Tafë Veselaj, Rifat Morina, Afrim Berisha, Valdet Gashi and Fatbardh Sallaku
Abstract
The seven landfills for solid urban waste in Kosovo have been built between 2002 and 2005, two landfills (near Peja and Gjilan) we have been selected for this study based on their size and some other conditions. We assessed the following heavy metals: Arsenic (As), Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Copper (Cu), Lead (Pb), Mercury (Hg), Zinc (Zn), Nickel (Ni) and Iron (Fe). We found that two heavy metals Zn (7.74 mg/L) and Ni (0.84 mg/L) have the concentration above of limited values. The texture of soil indicates that the sand is the dominant factor, which enables the wastewater penetration into the depth of the earth. Sand 0.60 to 0.63, Lyme 0.28-0.33, and clay 0.07 to 0.08 represent the soil texture. The concentration of collected sample were found in the following order:Fe>Ni>Pb>Zn>Cr>Cu>As>Cd>Hg. The presence of heavy metals in soil represents a significant environmental hazard. The results of this study show that leachates from landfills possess high contamination potential for water surface and soil.