 6. eters) of materials
The present study indicated that the river and ground- Material hr hs a(1/m) n (-) Ks(m/
water samples (p4–p10) due to disposal of municipal solid day)
waste landfill at Saravan were colorless and odorless and Silty sand with gravel 0.034 0.41 0.034 1.75 1.02
were slightly alkaline in nature with their pH ranging from and cobble (M1)
7.49 to 7.83 at the p5, p8, p9, and p10 sites. The high Crushed and dense 0.041 0.43 0.033 1.48 0.38
alkalinity of samples (except leachate samples) was rocks (M2)
observed at the p4, p6, and p7 sites. High compaction silty 0.01 0.2 0.001 1.2687 0.000001
Leachate samples from the Rasht waste disposal site sand (bed rock) (M3)
were rich in sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and
chloride (Table 6). The high conductivity of the leachates
also reflected the high soluble salt contents. The salt con- (biochemical oxygen demand) can increase in the leachate.
tent slightly increases with waste disposal site age as a The age of the landfill can be determined by the amount of
consequence of the decomposition of organic matter. The BOD in the leachate. According to the results, the age of
TDS values of groundwater sample were 869 at p8 and the Rasht waste disposal site is located in the medium to
900 mg/l at p10 sites. TDS concentration in groundwater old range (Alloway and Ayres 1997). In addition, there was
samples decreased with the increase in the distance from no evidence of leachate contaminant in other samples (p4,
the landfill sites. p5, p6, p7, p8, p9, p10).
In the landfill, the activity of microorganisms can be The COD is low in the initial stages of landfills (the
increased by time processing and this means that the BOD normal could reach to over ten thousand mg/l). The

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Fig. 5 The soil hydraulic functions K (h) (left) and h (h) (right)

of chloride concentration in surface and groundwater

showed that these samples are not contaminated by
leachate.
The N and P are main components within the inorganic
pollutant from the leachate. The concentration of N and P
is high when the landfill is processing. In this study, the N
component concentration was checked in three composites
consisting of NH4, NO3 and NO2. The high concentration
of ammonium and nitrate was detected only in leachate
samples, as the results of the analysis showed.
The low content of heavy metals (Fe, Mn) in leachate
was because the domestic waste was not filled together
with the industrial waste or sludge in this site. The amount
of heavy metals is related to the industrial level of local
urban waste and how much industrial waste will be in the
land-filling. The domestic waste only contains heavy
metals at a low level. The highest iron concentrations in the
Fig. 6 Chloride concentration breakthroughs in observation nodes samples were 2.8 and 2.71 mg/l for p8 and p10, respec-
tively. Also, the highest manganese in all samples were
reduction of COD is slow and the decrease of BOD is fast 1.87 and 1.51 mg/l for p10 and p8, respectively. The high
by the time it was processed (Ryding 1992). The result of concentration of these metals in samples p4–p10 rather
analysis for COD is similar to BOD so that the surface and than leachate samples showed that their source is not from
groundwater samples were not contaminated by waste the leachate of the waste disposal site. The concentration of
leachate. In the collected samples, the COD values were trace metals (Fe, Mn) in the waste disposal leachates were
decreased in the groundwater samples as the distance from relatively low (\1 mg/l).
the solid waste dumping sites increased.
The high concentration of salt in the leachate mostly is Contaminant transport modeling
chloride. As shown in Table 6, concentration of chloride in
leachate samples (p1, p2) is more than in sample p3 which The HYDRUD program was used to simulate (in three
is farther from the leachate source and this indicates that states of 1D, 2D and 3D) the advective-dispersive
concentration of chloride is reduced by added surface transport of a conservative solute (in this study, chlo-
waters to the leachate. Chloride concentrations in leachate ride) downgradient from the waste disposal site. Solution
and water samples collected during the study ranged from of the solute-transport equation requires data on distri-
213,000 to 7.1 mg/L. A value of 213,000 mg/L was used as bution of the groundwater head and the specification of
an average source concentration in the simulations. Results boundary and initial conditions. Values for coefficients

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 M. Nakhaei et al.

