The Impact of Municipal Waste on Groundwater Quality: Case of Omaruru Municipal Dumpsite

In this chapter, the effect of waste management practices on groundwater quality at the local municipality level is assessed. The case of Omaruru Municipality in Namibia was chosen to show the need for consideration of the interconnectedness of town (settlement) planning, land use, and human activities with groundwater quality, which is often ignored by researchers, municipal planners and water managers in Southern Africa. Based on the findings, i.e. a strong correlation between heavy metals found in soil and heavy metals found in groundwater boreholes, the research area’s ContaminationContamination Factor (CF) ranging from 0.8 to 2.7, the geo-accumulation Index (Igeo) ranging from 0.003 to 0.7, and the pollution load index (PLI) of 2, which indicated contamination of the study area, the study found that municipal open dumping site contaminates groundwaterGround water sources within the river basinBasin.