The Health Risk assessment of Pb and Cr leached from fly ash monolith landfill.
As of 2004, nearly two hundred thousand tons of fly ash monoliths are created each year in Taiwan to confine heavy metals for reducing the leaching quantity by precipitation. However, due to abnormal monolith fracture, poorly liner quality or exceeding usage over designed landfill capacity, serious groundwater pollution of the landfills has been reported. This research focuses on Pb and Cr leaching from monolithic landfill to assess the risk of groundwater pollution in the vicinity. The methodology combines water budget simulations using HELP model with fate and risk simulations using MMSOILS model for 5 kinds of landfill structures and 2 types of leaching models, and calculates the risk distribution over 400 grids in the down gradient direction of groundwater. The results demonstrated that the worst liner quality will cause the largest risk and the most significant exposure pathway is groundwater intake, which accounted for 98% of the total risk. Comparing Pb and Cr concentrations in the groundwater with the drinking water standards, only 14.25% of the total grids are found to be under 0.05 mg/L of Pb, and over 96.5% of the total grids are in the safety range of Cr. It indicates that Pb leaching from fly ash monolithic landfills may cause serious health risks. Without consideration of the parameters uncertainty, the cancer and noncancer risk of Pb with the sanitary landfill method was 4.23E-07 and 0.63, respectively, both under acceptable levels. However, by considering the parameters uncertainty, the non-carcinogenic risk of Pb became 1.43, exceeding the acceptable level. Only under the sealed landfill method was the hazard quotient below 1. It is important to use at least the sealed landfill for fly ash monoliths containing lead to effectively reduce health risks.
Hung
Ming-Lung
ML
Graduate Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Taiwan University, 71 Chou-Shan Road, Taipei 106, Taiwan.
Wu
Sheng-Yao
SY
Chen
Yen-Chuan
YC
Shih
Hsiu-Ching
HC
Yu
Yue-Hwa
YH
Ma
Hwong-wen
HW
D002244:Carbon; D002857:Chromium / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D060729:Coal Ash; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D004787:Environmental Pollution; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D006801:Humans; D007220:Industrial Waste; D007854:Lead / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D015233:Models, Statistical; D052638:Particulate Matter; D012037:Refuse Disposal / Q000379:methods*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D013624:Taiwan; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
D060729:Coal Ash; D007220:Industrial Waste; D052638:Particulate Matter; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D002857:Chromium; D007854:Lead; D002244:Carbon