Groundwater quality deterioration from chemical and microplastic pollution at the Brahmapuram landfill in Kerala, India

The key goal of this study is to evaluate the groundwater quality in terms of Physico- chemical and microplastic contamination at the Brahmapuram landfill in Ernakulam District, kerala, India. Forty pre-monsoon samples were collected immediately following the major fire at the 110-acre Brahmapuram landfill. The area's acidic nature is likely due to low total alkalinity in the groundwater. Notably, the site with the solid waste management plant exhibits the highest Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), indicating that elevated TDS levels are mainly due to landfill leaching rather than natural factors. The Piper diagram reveals that alkalies (Na + K) and strong acids (SO4 + Cl) dominate, while the Gibb's diagram suggests groundwater chemistry is influenced mainly by precipitation. According to the Wilcox diagram, samples 10 and 40 are unsuitable for irrigation. The Box-Whisker diagram indicates that the major cations are in the order Na2+ > Ca2+ > Mg2+, and the major anions are Cl− > HCO3− > SO42−. Among the 261 microplastic particles, fibers are the most dominant type with black,blue, green, pink, and purple colours. The microplastics range from 361.5 µm to 5945.7 µm in length with highest concentration is at Brahmapuram landfill. Raman spectroscopy identified six polymers as Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP), Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Polystyrene (PS), Polyesters (PES) and Polyamides (PA).The landfills may act as a hub for the microplastic contaminations and once if gets leached in to the aquifer system it may remain for years or even decades.