Diagnosis of contaminated areas by final disposal of solid waste in the municipality of Paço do Lumiar (MA), Brazil

ABSTRACT The final disposal of solid waste is considered a potential source of contamination and has been highlighted due to the environmental problems and socioeconomic factors that it can generate. The municipality of Paço do Lumiar, Maranhão, uses a garbage dump as a way of disposing urban solid waste, even after the deadline for the end of dumps in Brazil, as established by the National Solid Waste Policy, Federal Law No. 12,305, dated August 2, 2010. As a result, the objective of this study was to detect areas contaminated by disposal of solid waste in Paço do Lumiar, based on the Workshop Management of Contaminated Areas’ methodology, a part of the project CETESB/GTZ (1999), using the environmental compartments soil and surface water as objects of analysis. Thus, it was found that the garbage dump has contributed to the contamination of soil with heavy metals in the place of provision and 200m to its downstream, which can mean potential contamination of ground water due to the local geology and the fact that sandy soil facilitates the process of transporting contaminants. The analysis of the surface water revealed that the disposal of solid waste can contribute less than other sources of contamination, highlighting in this context those generated by the communities that occupy the basin. Therefore, as the verified contamination compromises some land uses (residential and agricultural), further studies may contemplate the remediation process of these contaminated areas according to the CTESB/GTZ (1999) material for stablishing measures to minimize this region’s environmental impacts.