AIR QUALITY IMPACT OF VOCS EMISSION FROM THE HAZARDOUS WASTE LANDFILLS LOCATED IN GIUGLIANO (NA)

In a small area of Giugliano municipality, northwest of Naples, are gathered ten landfills where industrial and toxic wastes were illegally dumped together with urban ones during the 1990s and the early 2000s, under the documented control of Camorra (the Neapolitan mafia organization). Those landfills are presently considered one of the major hazards for human health and environment in the area. During 2015 and 2016, field campaigns were performed with sampling techniques suitable to quantify emissions from landfills characterized by different management conditions (e.g. conveyed/non-conveyed biogas emissions). A large variety of VOC species including toxic or carcinogenic compounds such as aromatic hydrocarbons (BTEX: benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene isomers) non-halogenated (styrene, methyl ethyl ketone or MEK, tetrahydrofuran) and halogenated compounds (trichloroethylene, tetrachloroethylene) and terpenes (such as limonene, p-cymene and ?-pinene), which are responsible for the undesirable odor, were detected and compared with emissions from the controlled urban waste landfill of Malagrotta (Rome), highlighting peculiar differences that could be attributed to the nature of illegally dumped waste. Emission rates for the monitored VOCs were attributed to each landfill using continuous methane measurements to define the daily biogas emission cycle. A Lagrangian particle dispersion model was applied to estimate yearly average and peak atmospheric concentrations of toxic, odorous and ozone precursor substances over the surrounding territory. Local meteorology was reconstructed by high resolution simulations of the WRF meteorological model. VOC concentrations were compared with inhalation unit risks and odor thresholds to establish their relevance for health hazard and annoyance of the resident population. The toxic compounds concentrations complied with all the considered threshold values, allowing to exclude the risk of acute or chronic diseases to the local population. For a complete environmental analysis, the landfills contribution should be added to the other environmental pressures acting over the "terra dei fuochi" area.