Research Article | | Peer-Reviewed

Impact of Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Leachate on Groundwater Quality: A Case Study of Ramchak-Bairiya, Patna, Bihar

Received: 11 June 2026     Accepted: 23 June 2026     Published: 17 July 2026
Views:       Downloads:
Abstract

Major source of drinking water in the Patna region is ground water. This study focuses on assessing the impact of Municipal solid waste on ground water quality near around dumping site area in the Ramchak-Bairiya, Patna, Bihar, India. Dumping sites are in a risk zone of spilling of leachate through adjacent soil which leads to contaminated ground water. Surrounding area of dumping site can be a serious threat to the human health and environment. Huge quantity of municipal solid waste (MSW) dumps containing hazardous materials are a serious threat to the surrounding population of Patna. When these MSW are dumped at site, ground water began contaminating due to percolation of leachate to the porous ground surface. This leachate contains large number of contaminants which can pollute ground water. Ground water samples of different location adjacent to dumping sites were analyzed for microbiological, biochemical characterization, most probable number estimation and antibiotic sensitivity testing of isolated bacteria. The result of MPN test reveals heavy bacterial load in several sampling site which clearly indicates bacterial contamination inside source ground water. Presence of coliform confirms leachate infiltration into the ground water. Antibiotic susceptibility testing demonstrates a pattern of resistance against selective antibiotics. This may suggest the evolve of multidrug resistance (MDR) bacteria in contaminated ground water. Present investigation concludes that leachate of MSW from the Ramchak-Bairiya MSW dumping site severely contaminate the adjacent ground water quality, leading to serious Public health and environmental risks.

Published in Frontiers in Environmental Microbiology (Volume 12, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.fem.20261202.11
Page(s) 16-22
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2026. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Municipal Solid Waste, Leachate, Ground Water, Coliform, Multi Drug Resistance, Most Probable Number, Bacteriological

1. Introduction
Aquifer is geological formation of groundwater . Primary source of drinking water in Bihar is groundwater, one of the major threats to groundwater are landfills. In developing nations like India, disposing of solid waste through land filling is considered as simplest, cheapest and cost-effective method. . Solid wastes are discarded material. Solid waste may be classified on the basis of source as municipal solid waste, industrial solid waste, agriculture solid waste, mining and mineral solid waste, construction and demolition waste, healthcare waste, radioactive waste, human and animal waste . Municipal solid waste contains food waste, paper, plastic rags, metal and glass etc. It can be hazardous and considered as dangerous waste . In India the cheapest and most common method for waste disposal is dumping on unused land. MSW when disposed, it produces a liquid known as Leachate. Leachate are the major threat to water resources, human health & sanitation . For maintaining human health and the stability of ground water ecosystem. It is essential that water quality should be monitored regularly .
In Bihar, MSW is disposed without proper manual in low lying area like Ramchak-Bairiya. It results in open dumps that are called landfill sites. This leads to the contamination of ground water, affects the environment and human health. For preventing contamination of aquifer, proper evaluation of quality of ground water, along with planning and building of water resources is needed. The effect of depth and distance of dumping site from ground water sources were studied. Present investigation is for assessing the bacteriological analysis of ground water around the MSW dumping site in Ramchak-Bairiya, Patna, Bihar.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Study Area
The present study was conducted at the dumping site of MSW in Ramchak-Bairiya, Patna, Bihar. Patna is located on 25°6” N latitude and 85°1” E longitude at an altitude of elevation 174 mt above mean sea level in the Figure 1. Patna Municipal Corporation covers an area of 109 sq. km and had a population of 1684297 people according to the 2011 census of India. Patna generates about 1200 metric tons of MSW daily with organic waste. This area was selected because Ramchak-Bairiya is one of the largest dumping sites of MSW in the city. The Patna Municipal corporation dumps its waste here which is surrounded by heavy population. The area is having recent urban sprawl, the area is of old alluvial flood plain having a 300 m layer of soil the area have two aquifers separated by a clay layer of 2-5 m the top aquifer rely on monsoon for its recharge while the deep aquifer is recharged by the Ganga river . Study was conducted to evaluated to evaluate the effect of leachate and ground water quality on human health.
Figure 1. Study map of Patna Municipal Corporation.
2.2. Sample Collection
For microbiological study around water samples were collected from selected locations with distances ranging from 150 m to 750 m and well depth of 50 m to 80 m near around the dumping site. Cleaned sterile 100 ml sample collection containers used for collection of water sample, further sealing with parafilm and transported to Department of Biotechnology, A. N. College, Patna laboratory in the ice box. the readers.
2.3. MPN
For estimation of total coliform present in the samples, MPN test was performed.
2.4. Bacterial Isolation
Bacterial colonies isolated from sample using selective media MacConkey and EMB agar. Colonies with different morphology, pattern, and texture was selected and subject to characterized using standard biochemical test which include Indole, Methyl red, Vogas Proskauer, Citrate utilization, Oxidase, Urease and catalase test .
2.5. Antibiotics Susceptibility Test
Bacterial isolates were tested for their antibiotic susceptibility by using disc diffusion method. Zone of inhibition was recorded for each isolate and list of antibiotics used as shown in the Table 1.
Table 1. A table enlisting antibiotic with abbreviation and concentration.

