Assessment of the effects of municipal landfills on the metal pollution in the surrounding soils: A case study in Iraq

The present investigation has been devoted to assessing the environmental impacts of a local landfill, in the north of Hilla city, Iraq, on the surrounding soils in terms of heavy metal pollution. The concentrations of heavy metals, namely chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), and lead (Pb) were measured during, November 2019, at three investigation sites that located at distances of 10 (site 1), 20 (site 2) and 30 m (site 3) from the edge of the mentioned landfill. Soil samples were collected from these sites at a constant depth of 20 cm. The collected samples were air-dried, manually crushed, and sieved through a 2 mm mesh before subjecting them to a chemical digesting process. The concentrations of the targeted metals were measured using an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry and compared to the standards of the State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA). The obtained results showed that the highest concentrations of the targeted metals were in site 1, while the lowest concentrations were detected at site 3. Generally, it was found that the concentrations of the studied metals followed the order: Cr>Pb>Ni>Cu. Additionally, it was noticed that all the measured concentrations were within the limitations of the SEPA.