Fig. 7 The 2D designed model

First, the 1D contaminant transport modeling in the

waste disposal site was implemented. Seven observation
nodes in different depths (15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 70, and 80 m,
respectively) were used for analysis of the contaminant
transport process. The chloride ion was selected as the
conservative solute because it is not subject to adsorption,
biological decay, or chemical precipitation and because it
is present in high concentrations in leachate and in leach-
ate-contaminated surface and ground water near the waste
disposal site. Other conservative solutes are expected to
behave in a similar fashion and could be simulated, given
data on influent and background concentrations. Simula-
tions were made with chloride concentration in the leachate
equal to 213,000,000 mg/m3 (according to the results of
leachate analysis). This value was considered as the aver-
age chloride concentration in leachate entering the upper
sedimentary layer, the top of the 1D designed model. As an
Fig. 8 The concentration breakthroughs in observation nodes assumption, the chloride concentration was constant during
all ten years. Figure 6 shows the chloride concentration
of longitudinal and transverse dispersivity and data on breakthroughs in observation nodes during ten years.
the configuration, rates of inflow, and solute concentra- As shown, after ten years, only the three first nodes (at
tions associated with the contaminant source are also depths 10, 20, 30 m, respectively) clearly show the con-
required. taminant increasing during time. According to results of
geotechnical and geophysical studies which show the dense
1D modeling and compact geological formation in depths more than
30 m, the presented results in form of Fig. 6 are justifiable.
In this step, all collected data from previous parts were the
basis of model design in three modeling states. The 2D modeling
hydraulic parameters and properties of material which are
used in models are presented in Table 7 and Fig. 5. In the In this site, the 2D modeling of contaminant transport
HYDRUS package, the neural network prediction module was followed by considering all gathering data and
ROSETTA (Schaap et al. 2001) was used for determining considerations in previous parts. Like the 1D case, the
the hydraulic parameters by using graining tests of bore- concentration of leachate in some observation points was
hole core samples. focused to analysis the migration of contaminant in this

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An investigation of the potential environmental contamination

Fig. 9 Contaminant contours

after ten years

Fig. 10 Velocity vectors of

contaminant migration after
ten years

site and its surroundings. In Fig. 7, the 2D designed sediments, the interfacial surface of sediment and bed rock,
model, flow boundary conditions and observation nodes respectively. The nodes N12 and N11 were placed in bed
are shown. The horizontal length of this model is about rock. In this part of the modeling, the concentration of
900 m. In this part, the considered value for the constant contaminant (213,000,000 mg/m3 in 1D model) did not add
flux boundary is based on results of the section to the boundary of the model beneath the waste disposal
‘‘Hydrologic evaluation of site’’ and the Visual HELP site and only the flux of a contaminant was used for ana-
output. The concentration breakthroughs in observation lysis. As shown in Fig. 8 and according to contaminant
nodes are presented in Fig. 8. concentration of N10, N9, N6 and N7, which are located
The six observation nodes (N10, N9, N6, N7, N8 and exactly in different depths of the bottom of the landfill, the
N2) and four points (N5, N4, N3 and N1) were located in predominant flow is vertical. Results show that during

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 M. Nakhaei et al.

Fig. 11 3D model of study area

Fig. 12 Chloride concentration along cross section 1 after ten years Fig. 13 Chloride concentration along cross section 2 after ten years

ten years, the contaminant plume did not reach to the down a third material (M3) in a depth of more than 40 m created
gradient of the waste disposal site (nodes N8, N3, N2 and the natural ban for infiltration and movement of contami-
N1) and this demonstrated the slow migration of contam- nant to the deep subsurface.
inant in porous media. The result of the simulation, plotted
as lines of equal chloride concentration at the end of 3D modeling
ten years, is presented in Fig. 9. Limitations of the two-
dimensional approach and assumptions and simplification The 3D modeling of contaminant transport was followed as
made in the model must be considered in evaluations of the final part of this study. In this section, with conjugation
these results, however. The velocity vectors of chloride of all data (geological, geotechnical, geoelectrical and
migration are showed in Fig. 10. geochemical) and using the 1D and 2D models, the three
According to Figs. 9 and 10 which show ten years dimensional model of flow and contaminant transport was
contaminant transport modeling in this site, the contami- constructed. The approximate area of the model is 350
nant plume migrated a short distance (\200 m), and this is hectares. In this model, five types of boundary conditions
because of unsaturated porous media and high compaction for water flow (no flow, constant flux, variable head,
of fine grain sediments. In addition, the high compaction of seepage face and variable flux) and two types of boundary