S. No.

Abbreviation

Antibiotics

Concentration in mcg

1

A/S

Ampicillin/Sulbactam

10/10

2

C

Chloramphenicol

30

3

CIP

Ciprofloxacin

5

4

E

Erythromycin

15

5

GEN

Gentamicin

10

6

LF

Levofloxacin

5

7

OF

Ofloxacin

5

8

TE

Tetracycline

30

3. Results
3.1. Total Coliform Count
MPN analysis confirm adequate coliform contamination in ground water. Many sampling sites shows significant population of coliform in culture tubes. MPN results are shown in Table 2.
Table 2. The MPN values of the sites.

S. No.

Sample

MPN Index

Total Coliform

1

BI01

1-3-1

10

2

BI02

4-0-3

25

3

BI03

5-0-1

31

4

BI04

4-1-1

21

5

BI05

3-2-0

14

6

BI06

4-2-3

38

7

BI07

4-3-1

33

8

BI08

4-5-1

48

9

BI09

3-5-0

25

10

BI10

4-2-2

32

11

BI11

3-2-0

14

12

BI12

3-5-0

25

13

BI13

5-4-0

130

14

BI14

5-4-2

220

15

BI15

5-2-4

150

16

BI16

3-5-0

25

17

BI17

3-2-0

14

18

BI18

5-0-3

58

19

BI19

5-4-3

280

20

BI20

5-3-4

210

21

BI21

3-3-2

24

22

BI22

5-2-0

49

23

BI23

4-0-2

21

24

BI24

5-0-1

31

25

BI25

4-5-1

48

3.2. Bacterial Characterization
Bacterial colonies isolated from selective media plates were characterized by different biochemical test as shown in the Table 3. Result confirms the presence of dominant faecal coliform in the sample.
3.3. Antibiotic Susceptibility
Antibiotic susceptibility test shows variable resistance patterns among isolated bacterial colonies. Multidrug resistance (MDR) patterns are shown in Table 4.
Table 3. The prediction of probable bacteria on the basis of biochemical tests.

S. No.

Sample

Indole

MR

VP

Citrate

Oxidase

Urease

Catalase

Probable Bacteria

1

SWA1

+ve

+ve

+ve

+ve

+ve

+ve

+ve

Aeromonas spp.

2

SWA2

+ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

+ve

+ve

+ve

Aeromonas spp.

3

SWA3

+ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

Klebsiella oxytoca

4

SWA4

+ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

Klebsiella oxytoca

5

SWA5

+ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

Klebsiella oxytoca

6

SWA6

+ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

Klebsiella oxytoca

7

SWA7

+ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

Klebsiella oxytoca

8

SWA8

+ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

Klebsiella oxytoca

9

SWA9

+ve

+ve

-ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

+ve

Aeromonas spp.

10

SWA10

+ve

+ve

-ve

+ve

-ve

Delay

+ve

Citrobacter koseri

11

SWA11

+ve

+ve

-ve

-ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

Escherichia coli

12

SWA12

+ve

+ve

-ve

+ve

-ve

Delay

+ve

Citrobacter koseri

13

SWA13

+ve

+ve

-ve

-ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

Escherichia coli

14

SWA14

+ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

Klebsiella oxytoca

15

SWA15

+ve

+ve

-ve

+ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

Proteus spp.

16

SWA16

+ve

+ve

+ve

-ve

-ve

-ve

+ve

Escherichia coli

17

SWA17

+ve

+ve

+ve

-ve

-ve

-ve

+ve

Escherichia coli

18

SWA18

+ve

+ve

-ve

-ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

Escherichia coli

19

SWA19

+ve

+ve

-ve

-ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

Escherichia coli

20

SWA20

+ve

+ve

-ve

-ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

Escherichia coli

21

SWA21

+ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

Klebsiella oxytoca

22

SWA22

+ve

+ve

-ve

-ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

Escherichia coli

23

SWA23

+ve

+ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

+ve

+ve

Aeromonas spp.

