Storage of waste in a disposal
facility serves to minimise the effects of waste on the
environment. This is achieved by restricting an
y effluent derived from
the waste to a single
location, where emissions can be
controlled. If control is lack
ing or inadequate, disposal
facilities may become point sources of
groundwater contamination. In many regions,
centralised waste disposal has hi
storically occurred by landfilling
,
wherein local quarries and
gravel pits have been filled
with waste because, in many cases, they simply constituted an
appropriately sized hole in the ground. Such lo
cations typically offered little protection
against contamination of adjacent
groundwater supplies. Legislation
,
designed to protect
usable groundwater, has helped
to reduce the incidence of this practice in many high to
middle income countrie