Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

Poorly regulated landfill disposal is a worldwide problem. This study aimed to assess the risks posed by unsanitary landfill leachates to groundwater quality. The case study presented examines the town of Çorlu in the Tekirdağ Province of Turkey, where various types of waste are disposed into unsanitary landfill sites without any separation or classification of hazardous and non-hazardous waste. The leachate from unsanitary landfill in Çorlu has complex characteristics that are dependent on the composition of solid waste in the landfill. Contamination risks posed to groundwater vary and depend upon the quantity of leachate generated (in this case ~13 m/day) and its specific physico-chemical characteristics. Considerable public attention has recently been focused on the environmental and potential human health risks of unsanitary landfill in Çorlu. The potential risk of leachate contamination of groundwater resources in Çorlu Town is assessed from waste quality, soil characteristics and leachate composition data. General recommendations to facilitate improved future protection of groundwater quality are indicated.

Assessment and mapping of groundwater vulnerability remains foundational to the effective protection of groundwater resources. A combined approach for assessing the vulnerability of groundwater to different types of contamination is suggested. Preliminary results of a groundwater vulnerability assessment for one of the most hazardous pollutants, the organochlorine pesticide lindane, are given. These calculations were based on typical piedmont territory in the Caucasus Mineral Water region, which is characterized by complicated geological and hydrogeological conditions.

Azerbaijan is rich in oil and gas, deposits of various minerals, and mineral waters. Thermomineral waters, present in 5 regions, are very important economically: their occurrence, properties, and environmental impacts are reviewed. Overall, it is concluded that Azerbaijan has a very considerable potential for further development of its thermal waters; although this development will necessitate care if environmental problems are to be avoided, its use could save about 1.5 million tonnes of conventional fuel every year.

To prove the hydraulic connection between the urban Rózsadomb recharge area (Buda Thermal Karst System, Budapest, Hungary) – through its hydrothermal inactive caves – and the springs at the foothills has been an important question since the 1980s. These cold and lukewarm springs have been utilized as thermal baths since Roman times, and in modern times, occasionally, chemical and bacterial contaminants of human origin have been detected in them. It is hence of considerable importance to know whether these contaminants originated from the Rózsadomb recharge area or from close to the discharge points. According to the results of a previous test in a cave passage high upon the hill, it was tempting to suppose direct connection between the Rózsadomb area and the Boltív Spring in the foothills. The expected breakthrough-time predicted from this previous study was between 10 hours and 42 days. The tracer test documented in this present work showed that no breakthrough occurred. It is proposed therefore that the risk of the Boltív Spring being contaminated by infiltration in the Rózsadomb recharge area is low as compared with the possible contamination from sources near the discharge area. We suggest that in this case the negative tracer test clearly helped to prove and to understand better the role of “natural attenuation” in the Rózsadomb area. The efficient dilution observed in the tracer test facilitated the prediction of a hitherto unknown, large, phreatic cave-system as well.

Monitoring of urban aquifers has highlighted faecal contamination in both developed (UK) and developing (Mozambique) country settings. This has underlined gaps in our knowledge of not only the flux of contaminants through the complex urban water system but also the fate and transport of pathogens once in the subsurface. Research aiming to achieve a better understanding of these issues is described here along with potential management strategies looking at water reuse in urban areas.

