Contribution of municipal waste incineration to trace metal deposition on the vicinity

Because municipal solid waste incineration is one potential source of air pollution, the incineration industry has provoked great public concern, especially for areas within 10-20 km of an incinerator. However, little work has been done to evaluate whether an incinerator significantly contributes pollutants to nearby areas. Rain and snow samples were collected at eight locations distributed in a semi-circular pattern radiating out in the prevailing wind direction from the Claremont incinerator, New Hampshire, U.S.A. Sodium, Mg, K, Ca, Fe, Al, B, Sr, Ba, Pb, Cr, Cd, V, Ni, Mn, As, Co, Cu, and Zn were analyzed in the solutions of rain and snow and in particulate fractions of rain samples. Principal component analysis was used to identify the most important sources of atmospheric deposition in an attempt to identify the contribution of heavy metal deposition due to the incinerator. Analyses show that the predominant sources of metal deposition are very different for fall and winter. The most important source of metals for the rain samples collected in fall 1996 is soil dust, but for the snow samples collected in the winter 1997 is probably coalfired fly ash. The Claremont incinerator contributes less than 20% of the total variance of the elemental concentrations.