24

SWA24

+ve

+ve

-ve

-ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

Escherichia coli

25

SWA25

+ve

+ve

-ve

-ve

+ve

Delay

+ve

Aeromonas spp.

26

SWA26

+ve

+ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

+ve

+ve

Aeromonas spp.

27

SWA27

+ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

-ve

+ve

+ve

Klebsiella oxytoca

Table 4. Antibiotics Sensitivity Test for different isolates from the dumping area.

S. No.

Sample

AMP

C

CIP

E

GEN

LE

OF

TE

1

SWA1

12

12

30

20

30

22

11

6

2

SWA2

12

28

34

13

35

26

22

22

3

SWA3

2

24

40

22

42

28

25

24

4

SWA4

17

18

34

22

25

24

22

17

5

SWA5

16

17

35

18

36

24

24

24

6

SWA6

17

25

30

22

30

23

15

17

7

SWA7

15

22

33

16

40

26

22

17

8

SWA8

6

18

31

8

45

22

22

6

9

SWA9

16

22

34

16

30

25

22

22

10

SWA10

17

15

30

14

35

22

19

22

11

SWA11

6

20

35

15

32

23

17

6

12

SWA12

18

32

37

17

31

25

22

24

13

SWA13

6

16

33

18

30

20

19

21

14

SWA14

6

12

25

13

30

17

18

13

15

SWA15

20

20

32

13

20

24

21

24

16

SWA16

16

27

35

10

6

20

16

20

17

SWA17

16

22

32

27

40

22

22

24

18

SWA18

20

20

30

17

40

22

22

22

19

SWA19

17

24

32

21

40

24

22

22

20

SWA20

15

28

28

17

35

24

22

24

21

SWA21

17

22

25

12

42

21

17

19

22

SWA22

16

20

30

20

31

22

18

20

23

SWA23

16

16

28

12

34

20

17

22

24

SWA24

19

16

30

11

31

20

18

15

25

SWA25

17

28

30

20

34

20

16

22

26

SWA26

6

6

26

15

36

20

15

30

27

SWA27

15

29

34

16

37

23

15

32

Figure 2. The heatmap representing the antibiotics resistance of the bacterial isolates.
Figure 3. The graphical representation of MAR of the bacterial isolates.
4. Discussion
A total of 25 ground water samples from different houses residing in close vicinity of dumping site of Ramchak-Bairiya, Patna, Bihar were collected in clean, sterilized container and were brought to A. N. College laboratory for analysis . The data showed that there was considerable variation in different samples with respect to their bacteriological characteristics.
Almost all water samples contain significant amount of organic matter that provides nutrition for the growth and multiplication of microorganisms . This study has shown MPN values at the range of > 1600 coliform per 100 ml of water sample which indicates contamination of ground water. Coliform used as bacterial indicator of water quality is based on fact that coliforms habituated in high numbers in the faeces of human and other warm-blooded animals. Sample which shows presence of coliform indicating the contamination of ground water due to leachate percolation.
Antibiotic susceptibility test shows high level of resistance, particularly against Ampicillin. Presence of resistive bacteria in the ground water may cause serious health risk to population due to its ability to spread through drinking water. MDR pattern observed suggest long term exposure of microorganism to contaminated waste environments.
5. Conclusions
This study shows microbial contamination in the ground water adjacent to Ramchak-Bairiya MSW dumping site. Diverse biochemical result reveals the presence of mixed microbial population such as Aeromonas, Klebsiella, Proteus, E. coli species. High MPN values confirm coliform contamination.
Ramchak-Bairiya MSW dumping site is un-engineered, unplanned site which have not any bottom liner or leachate collection facility and treatment system. Due to this leachate generated flow to surrounding environment. In these condition, major steps could be followed are (i) by providing impermeable clay cover we can limit the infiltration of the water through the landfill. (ii) a proper vegetation cover over the landfill increasing the evapo-transpiration rate which reduce leachate production.
This study suggests for regular monitoring of quality of ground water including physico-chemical, heavy metals polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, chlorides and others contaminants along with air quality. Public awareness, installation of proper leachate collection and treatment system, proper segregation and disposal of MSW.
Abbreviations

