Environmental risk assessment and factors influencing heavy metal concentrations in the soil of municipal solid waste landfills

Purpose of reseach. One of the most pressing environmental problems is the formation of production and consumption waste; moreover, the bulk of the waste is not involved in the circular economy but is disposed at landfills and waste dumps that pose a serious ecological hazard to the environment and public health. The authors of the article substantiate the need to apply modern information technologies for a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the composition of emissions, a comprehensive assessment of the environmental state near sources of pollution, a study of cause-effect relationships in the ‘environment – public health’ system, and health risk assessment for the subsequent justification of the priority management decisions to ensure the environmental health and public safety.Methods. The main method used to assess the negative impact of municipal solid waste landfills on the health of the population living in the areas of their effect is the concept of risk assessment and analysis.Results. Particular attention was paid to the analysis of information technologies used in assessing the risk to public health from emissions of landfills of municipal solid waste; examples of using software products at various stages of assessing the risk to public health from emissions from Kursk landfill were considered. To take into account the specific uncertainties that are due to the peculiarities of the functioning of municipal solid waste landfills as risk sources, the authors developed an electronic database of the municipal solid waste morphological composition and landfill facilities.Conclusion. The developed database will allow us to level the uncertainties that arise in assessing the risk to public health from emissions of municipal solid waste landfills to the extent possible, and, so, increase the objectivity of the obtained risk assessment results.

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The DPSIR Model for Environmental Risk Assessment of Municipal Solid Waste in Dar es Salaam City, Tanzania

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph15081692 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 15 (8) ◽

pp. 1692 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Emmanuel Kazuva ◽

Jiquan Zhang ◽

Zhijun Tong ◽

Alu Si ◽

Li Na

Keyword(s):

Risk Assessment ◽

Municipal Solid Waste ◽

Solid Waste ◽

Environmental Risk ◽

Environmental Risk Assessment ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Risk Index ◽

Indicator System ◽

Dar Es Salaam ◽

Risk Indicator

Environmental risk has become an area of major concern and research, drawing special attention. This study on the environmental risk assessment (ERA) of Dar es Salaam Municipal Solid Waste comes at a time when the Government of Tanzania is becoming increasingly concerned about dealing with high levels of pollution from municipal solid waste (MSW). The paper employed the Driving force-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) model to establish an environmental risk indicator system and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to calculate and analyze risk values, based on the actual situation of MSW in the city of Dar es Salaam. It lists several measures that have been taken in response to the current significantly high levels of pollution, which have assisted in maintaining the environmental risk index (ERI) at a medium level (0.4–0.6) during the period from 2006–2017. However, these measures have not been adequate enough to manage the external pressure. The ERI has been increasing gradually, calling for timely formulation of demand-specific waste management policies to reduce the possibility of reaching the critical point in near future. With the use of the DPSIR model for ERA, this study has become highly valuable, providing empirical justification to reduce environmental risk from MSW, which is one of the main sources of environmental pollution in the urban areas of developing countries.

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