Preliminary Assessment Of The Metal Contaminant Potential Of The Leachate Produced In A Controlled Sanitary Landfill, Muribeca, Pernambuco, Brazil

The Muribeca Sanitary Landfill is the biggest landfill in the Recife Metropolitan area. It occupies an area of 0.6km2 in the Jaboatao dos Guararapes County and receives a daily load of 2800tons of domestic, industrial and hospital solid wastes. The purpose of this work is a preliminary assessment of the contaminant potential load of the leachate produced in two of the cells of the landfill in relation to the soil, sediments and surface waters. In order to achieve this a systematic sampling was carried out during October of 2000. The leachate was sampled along the leachate drainage until its discharged into the Muribequinha stream and Jaboatao river. The samples were submitted to chemical analyses by ICP/AES in order to determine Ag, Al, As, Ba, Cd, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn. The results showed that, in the leachate, only Al, Fe and Mn were above the method detection limit (0.05mg dm-3) in all analyzed samples. It was observed that the metal concentration decreased away from the source, both in distance and in depth. The metal concentration in the leachate shows a 10-fold decrease for A1 and Fe and a 20-fold decrease in Mn when it reaches Jaboatao River. Considering that the leachate flow during the year 2000 varied from 1.1 dm3 s-l (January-dry season) to 3 1.76 dm3 s-l (June-rainy season) the contaminant load that eventually reached the Jaboatao river varied from 0.05-1.58 dm3 s-l (Mn), 3.3-95.28 dm3 s-l (Al) and 5.5-158.8 dm3 s-l (Fe).