Temporal changes in leachate chemistry of a municipal solid waste landfill cell in Florida, USA

Evaluation of 12 years of landfill leachate chemical data from a lined cell of municipal waste in south Florida, USA shows an overall declining trend in major ion chemistry. The leachate is dominantly Cl, Na, HCO3 and organic solutes. There are significant short-term variations in concentration that appear to be related to rainfall, rather than fundamental changes to leachate composition. Inorganic parameters related to pH, such as alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium appear to be chemically buffered. Chromium, cobalt, vanadium, zinc, and the metalloid boron display significant short-term co-variance with a decreasing trend. Iron and manganese concentrations increased significantly after capping. Based on the predominance of ammonia, historic methane generation, and increasing trends for iron and manganese after closure, the landfill cell has an anaerobic (reducing) interior environment. The reducing conditions were enhanced by capping and caused the most redox sensitive metals (manganese and iron) to become more mobile.