TITLE:
An Assessment of the Contribution of Municipal Solid Waste Dump Sites Fire to Atmospheric Pollution
AUTHORS:
Akpofure Rim-Rukeh
KEYWORDS:
Dump Site Fire, Landfills, Air Quality, Solid Waste, Methane, Climate Change
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Air Pollution,
Vol.3 No.3,
September
9,
2014
ABSTRACT: Municipal solid waste open dump site operation is an important element of
waste management in Nigeria, both today and in the future. Dump site fires are
common occurrences in the study area. The contribution ofmunicipal
solid waste dump site fires to atmospheric pollution in the Niger Delta, Nigeria
has been assessed experimentally. Five (5) municipal solid waste dump sites
where fire incidence is a frequent and regular occurrence were chosen for the
study. At each of the identified municipal solid waste dump site, eight (8) air
quality monitoring parameters, suspended particulate matter (SPM10),
nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon
monoxide (CO), sulphur dioxide (SO2), methane (CH4),
ammonia (NH3) and Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) were determined
using a series of hand held air quality monitoring equipment. Results indicate
the levels of SPM ranged between 773 and 801 μg/m3 and the levels of
CO ranged between 133.7 and 141.6 ppm. The levels of CO2 ranged
between 401 ppm and 404.5 ppm while that of NO2 ranged between 21.0 ppm
and 27.3 ppm. The levels of SO2 ranged between 27.7 ppm and 37.1 ppm
while that of NH3 ranged from 14.7 to 19.5 ppm. The levels of
methane in the study area ranged between 2310 ppm and 2771 ppm and within thevicinity of dump site fires H2S concentration ranges from
3.4 to 7.7 ppm. Levels of SPM, CO, CO2, and CH4 within
the vicinity of the dump site fires were above regulatory
limits. Dump site fires in the study area could threaten the health of anyone especially the dump site workers that are regularly exposed to the thick smoke and can be
implicated in climate change debate. There is a need to develop better
practices with regard to municipal solid waste open dump site operation and
emission control.