Groundwater Quality and Municipal Waste Management in Brikama, The Gambia

This paper describes groundwater quality and municipal waste management practices in Brikama Town, The Gambia. Waste management is generally through indiscriminate collection, open dumping, open burning without proper waste segregation or sorting. The domestic water supplies are entirely derived from groundwater resources. Some municipal water boreholes that supply raw water to the water treatment plant of Brikama for treatment are located within the main municipal waste dumpsite or thereabout. The main municipal water treatment technique is chlorination which cannot get rid of chemicals including nitrates and heavy metals, especially where waste disposal is through indiscriminate dumping. In Brikama, the waste management system has many lapses. Some of the lapses are related to some missing components of the waste management cycle. Such missing components include waste segregation and waste treatment which are as important as the other components such as collection, transportation and disposal. Other lapses are related to inadequate political and structural arrangements for the available components of the waste management cycle. There is felt need for more regulations to protect the environment. Workable legislation, regulations and action plans for groundwater resources and waste management should be put in place by the government and corporate municipal institutions without delay for public and environmental health protection.