Burial grounds’ impact on groundwater and public health: an overview

Abstract

The most common practice for disposal of dead bodies is inhumation in soil, which favours interactions with the surrounding environment and returns nutrients to the life cycle. However, when the burial ground is located where hydrogeological, geological and climatic conditions are not favourable to the process, contamination of soils and groundwater may occur, and decomposition may be inhibited, leading to social, economic and political problems. The most critical parameters when assessing the pollution potential of a burial ground are inhumation depth, geological formation, depth of the water table, density of inhumations, soil type and climate. Considering that, this paper presents an overview of the potential threat that cemeteries can pose, analysing and discussing the influence of the main variables causing environmental impacts and public health risks.

Connecting Existing Cemeteries Saving Good Soils (for Livings)

“…Across the United States, for instance, it is estimated that every year 2700 tons of copper and 105,000 tons of iron are buried in cemeteries (source CFAA/CANA/Doric/RAN/PPS), some of which unavoidably find their way into the soil due to weathering. Conditions relevant to pollution include soil type, depth of water table, depth of inhumation, density of inhumation, and climate [48,49].…”

Environmental damage and public health threat caused by cemeteries: a proposal of ideal cemeteries for the growing urban sprawl

“…The ideal cemetery should treat the pollutants generated in the natural process of human body decomposition that occurs after death (Oliveira et al, 2012;Pereira et al, 2014;Pretti, 2015). Seeking to circumscribe these views, data was extracted from questionnaires answered by the 80 surveyed researchers, and was then categorized through Content Analysis Method (CAM).…”

“…According to Albertin et al (2013), the 60% aqueous solution created by putrefaction (necroleachate) and further composed of 30% minerals and 10% unpleasant organic substances, if untreated, can reach the environment and cause soil pollution. This can be avoided by the use of activated carbon filters (Oliveira et al, 2012;Schotsmans et al, 2014).…”

“…As sites where human matter undergoes changes through the action of biological, physical or chemical agents, cemeteries pose environmental risks for the population due the levels of contaminants released (Marcomini, 2012;Oliveira et al, 2012). Cemeteries represent a source of environmental liability due to their potential to accumulate and release large quantities of contaminants generated by the decomposition of corpses.…”

“…Effluents can carry microorganisms and heavy metals through the soil to water resources. Since these environments have concentrated potential polluters (i.e., are pollution point sources), populations living close to cemeteries may be exposed to elevated levels of highly harmful contaminants to human health (Oliveira et al, 2012). This is exacerbated by the lack of management and treatment of highly pathogenic effluents released by corpses (necroleachate) during the decomposition process.…”