Leachate in the groundwater

Chatting with a friend of this matter and browsing the available material of the Vetiver Network, I bumped into this PDF document that sums up the state of the art of the research and of the realizations so far existing in Australia, Thailand, China, etc.
Leachate is the "structural evil" tightly connected with the old practice of burying the garbage in landfills. It drags with it all the worst of our lifestyle: acids, hydrocarbs, solvants, ecc. It is formed in the rotten heart of landfills and when rains fill up the containment, it spills into our dishes as steaks, vegetables, pasta, ecc.
Many studies have been carried out on the theme, but structural prevention implies very high costs, not to talk about those landfills which are not authorized, uncontrolled put in place by people without a conscience..

If prevention is costly, the cure isn't.....

How mines are elsewere

Here goes an example of how in Australia, mining spoil is dealt with: this applies to bauxite, coal, gold and bentonite.
For the limits of tolerance of vetiver plants to acidity, alcalinity, salinity, heavy metals, etc, etc.. here are some interesting data.

Mining spoil treatment

In the south of Sardinia, as in many other places in the world, mining activity generates a fabulous quantity of spoil that, accumulating in time, forms huge piles dense with heavy metals and toxic elements. The combined action of water and wind, makes these substances enter the food chain.

Vetiver hedges are capable to withstand great concentrations of the polluting elements,
as this study shows, by reducing the volatility of it and erasing the leachate sinking in the ground waters.

A different matter is to plant this huge piles,
in Venezuela, for instance they do it like this.