Shillong: Concerns over possible groundwater contamination near the Marten landfill site were raised in the Meghalaya Assembly on Tuesday, with VPP legislator Brightstarwell Marbaniang calling for an urgent scientific assessment of local water sources.
Marbaniang urged Public Health Engineering Minister Marcuise N Marak to initiate a formal study, stating that residents living around the landfill have stopped using nearby water sources due to fears of pollution.
He pointed out that the Marten landfill has existed since 1930 and warned that decades of waste dumping could pose serious long-term risks to groundwater safety and public health.
“The landfill has been there for nearly a century, and people in the area have stopped fetching water because they fear contamination,” Marbaniang told the House, stressing the need for a scientific investigation to establish the safety of the water sources.
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Responding to the concern, Marak said that groundwater studies are normally conducted by the Central Ground Water Board, but assured the House that the matter would be examined following the legislator’s demand.
“Since the member is insisting, I will get it examined,” he said.
The Marten landfill, one of Shillong’s oldest dumping grounds, has long been a subject of environmental concern, with residents and civil society groups repeatedly raising issues about leachate seepage, soil degradation and the absence of long-term waste management planning.
Environmental experts have warned that ageing landfills, if not scientifically monitored and remediated, can contaminate aquifers and surface water systems, posing serious risks to urban water security.
