An Estimation of the Risk Associated with the Organic Constituents of Hazardous and Municipal Waste Landfill Leachates

Abstract

Although restrictions on the landfilling of hazardous industrial wastes have greatly increased, most municipal wastes are still disposed of in soil lined pits that can readily leak contaminated leachates to the subsurface environment. Since municipal waste landfills are numerous and contain many of the same compounds as found in industrial wastes, it is essential to evaluate the risks to human health and the environment from exposure to ground water contaminated with municipal waste landfill leachate. The present study was undertaken to compile chemical constituent and concentration data and, also, to estimate the risk which would be associated with exposure to the organic pollutants found in leachate from industrial and municipal waste landfills. Toxic and cancer causing chemicals were found in the leachates from all 58 landfills for which data were available irrespective of the type of waste which they received. Although different groups of pollutants are found in the different landfills, the concentrations and toxicity are such that the leachate from some municipal waste landfills may cause as great a cancer risk as those from industrial waste landfills. The risk calculations based on suspect carcinogens only indicate that the estimated carcinogenic potency for the leachate from some municipal landfills may be similar to the carcinogenic potency for the leachate from the Love Canal landfill.