In May 2000, the town of Walkerton, Ontario suffered one of Canada’s worst outbreaks of waterborne disease. In the final toll, 2,300 people became ill and seven people died. The principal pathogens were O157:H7 and , both found in the town’s municipal well-water supply. The outbreak sparked intensive hydrogeological investigations and a nine-month long independent commission of inquiry. Two reports were issued. Part 1 focused on Walkerton and identified a cattle farm adjacent to the primary pumping well as the most probable cause of the outbreak. Part 2 delved deeply into all aspects of water supply in the Province and documented 93 commission recommendations concerning the Province-wide delivery of safe drinking water. The very first recommendation highlighted the need for adequate groundwater management and protection. To its credit, the government responded well to many of the issues raised, mostly as they relate to infrastructure, the operation of municipal water sources, the training of operators and data collection. However, from a hydrogeological perspective, the government’s response has been disappointing, particularly with regard to its prescribed methodologies for groundwater protection. A program for mapping groundwater vulnerability and wellhead protection areas was hastily assembled following the Walkerton outbreak but is seriously under-funded, piece-meal in approach, and in several cases scientifically ill-conceived. Ultimately, there are no simple solutions and no easy short cuts, and the successful implementation of groundwater protection measures in Ontario will demand a serious commitment of funds and resources to advance significantly our basic understanding of the Province’s groundwater resources and provide key input data.

Urban groundwater is commonly recharged artificially by stormwater runoff. This paper focuses on the effects of artificial stormwater infiltration on groundwater ecosystems using data from a specific study site. It is demonstrated that at this site artificial stormwater infiltration increased local fluxes of organic matter into the groundwater ecosystems. An insufficient residence time of stormwater in the vadose zone resulted in organic matter reaching the water table and subsequent oxygen consumption. The invertebrate assemblages in the underlying urban groundwater system were enhanced, probably because organic matter enrichment stimulated microbial production. Thus, urban groundwater biodiversity was higher under stormwater infiltration basins for shallow water-table conditions. Furthermore, groundwater biodiversity peaked at the water table, and decreased with depth. Invertebrate assemblage composition showed a vertical shift with depth below the water table, thereby suggesting that competition processes occur among taxa. This work highlights interesting ecological issues in groundwater and provides several recommendations for urban stormwater management.

The historical development and current status of groundwater organic contaminant remediation is reviewed. Such development awareness underpins effective implementation of current and future remediation strategies. Significant remediation has been attempted since the 1980s with the US initially pre-eminent following a widespread programme of pumpand- treat that later developed to more innovative technologies aimed at accelerating source mass removal or control. The emergence of the NAPL (non-aqueous phase liquid) paradigm in the 1980s was critical to both understanding the failings of pump-and-treat and later remediation strategies that recognized the importance of separate remedial strategies for source and dissolved plume zones. A plethora of technologies have emerged over the past two decades or so including vapour-based methods, enhanced mass removal chemical-based methods, monitored and enhanced natural attenuation (bioremediation) and more passive technologies such as permeable reactive barriers. A summary of remediation issues is presented that requires on-going consideration for remediation efforts to remain central to the sustainable management of urban groundwater resources.

Groundwater protection and pollution prevention must be based on an integrated and conclusive protection and safety philosophy. Out of this philosophy a uniquely integrated concept for protection standards can be developed and implemented into technical and legal standards. State-of-the-art technical standards and regulations for the storage and handling of hazardous material, as well as state-of-the-art groundwater protection, have to refer to the complete spectrum of physical, chemical and biological properties of potential contaminants. Hydrogeologists have to integrate the latest research results and developments of material science, chemistry, physics, biology and the life sciences into their conceptual models and must even include the “green technologies” which start to produce new underestimated hazards. Remediation of soil and groundwater contamination can only be successful, if all the aspects of science and technology are professionally integrated in the planning of the remediation process. In most pollution cases only a well-balanced combination of various methods can guarantee a successful remediation, depending on the geological conditions, the specific properties of the aquifer itself and the extent of the contamination. Finally transboundary aquifers and rivers and the development of international public utility companies urge hydrogeologists to work together on an international basis for the solution of common problems.

Results are presented of an experimental study of bacterial leaching of tailings and wastes from mining industry enterprises. From the examples of Chiatura city and the industrial centre of Kazreti, it is shown that use of the suggested method for the leaching of ores can reduce significantly the pollution risk to water and soils in urban areas. The method also promotes both the improvement of the ecological system in general, and a more rational use of natural resources.