scholarly journals Environmental Hazards of an Unrecultivated Liquid Waste Disposal Site on Soil and Groundwater

Water ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 226
Author(s):  
Tamás Mester ◽  
György Szabó ◽  
Zsófi Sajtos ◽  
Edina Baranyai ◽  
Gergely Szabó ◽  
...  

Disposal sites without adequate engineering controls pose a significant risk to the environment. In the present study, the environmental hazards of an abandoned and unrecultivated liquid waste disposal are investigated with a special focus on soil and shallow groundwater contamination. After a period of operation from 1994 to 2010, when the wastewater collection of the municipality was regulated, the disposal site was subsequently decommissioned without further action. Eight monitoring wells have been established in the disposal basins and in the surrounding area to determine the contamination of the site. Sampling took place in the summers of 2020 and 2021. The results of the analysis of the soil and water samples collected showed a high level of contamination in the area. In the borehole profile of the infiltration basin, a well-developed leachate nitrate profile was observed, with a concentration above 3000 mg/kg NO3−. The soil phosphate content was also significant, with a value of over 1900 mg/kg in the upper 40 cm layer. Extremely high concentrations of ammonium (>45 mg/L) and organic matter (>90 mg/L) were detected in the groundwater of the basins, indicating that contaminated soil remains a major source of pollutants more than 10 years after closure. For all micro- and macroelements present in detectable concentrations, a significant increase was observed in the infiltration basin. Our results have revealed that the surroundings are also heavily contaminated. NO3− concentrations above the contamination limit were measured outside the basins. Recultivation of liquid waste disposal sites of similar characteristics is therefore strongly recommended.

Geophysics ◽  
2000 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 1070-1079 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martyn J. Unsworth ◽  
Xinyou Lu ◽  
M. Don Watts

The long term disposal of radioactive waste in an underground repository requires the detailed geological evaluation of a potential site. Owing to their inherent sensitivity to the presence of fluids in rocks, electromagnetic (EM) methods have an important role in this assessment. Controlled‐source EM techniques are especially useful in strong anthropogenic noise environments such as industrial locations. However the complexity of modeling and inversion can limit the quantitative interpretation of controlled‐source EM data. A potential radioactive waste disposal site at Sellafield in Great Britain has been investigated using a variety of EM exploration techniques. Controlled‐source audio‐frequency magnetotelluric (CSAMT) data have given the best subsurface information in an environment that has a high level of cultural noise. One‐dimensional inversions of the Sellafield CSAMT data were found to be inadequate; 2.5-D forward modeling and inversion were used to interpret the data. The resulting resistivity models show good agreement with well log data collected at the site. These resistivity models show the presence of a large zone of hypersaline groundwater extending 1 km inland towards the potential repository and indicate the effect of faults on the hydrogeology.


2021 ◽  
pp. 104490
Author(s):  
Ervin Hrabovszki ◽  
Emese Tóth ◽  
Tivadar M. Tóth ◽  
István Garaguly ◽  
István Futó ◽  
...  

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Pristas ◽  
Zuzana Stramova ◽  
Simona Kvasnova ◽  
Jana Judova ◽  
Zuzana Perhacova ◽  
...  

Abstract Waste disposal sites from non-ferrous metal industry constitute environments very hostile for life due to the presence of very specialized abiotic factors (pH, salt concentration, heavy metals content). In our experiments microflora of two waste disposal sites in Slovakia – brown mud disposal site from aluminium production near Ziar nad Hronom and nickel sludge disposal site near Sered - was analyzed for cultivable bacteria. Isolated bacteria were characterized by a combination of classical microbiological approaches and molecular methods and the most of isolated bacteria shown a poly-extremotolerant phenotype. The most frequently halotolerant (resistant to the high level of salt concentrations) and alkalitolerant (resistant to the high pH level) bacteria belonging to the Actinobacteria class were detected. The most of bacteria shown very high level of heavy metal resistance e.g. more than 500 μg/ml for Zn2+ or Cu2+. Based on our data, waste disposal sites thus on one side represents an important environmental burden but on other side they are a source of new poly-extremotolerant bacterial strains and species possibly used in many biotechnology and bioremediation applications.


1985 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 501-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. W. Nyhan ◽  
B. J. Drennon ◽  
W. V. Abeele ◽  
M. L. Wheeler ◽  
W. D. Purtymun ◽  
...  

1984 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-186
Author(s):  
J.H. Jones ◽  
F.J. Olsen ◽  
J.J. Patterson ◽  
K.A. Rushing

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