US EPA

1026514 

Journal Article 

Environmental risks of farmed and barren alkaline coal ash landfills in Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina 

Dellantonio, A; Fitz, WJ; Custovic, H; Repmann, F; Schneider, BU; Grünewald, H; Gruber, V; Zgorelec, Z; Zerem, N; Carter, C; Markovic, M; Puschenreiter, M; Wenzel, WW 

2008 

Yes 

Environmental Pollution
ISSN: 0269-7491
EISSN: 1873-6424 

153 

3 

677-686 

English 

17949870 

10.1016/j.envpol.2007.08.032 

WOS:000256844300021 

The disposal of coal combustion residues (CCR) has led to a significant consumption of land in the West Balkan region. In Tuzla (Bosnia and Herzegovina) we studied previously soil-covered (farmed) and barren CCR landfills including management practises, field ageing of CCR and the transfer of trace elements into crops, wild plants and wastewaters. Soil tillage resulted in mixing of cover soil with CCR. Medicago sativa showed very low Cu:Mo ratios (1.25) which may cause hypocuprosis in ruminants. Total loads of inorganic pollutants in the CCR transport water, but not pH ( approximately 12), were below regulatory limits of most EU countries. Arsenic concentrations in CCR transport water were <2microgl(-1) whereas reductive conditions in an abandoned landfill significantly enhanced concentrations in leachates (44microgl(-1)). The opposite pattern was found for Cr likely due to large initial leaching of CrVI. Public use of landfills, including farming, should be based on a prior risk assessment due to the heterogeneity of CCR. 

coal ash; landfill; wastewater; agriculture; pollution