Water Science & Technology—WST Vol 57 No 12 pp 1915–1920 © IWA Publishing 2008 doi:10.2166/wst.2008.266
The use of tritium content as an indicator of the groundwater contamination by sanitary landfills leachates in the region of Belo Horizonte City, Brazil
J. V. Bandeira, R. M. Mingote, D. M. Oliveira, F. P. Lima and M. B. Baptista
Comissão Nacional de Energia Nuclear (CNEN)-Centro de Desenvolvimento da Tecnologia Nuclear (CDTN), Serviço de Meio Ambiente e Técnicas Nucleares, C. Postal 941, CEP 30123-970, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil E-mail: jvb@cdtn.br
Departamento de Engenharia Hidráulica e Recursos Hídricos, Escola de Engenharia da UFMG, Av. do Contorno, 842, CEP 30110-060, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil
ABSTRACT
Tritium content in the leachate of sanitary landfills, in concentrations well above those observed in global precipitation, can be used as a tracer for the evaluation of the contamination of groundwater in piezometers of the landfills and in neighbouring tubular wells. This possibility was first investigated in Brazil for sanitary landfills in the region of Belo Horizonte City. Tritium levels together with the content of metals present in water and the measurement of soil electrical conductivity, proved to be valuable for these studies and also as a tracer for hydrodynamic studies of the surface water in the Ressaca creek.
Keywords: leachate; sanitary landfill; tracer and tritium
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