Civil and Environmental Research www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-5790 (Paper) ISSN 2225-0514 (Online) Vol.11, No.10, 2019 55 Viability of ‘Dilute and Attenuate’ Landfill as a Final Disposal Method for Solid Waste in Nigeria Rabia Lawal Batagarawa 1* John Williams 2 1.Civil Engineering Department, Nigerian Defence Academy, PO box 2109, Kaduna, Nigeria 2.School of Civil Engineering and Surveying, University of Portsmouth, Portland Building, PO1 3AH, UK Abstract The predominant disposal method of solid waste management in the world is landfilling while that of Nigeria remains open dumping and open burning. The aim of this study is to evaluate the viability of ‘Dilute and Attenuate’ landfill as a final disposal method for solid waste in Nigeria. A ‘dilute and attenuate’ landfill was evaluated by assessing groundwater and landfill gas. Water samples for laboratory tests were collected upstream and downstream of the landfill site. Laboratory tests are pH, Conductivity, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), suspended solids (SS), volatile suspended solids, ammonia and heavy metals. The landfill gas was assessed onsite from seven (7) gas sampling points across the landfill site using an infrared gas analyser. The presence of methane and carbon dioxide at all the gas sampling points except Cell D shows that the landfill has not reached full stabilization and therefore, has a mild potential to contaminate the surrounding. There is no significant difference between the values of pH, conductivity, COD, BOD and Ammonia of groundwater in the wells upstream and downstream of the landfill site the values generally within acceptable limits for potable water. Keywords: ‘Dilute and Attenuate’ Landfill, Nigeria, final disposal, solid waste, contained landfill DOI: 10.7176/CER/11-10-07 Publication date: November 30 th 2019 1. Introduction There is a general lack of human resources with technical expertise necessary for solid waste management planning and operation as well as inappropriate selection of waste management techniques in most developing countries such as Nigeria (Barton et al. 2008; Adewole, 2009). This is in addition to a steady increase in waste quantity and variety due to population growth and industrialization in Nigeria, while the basic solid waste management system based on collection, transportation and disposal remains highly inefficient and ineffective, especially in the urban centres (Ayotamuno and Gobo, 2004; Imam et al., 2007). The estimated per capita waste generated is 0.49kg in the country with a population of over a 150 million across a landmass of 923,800km 2 (Ogwueleka, 2009; WDI, 2010). The disposal options employed are open dumping, open burning and composting; and an estimated recycling rate of 8-22% (Dauda and Osita, 2003; Ogwueleka, 2009; Wilson et al., 2009) 1.1 Landfills The predominant disposal method of solid waste management in the world is landfilling despite its low position on the disposal hierarchy compared to composting, incineration, recycling and anaerobic digestion and accounts for over 50% of municipal solid waste disposal in high, medium and low income countries with the exception of a few European countries (Hoornweg et al., 2012). Generally, it is the cheapest, simplest and most practical waste disposal method considering economic, technical and regulatory aspects (Bialowiec, 2011). In addition, wastes treated by other methods generally have residuals that end up in the landfills. It is therefore an integral part of solid waste management, which aims at ensuring the protection of health and environment while conserving resources (Brunner and Fellner, 2007). Although developed countries have achieved the first aim, developing countries such as Nigeria are still battling with the protection of health and environment from inadequate solid waste management systems (Ibid). However, many affluent developed countries such as Germany, Netherland and Austria with their high level of technological expertise and educational level are moving towards 0% landfilling (EU, 2009) An effective strategy is required to ensure the objectives of solid waste management, which include collection, transportation, sorting, treatment and final disposal, are met. Solid wastes are accumulated from human and animal activities and include household, commercial, industrial and agricultural wastes with a high percentage of biodegradable waste from households. A rising concern for the disposal of solid wastes stems from the growth in waste quantity, escalating costs of disposal, and changing composition of waste with greater quantities of toxic materials as a result of rising levels of affluence, cheaper consumable products, proliferation of packaging, the advent of built in obsolescence, demand for convenience goods and change in consumption pattern (Tcholanoglous, Theisen and Vigil, 1993; Imam et al., 2007) Landfills are engineered facilities designed and operated for land disposal of solid or hazardous wastes in a manner that protects the environment (Mihelcic and Zimmerman 2010; Worrell and Vesilind 2012). It is generally brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by International Institute for Science, Technology and Education (IISTE): E-Journals