MSW

Municipal Solid Waste

MDR

Multidrug Resistance

MPN

Most Probable Number

Mcg

Microgram

MAR

Multiple Antibiotic Resistance

Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the Department of Biotechnology A. N. College, Patna, for providing facility as well as staff and laboratory technician for their technical assistance.
Author Contributions
Sweta Bharti: Conceptualization, Data curation, Methodology, Writing – original draft
Sushil Kumar Singh: Supervision, Validation
Shreyansh: Data curation, Methodology, Validation, Writing – original draft
Aparna Anand: Data curation, Methodology, Validation
Prem Mishra: Data curation, Methodology, Validation
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
References
[1] Singh, V., & Mittal, A. K. (2011). Groundwater pollution by municipal solid waste landfill leachate: A case study of Okhla Landfill, Delhi. Proceedings of the IWRA World Water Congress, Pernambuco, Brazil.
[2] Pandey, R. K., Tiwari, R. P., & Kirloskar, S. G. (2013). Impact of municipal solid waste on subsurface water quality near the landfill site. International Journal of Engineering Research and Technology (IJERT), 2(11), 3767–3772.
[3] Ikem A., Osibanjo O., Sridhar, MKC. and Sobande, A. (2002), Evaluation of groundwater quality characteristics near two waste sites in Ibadan and Logas, Nigeria, Journal of Water, Air and Soil Pollution 140, pp 307-333.
[4] Okecha, S. A. (2000). Pollution and Conservation of Nigeria's Environment. T Afrique International Associates, Owerri, Nigeria.
[5] Mor, S., Ravindra, K., Dahiya, R. P., & Chandra, A. (2006). Leachate characterization and assessment of groundwater pollution near municipal solid waste landfill site. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 118(1–3), 435–456. 2.
[6] Kjeldsen, P. et al. (2002) “Present and Long-Term Composition of MSW Landfill Leachate: A Review,” Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, 32(4), pp. 297–336.
[7] Tripathi, K. N., Roy, S. and Ansari, M. R., 2024. Assessment of Leaching Pollutants in Subsoil and Ground Water Quality near Municipal Solid Waste Dump Site in Lucknow. International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET), 11(12).
[8] Archana, Daoud, A., Mohammad, Y. and Dutta, V. (2014). “Assessment of the Status of Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) in Lucknow – Capital city of Uttar Pradesh, India,” Journal of Environmental Science, Toxicology and Food Technology, 8(5), pp. 41–49.
[9] Saha, D., Dwivedi, S., & Singh, R. K. (2014). Aquifer system response to intensive pumping in urban areas of the Gangetic plains, India: the case study of Patna. Environmental Earth Sciences, 71, 1721-1735.
[10] Singh et al. Physicochemical and Bacteriological Analysis of Drinking Water Samples from Urban Area of Patna District, Bihar, India. Int. J. Life. Sci. Scienti. Res., 2017; 3(5): 1355-1359.
[11] Kanth, M. K., Singh, S. K., Kashyap, A., Gupta, V. K., Shalini, S., Kumari, S., Kumari, R., & Puja, K. (2017). Microbial Study of Drinking Water in the Government Hospitals of Patna District, Bihar, India. American Scientific Research Journal for Engineering, Technology, and Sciences (ASRJETS), 38(2), 161–167.
[12] APHA., Standard methods for the examination of the water and wastewater, 19th edition: American Public Health Association, Washington, 1992.
[13] AD Adoni; G Joshi; K Ghosh; SK Choursia; AK Vaishya; M Yadav., Workbook of Limnology: Pratiba Publication, Sagar, 1985, 216.
[14] Lone, I. U. H., Kumar, A., Khan, F., Saxena, S., & Dar, A. I. (2012). Evaluating the effect of landfill leachate on groundwater quality in relation to physicochemical and bacteriological characteristics. Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research, 4(12), 5202–5214.
Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Bharti, S., Singh, S. K., Shreyansh, Anand, A., Mishra, P. (2026). Impact of Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Leachate on Groundwater Quality: A Case Study of Ramchak-Bairiya, Patna, Bihar. Frontiers in Environmental Microbiology, 12(2), 16-22. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.fem.20261202.11

    Copy | Download

    ACS Style

    Bharti, S.; Singh, S. K.; Shreyansh; Anand, A.; Mishra, P. Impact of Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Leachate on Groundwater Quality: A Case Study of Ramchak-Bairiya, Patna, Bihar. Front. Environ. Microbiol. 2026, 12(2), 16-22. doi: 10.11648/j.fem.20261202.11

    Copy | Download

    AMA Style

    Bharti S, Singh SK, Shreyansh, Anand A, Mishra P. Impact of Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Leachate on Groundwater Quality: A Case Study of Ramchak-Bairiya, Patna, Bihar. Front Environ Microbiol. 2026;12(2):16-22. doi: 10.11648/j.fem.20261202.11

