Abstract
The environmental impact of three different urban solid waste facilities (USWF) on the quality of the surface water. The studied areas were the Campo Belo sanitary landfill (Varões River), the controlled landfill of Santo Antônio do Amparo (Fabiano River), and the closed dump of Elói Mendes (Mutuca River), which are cities located in southern Minas Gerais state, Brazil were evaluated. At each sampling point water samples were collected at five occasions in the raining season (October - March) and in the dry season (April - June) at three sampling points: (P1) upstream the solid waste facility, (P2) downstream nearby the point of influx from the sewage treatment plant in the sanitary landfill, or at the drainage point from the surface flow of the dump and controlled landfill, and (P3) downstream the solid waste facility. Physicochemical and bacteriological analyses were performed, and the results were analyzed based on descriptive statistics. The data were also compared with reference values from the National Environmental Council (CONAMA) Resolution 357/2005 and were used to calculate the water quality index (WQI). It was not possible to detect a significant effect of the solid waste facility on the water quality indicators. The water conditions were unsatisfactory due to violations of the concentrations of phosphorus, ammonia, fecal coliform, and the biochemical oxygen demand/chemical oxygen demand ratio (BOD/COD), probably related to other uses along the drainage area upstream the solid waste facility. These conditions were more critical in the Mutuca river, where the WQI was classified as bad during the entire period at all sampling points.
Highlights
The steady growth of urban populations and rapid increase in solid waste generation has emerged as one of the main pressing issues of human society, especially in developing countries (BRUNNER; BROWN, 1988; D’ALMEIDA; VILHENA, 2000; POKHREL; VIRARAGHAVAN, 2005; MARKANDYA, 2006)
Analysis of descriptive statistics identified that some water parameters were above the reference values from CONAMA Resolution 357/2005 (Table 3)
This study identified that water conditions were unsatisfactory due to violations to the allowable levels of phosphorus, ammonia, fecal coliform, and the biochemical oxygen demand/chemical oxygen demand ratio (BOD/COD)
Summary
The steady growth of urban populations and rapid increase in solid waste generation has emerged as one of the main pressing issues of human society, especially in developing countries (BRUNNER; BROWN, 1988; D’ALMEIDA; VILHENA, 2000; POKHREL; VIRARAGHAVAN, 2005; MARKANDYA, 2006). Improper disposal of solid waste leads to contamination of soil, air, and surface and groundwater. This contamination alters physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the environment and places human health at risk. Environmental contamination resulting from solid waste can reach high levels and negatively affect people and the local fauna and flora (CASTILHOS JÚNIOR, 2006). Leachate and gases are the major problems caused by garbage decomposition, a series of other problems is observed such as: a) pollution of soil, nearby surface waters, and ground waters; b) visual pollution; c) unpleasant odors; d) presence of animal scavengers; e) presence of people scavenging discarbe resources including children; f) increased occurrence of disease vectors, which directly impact the local and regional human; g) presence of gases with greenhouse and explosive effects, dioxins, and furans resulting from burning; h) intense landscape degradation; i) increase of fire hazard; and j) devaluation of local real estate (LANZA, 2009)
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