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An investigation of the potential environmental contamination

Conclusion

Results of 10 years of hydrologic evaluation of the Rasht

waste disposal site by using the Visual HELP program
showed that the mean rate of leachate percolation from this
site is equal to 1.095 m per year. According to soil and
rock cores which were prepared from the borehole, and
based on a unified soil classification, the soil type in depth
0–13 m is SM (silty sand with gravel), depth 13–20 m is
very dense and dry crushed rock, and depth 20–35 m is a
high compaction SM type. From the interpretation of the
resistivity sounding curves, a four-layer geoelectrical
model indicated four subsurface hydrostratigraphical lay-
ers. These layers consised of a surface layer (loose and fine
grained topsoil), medium grained alluvium, a saturated
layer, and high resistivity bedrock. The average thickness
Fig. 14 Chloride concentration along cross section 3 after ten years of the low resistivity saturated alluvial aquifer has been
estimated to be about 42 m in the central and eastern part
and about 10 m in the west part. Hydrochemical analysis of
conditions for contaminant transport [no flow and third samples show that the surface and groundwater samples
type (Cauchy)] were considered. Figure 11 shows the were not contaminated by waste leachate. Results show
water flow boundary conditions in a constructed 3D model that during ten years of the onset of leachate seepage,
of the study area. For contaminant transport boundary contaminant plume migrated a short distance (\200 m)
conditions, the Cauchy type boundary conditions were because of high compaction of fine grain unsaturated sed-
considered instate for some of the water flow boundary iments. The high compaction of the third layer (M3) in
conditions (constant flux, variable head, seepage face and depth more than 40 m produced the natural ban to infil-
variable flux). tration and movement of contaminant to the deep subsur-
Plume migration over a 10-year period was simulated face. According to the 3D modeling using the HYDRUS
with the HYDRUS model. Each 1-year interval consisted program, pollution has been transformed approximately
of ten equal time steps of 36.5 days. Reducing the time step 150 meters to downstream of the study area. In addition,
by half caused no difference in concentrations in a 1-year pollution moved dominantly vertically and concentration
test simulation. In this part, the chloride concentration in of leachate has been decreased by increasing the depth. The
some positions and cross sections was used to evaluation of results of contaminant transport simulations indicate that
contaminant infiltration and movement in the area. In each using the supplementary data such as geological, hydro-
cross section, one point was located at beneath the waste logical and geophysical investigations in the modeling of
disposal site and another point in the distance 450 m (in solute transport can lead to more reliable assessment. Also,
direction of topography; to the north of the catchment the constructed model can be used to predict movement of
area). Three cross sections were selected between six conservative solutes in the down gradient of the waste
observation points in different depths. In cross sections, the disposal site, calculate concentrations at specific times and
observation nodes, which were located at beneath the waste locations, and analyze ground-water-quality management
disposal site, were in depths of 10, 20 and 30 m and their alternatives.
corresponding points were in depths of 8, 17 and 25 m,
respectively. The direction of cross sections was shown in Acknowledgments This study was financially supported by the
Gilan Regional Water Corporation (GRWC) with Project number:
Fig. 11 (red line). Note that all cross sections have the
GIE89041, and the authors would like to thank all responsible people
same direction but different depths. The change of chloride in this corporation. We would also like to thank the managers of
concentration between observation nodes 1, 2 (cross sec- Meteorology Organization and Municipality of Rasht city for their
tion 1), 3, 4 (cross section 2) and 5, 6 (cross section 3) are kind help and cooperation with this research.
shown in Figs. 12, 13 and 14, respectively. As shown in
these figures, during ten years of the onset of leachate
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