BEPLS Vol 1 [12] 2012 ~ 43 ~ © AELS, INDIA Groundwater Pollution at Beed, Maharashtra as an Effect of MSW Dumping Sairy Abdullah 1 , Mohammed Asef Iqbal 2* , Mohammed Ilyas 1 , Shejule K.B. 3 , Asmat Rehana 1 1. Dept. of Zoology, Milliya Arts, Sci. & Mgmt. Sci. College, Beed, MS, India 2. Dept. of Microbiology, Milliya Arts, Sci. & Mgmt. Sci. College, Beed, MS, India 3. Dept. of Zoology, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad ABSTRACT Groundwater has been regarded as one of the important and safest sources of the drinking water. Recently various human activities are causing serious pollution of these groundwater sources. These sources are quite vulnerable to the pollution and the pollution is irreversible and reclamation of polluted groundwater sources is very difficult. The present investigation deals with the study of impact of Municipal solid waste dumping on groundwater quality at Beed, Maharashtra. The study has shown that MSW dumping has clearly deteriorated the quality of the groundwater samples. Select physicochemical characters were taken as an representation to the pollution profile of the water in the study which include pH, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Alkalinity, Salinity, Chlorides, Nitrates, Calcium Hardness (CaH), Magnesium Hardness (MgH), Total Hardness (TH), Sulphates and Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD). Keywords: Groundwater pollution, MSW, Leachate, DO, Hardness, Sulphates, BOD. INTRODUCTION The ground water is defined as water that is found underground in cracks and spaces in soil, sand and rocks. This source has two distinct functions; firstly, it is a significant source of both urban and rural population’s water supply and secondly it sustains many wetland ecosystems [1]. The sources for ground water supply mostly depend upon the rainfall and the resulting percolation of the water in the earth, another important factor is the type and quality of the soil [2]. This resource is particularly favoured for domestic purpose, since it is of high quality and requires little treatment before use. This is due to the fact that, as the water percolates down through the soil and rocks, bacteria, fungi and other such biological pollutants are naturally filtered out or diluted [3]. The daily demand of drinking water of a man is normally 7% of his body weight. Thus, it is vital for the healthy growth of the persons. But the same water may become a hazard, a threat to the continuation of life, if it gets polluted with harmful or toxic substances and potentially pathogenic microorganisms able to cause the diseases [4,5]. Usually the groundwater is considered as less polluted as compared to the surface water, due to the reduced exposure to the external environment. But lack of sanitation, improper waste management, have a potential to spoil the purity of the ground water leading to increased pollution levels. Hence, it has been reported that about 40% or even more disease outbreaks are attributed to be water borne in nature [6]. According to UNESCO report, a majority of Indian population has no access to safe drinking water and that about 66 million people rely on un-safe ground water for consumption [7,8]. The importance of water for the life processes, its’ easy availability and the nature of water, has caused uncontrolled human interventions in the natural water cycle, which has resulted in the degradation of water both qualitatively in the form of decrease in water level index and quantitatively in the form of heavy loads of pollution. These unbalanced exploitations, during the last few decades have created serious problems of water quality and quantity. It appears that if such exploitation is continued, the conditions may still worsen [9]. Water pollution is an alteration in physical, chemical and biological characteristics, which may lead to harmful effects on humans and aquatic biota [10]. The pollution loads contributed to the water bodies are physical, chemical and biological in nature The ground water originates as infiltrations from precipitations, stream flows, lakes and reservoirs. The quality of water therefore depends on the type of materials on the passage routes, the B Bu ul l l l e et t i i n n o of f E En nv vi i r ro on nm me en nt t , , P Ph ha ar rm ma ac co ol l o og gy y a an nd d L Li i f f e e S Sc ci i e en nc ce es s Online ISSN 2277-1808 Bull. Env. Pharmacol. Life Scien. Volume 1 [12] November 2012: 43- 46 © 2012, Academy for Environment and Life Sciences, India Website: www.bepls.com Original Article