Toxicity identification evaluation of leachates from municipal solid waste landfills: a multispecies approach

摘要

The toxicily of leachates from two municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills in Southern Italy was characterized using a toxicily identification evaluation procedure. The chemical and physical fractionation techniques were: pH adjustment, pH adjustment/filtration, pH adjustment/C_(18) solid phase extraction, graduated pH and EDTA chelation. All the samples exhibited acute toxicity towards the bacterium Vibrio fischeri, the freshwater rotifer Bmchionus calyciflorus and the freshwater crustaceans Thamnocephalus platyurus and Daphnia magna. Statistical techniques were used to determine the discriminatory power and the toxicity detection capacity of the different assays and to choose a minimal battery of tests for the toxicity identification ofleachates. Toxicity was closely associated with pH, generally increasing at higher pH levels and decliming at lower ones. Furthermore, results showed that toxicants could be characterized as cations, basic chemicals, suspended solids and apolar compounds.