    Copy | Download

  • @article{10.11648/j.fem.20261202.11,
      author = {Sweta Bharti and Sushil Kumar Singh and Shreyansh and Aparna Anand and Prem Mishra},
      title = {Impact of Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Leachate on Groundwater Quality: A Case Study of Ramchak-Bairiya, Patna, Bihar},
      journal = {Frontiers in Environmental Microbiology},
      volume = {12},
      number = {2},
      pages = {16-22},
      doi = {10.11648/j.fem.20261202.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.fem.20261202.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.fem.20261202.11},
      abstract = {Major source of drinking water in the Patna region is ground water. This study focuses on assessing the impact of Municipal solid waste on ground water quality near around dumping site area in the Ramchak-Bairiya, Patna, Bihar, India. Dumping sites are in a risk zone of spilling of leachate through adjacent soil which leads to contaminated ground water. Surrounding area of dumping site can be a serious threat to the human health and environment. Huge quantity of municipal solid waste (MSW) dumps containing hazardous materials are a serious threat to the surrounding population of Patna. When these MSW are dumped at site, ground water began contaminating due to percolation of leachate to the porous ground surface. This leachate contains large number of contaminants which can pollute ground water. Ground water samples of different location adjacent to dumping sites were analyzed for microbiological, biochemical characterization, most probable number estimation and antibiotic sensitivity testing of isolated bacteria. The result of MPN test reveals heavy bacterial load in several sampling site which clearly indicates bacterial contamination inside source ground water. Presence of coliform confirms leachate infiltration into the ground water. Antibiotic susceptibility testing demonstrates a pattern of resistance against selective antibiotics. This may suggest the evolve of multidrug resistance (MDR) bacteria in contaminated ground water. Present investigation concludes that leachate of MSW from the Ramchak-Bairiya MSW dumping site severely contaminate the adjacent ground water quality, leading to serious Public health and environmental risks.},
     year = {2026}
    }
    

    Copy | Download

  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Impact of Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Leachate on Groundwater Quality: A Case Study of Ramchak-Bairiya, Patna, Bihar
    AU  - Sweta Bharti
    AU  - Sushil Kumar Singh
    AU  - Shreyansh
    AU  - Aparna Anand
    AU  - Prem Mishra
    Y1  - 2026/07/17
    PY  - 2026
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.fem.20261202.11
    DO  - 10.11648/j.fem.20261202.11
    T2  - Frontiers in Environmental Microbiology
    JF  - Frontiers in Environmental Microbiology
    JO  - Frontiers in Environmental Microbiology
    SP  - 16
    EP  - 22
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2469-8067
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.fem.20261202.11
    AB  - Major source of drinking water in the Patna region is ground water. This study focuses on assessing the impact of Municipal solid waste on ground water quality near around dumping site area in the Ramchak-Bairiya, Patna, Bihar, India. Dumping sites are in a risk zone of spilling of leachate through adjacent soil which leads to contaminated ground water. Surrounding area of dumping site can be a serious threat to the human health and environment. Huge quantity of municipal solid waste (MSW) dumps containing hazardous materials are a serious threat to the surrounding population of Patna. When these MSW are dumped at site, ground water began contaminating due to percolation of leachate to the porous ground surface. This leachate contains large number of contaminants which can pollute ground water. Ground water samples of different location adjacent to dumping sites were analyzed for microbiological, biochemical characterization, most probable number estimation and antibiotic sensitivity testing of isolated bacteria. The result of MPN test reveals heavy bacterial load in several sampling site which clearly indicates bacterial contamination inside source ground water. Presence of coliform confirms leachate infiltration into the ground water. Antibiotic susceptibility testing demonstrates a pattern of resistance against selective antibiotics. This may suggest the evolve of multidrug resistance (MDR) bacteria in contaminated ground water. Present investigation concludes that leachate of MSW from the Ramchak-Bairiya MSW dumping site severely contaminate the adjacent ground water quality, leading to serious Public health and environmental risks.
    VL  - 12
    IS  - 2
    ER  - 

    Copy | Download

Author Information
  • Department of Botany, Patliputra University, Patna, India

  • Department of Botany, Anugrah Narayan College, Patna, India

  • Department of Biotechnology, Anugrah Narayan College, Patna, India

  • Department of Botany, Patliputra University, Patna, India

  • Department of Biotechnology, Anugrah Narayan College, Patna, India;Department of Biotechnology, Pondicherry University, Puducherry, India