Environmental risks of farmed and barren alkaline coal ash landfills in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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.
Dellantonio
Alex
A
University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna - BOKU, Department of Forest and Soil Sciences, Peter Jordan Strasse 82, A-1190 Vienna, Austria.
Fitz
Walter J
WJ
Custovic
Hamid
H
Repmann
Frank
F
Schneider
Bernd U
BU
Grünewald
Holger
H
Gruber
Valeria
V
Zgorelec
Zeljka
Z
Zerem
Nijaz
N
Carter
Claudia
C
Markovic
Mihajlo
M
Puschenreiter
Markus
M
Wenzel
Walter W
WW
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
D003031:Coal; D007220:Industrial Waste; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D002857:Chromium; D003300:Copper; D008982:Molybdenum; D001151:Arsenic