Landfill leachate treatment: one of the bigger and underestimated problems of the urban water management in developing countries

Abstract : The main method for solid waste disposal in Latin America has been the dumping. In Colombia there are many dumping places and several sanitary landfills without leachate treatment or some working improperly, being them stored in artificial ponds or discharged directly into the water bodies and causing damage in the ecosystems and human health. Treatment selection for leachate is hard due to the variability of this liquid since depends of several factors like the dump location and the waste's age and composition. Researchers indicate the effective treatments for young leachates are the biological technologies and for old leachates are the physicochemicals. This study pretend to evaluate the phytoremediation by constructed wetlands of heavy metals of leachate from Presidente landfill, based in Buga, Valle, Colombia. A factorial experiment design will be developed with two vegetal species and two support mediums. The leachate will be characterized and the main rizosferic microorganisms populations will be identified.