Topic summary
Leachate
A leachate is any liquid that passes through matter and extracts soluble or suspended solids, or any other component of the material it passed through.
Leachate is a widely used term in the environmental sciences where it has the specific meaning of a liquid that contains environmentally-harmful substances that can enter the environment. It is commonly used in the context of land-filling of decomposable or industrial waste.
In the narrow environmental context, leachate is any liquid that drains from land or stockpiled material and contains significantly-elevated concentrations of undesirable material from what it passed through.