Ecotoxicological evaluation of leachate from the Limeira sanitary landfill with a view to identifying acute toxicity

Abstract

Final disposal of solid waste is still a cause for serious impacts on the environment. In sanitary landfills, waste undergoes physical, chemical, and biological decomposition, generating biogas and leachate. Leachate is a highly toxic liquid with a very high pollution potential. The purpose of this work is to evaluate toxicity of in natura leachate samples collected from Limeira Sanitary Landfill, in Limeira, SP. The ecotoxicological evaluation comprised acute toxicity assays using as test organisms Daphnia Similis, seeds of Eruca sativa (arugula), and Allium cepa roots (onion). Analyses of color, pH, turbidity, conductivity, hardness, nitrogen, total organic carbon (TOC), adsorbable organic halogen (AOX), and metals were also carried out. The main results for Eruca sativa (arugula) and Allium cepa (onion) indicated that the diluted leachate 50% presented similar toxicity to the phenol solution of 1000 mg.L-1 for arugula and 2000 mg.L-1 for onion. With the solution of Cr+6 concentrations of 3000 mg.L-1 for arugula and 2000 mg.L-1 for onion were found. For analyses with Daphnia Similis the EC50 was 9.3% on average. This way it was possible to observe that biological tests are necessary to evaluate the pollution in the effluents or water bodies. These tests serve to determine the toxic potential of a chemical agent or complex mixture.