Leachate

noun

/ˈliː.tʃeɪt/

Liquid that has percolated through solid waste or soil, dissolving and carrying contaminants such as heavy metals, organic pollutants, and pathogens, particularly the contaminated water that drains from landfill sites.

✍️ Usage in a UPSC answer

India's urban governance crisis is starkly visible at unscientific dumpsites such as Delhi's Ghazipur, where untreated leachate seeps into the water table and contaminates groundwater, underscoring why the Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 mandate engineered liners and leachate-collection systems at every sanitary landfill.

Synonyms

leachingspercolateseepageeffluentdrainageeluate

Antonyms

residueretentate

🌱 Word Family

leach (v), leached (adj), leaching (n/v pres.p), leacher (n)

🔡 Root

English leach (Middle English lechen = to wet, drain) + noun-forming suffix -ate; coined 1950s

📜 Etymology

From English leach (Middle English lechen, "to wet, to drain") + the noun-forming suffix -ate; first recorded in the 1950s.

🧠 Memory Hook

"Leach-ate" — what the rain "leaches" out and the ground then "ate": the toxic liquid leached from waste and swallowed by the soil.

🌿 Environment & Ecology 📖 Seen in: Waste Management & Ecosystem Services

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