What is Leachate?

     Honestly, for the longest time, I had no idea what Leachate was. Leachate is something that we all don't really no about, but it does play a very important part in our environment and community. 

    Have you ever felt a sticky substance under your trash bag? That sticky substance is called Leachate. That gooey and dirty liquid is called Leachate. Leachate is formed when rain water filters through the waste in the landfill. After leachate is placed in landfills, leachate ends up mixing up with water bodies near the landfill. This makes our safe drinking water not so safe and instead toxic. In order to stop this problem scientist and engineer had created a liner to cover up the leachate and keep it in the area where it was dumped. Animals such as squirrels started making holes in the liner and to prevent that problem, squirrels were killed. This leachate problem still continues, but researchers, scientists, and engineers continue to see if there is a way to fix or prevent this problem. 

    Below is a great video which simply explains what Leachate is and the actions that we have taken to prevent the problems it causes.