Pollution risk assessment based on hydrogeological data and management of solid waste landfills

During the last years, the occurrences of degradation processes of underground water are continuously more frequent especially as concerns the quality of this natural resource. Polluting processes produced by landfills consisting of urban and industrial refuses are particularly critical for the type of contamination and for the intrinsic difficulty in applying any remedy. In the present research, we estimate the environmental compatibility of the controlled landfills by applying an integrated method based on (i) the hydrogeological behaviour of the area surrounding the landfill according to the map of the intrinsic vulnerability of the aquifer(s), (ii) the setup, the management and the control of the landfill defined by its risk index. The application of this approach to several landfills located in different geological conditions allowed us to evaluate the efficiency of the control system of the existing landfills and the priority list of the intervention to be performed to improve the future management and to protect the surrounding environment.