title: Environmental risks of farmed and barren alkaline coal ash landfills in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
abstract: The disposal of coal combustion residues (CCR) has led to a significant consumption of land in the West Balkan region. In Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina) we studied previously soil-covered (farmed) and barren CCR landfills including management practises, field ageing of CCR and the transfer of trace elements into crops, wild plants and wastewaters. Soil tillage resulted in mixing of cover soil with CCR. Medicago sativa showed very low Cu:Mo ratios (1.25) which may cause hypocuprosis in ruminants. Total loads of inorganic pollutants in the CCR transport water, but not pH ( approximately 12), were below regulatory limits of most EU countries. Arsenic concentrations in CCR transport water were <2microgl(-1) whereas reductive conditions in an abandoned landfill significantly enhanced concentrations in leachates (44microgl(-1)). The opposite pattern was found for Cr likely due to large initial leaching of CrVI. Public use of landfills, including farming, should be based on a prior risk assessment due to the heterogeneity of CCR.
authors.affiliation: University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna - BOKU, Department of Forest and Soil Sciences, Peter Jordan Strasse 82, A-1190 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dellantonio
authors.forename: Walter J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Fitz
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Custovic
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Repmann
authors.forename: Bernd U
authors.initials: BU
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Grünewald
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Gruber
authors.forename: Zeljka
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zgorelec
authors.forename: Nijaz
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zerem
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carter
authors.forename: Mihajlo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Markovic
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Puschenreiter
authors.forename: Walter W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Wenzel
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D000383:Agriculture; D001151:Arsenic / Q000032:analysis; D017522:Bosnia and Herzegovina; D002857:Chromium / Q000032:analysis; D003031:Coal; D003300:Copper / Q000032:analysis; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D004787:Environmental Pollution; D052918:Environmental Restoration and Remediation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D017745:Incineration; D007220:Industrial Waste; D008982:Molybdenum / Q000032:analysis; D011210:Power Plants; D012037:Refuse Disposal; D012306:Risk; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis; D013995:Time
chemical_list: D003031:Coal; D007220:Industrial Waste; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D002857:Chromium; D003300:Copper; D008982:Molybdenum; D001151:Arsenic