Hydrogeochemical characterization of Municipal Solid Waste landfill

Angela Nigro (a), Maurizio Barbieri (a) & Giuseppe Sappa (b)
(a) Department of Earth Sciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5, 00185, Rome, Italy. (b) Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome.

In Italy landfills are the main method of waste disposal. Poor management of these areas can result in significant pollution load in the different environmental matrices, which, on the other hand, may naturally contain high amounts of some contaminants. The aim of this work is to determine the geochemical characteristics of the water circulating in the vicinity of two Municipal solid waste landfills and to evaluate their quality status considering the geological characteristics of the sites. The results show exceedances of threshold concentrations of contamination provided by Legislative Decree 152/2006 for both sites, particularly the trace elements present as contaminants are iron manganese and arsenic.

Hydrogeochemistry, Major and trace elements; Municipal Solid Waste landfill.