title: Artificial sweeteners as potential tracers of municipal landfill leachate.
abstract: Artificial sweeteners are gaining acceptance as tracers of human wastewater in the environment. The 3 artificial sweeteners analyzed in this study were detected in leachate or leachate-impacted groundwater at levels comparable to those of untreated wastewater at 14 of 15 municipal landfill sites tested, including several closed for >50 years. Saccharin was the dominant sweetener in old (pre-1990) landfills, while newer landfills were dominated by saccharin and acesulfame (introduced 2 decades ago; dominant in wastewater). Cyclamate was also detected, but less frequently. A case study at one site illustrates the use of artificial sweeteners to identify a landfill-impacted groundwater plume discharging to a stream. The study results suggest that artificial sweeteners can be useful tracers for current and legacy landfill contamination, with relative abundances of the sweeteners potentially providing diagnostic ability to distinguish different landfills or landfill cells, including crude age-dating, and to distinguish landfill and wastewater sources.
authors.affiliation: Water Science and Technology Directorate, Environment Canada, Burlington, Ontario, Canada L7R 4A6. Electronic address: jim.roy@ec.gc.ca.
authors.forename: James W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.forename: Dale R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Van Stempvoort
authors.forename: Greg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bickerton
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D060587:Groundwater / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D013549:Sweetening Agents / Q000032:analysis*; D064091:Waste Disposal Facilities; D062065:Wastewater / Q000032:analysis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D013549:Sweetening Agents; D062065:Wastewater; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical
keywords: Artificial sweeteners; Environmental tracers; Groundwater; Landfill leachate; Water quality