GEO Brasil - UNEP

All and any human activity leads to residue production
(urban and industrial garbage, sewage, etc) that has been
improperly disposed of, causing environmental
contamination Nevertheless, there is no available data about
the amounts or systematic studies about soil contamination
caused by the use of pesticides or other activities in
agriculture
Another source of contamination, also restricted to urban
surroundings is urban waste About 13 percent of the waste
produced is catered for in controlled landfill sites, 10 percent
in sanitary landfill sites, 09 percent is composted and 01
percent is incinerated The remaining waste (76 percent) is
disposed in open air, in landflus
the state of environment in Brazil
Urban wastewater, which is one of the main pollutants of
water bodies, may also cause soil contamination when
released directly into river or sewage canals Solos de várzea
under such conditions may be decharacterised and/or
contaminated by biological agents This situation is
relatively common in large urbanised areas In addition, the
use of irrigation with superficial water contaminated with
waste from various sources, especially in the production of
olerícolas also contributes to soil contamination
On the other hand, adequate waste management, which
contributes to reduce river pollution and improve population
health, results in the production of residue that is rich in
organic matter and nutrients The sewage or bio-solids must
be properly disposed of Among the most usual manners
to do so is by using it in agriculture and forests (direct
application into the soil, compost, fertiliser and artificial
soil) Although this is one of the most convenient uses for
bio-solids, it is not a widespread practice in the country
Thus, even though bio-solids might contain pollutants such
as heavy metals and pathological organisms to man, it does
not lead to decharacterization or contamination of the soil,
due to its almost insignificant use nowadays
subsoil and underground water contamination by organic
products from decomposed organic waste The use of
compost from garbage and organic compost in agriculture
does not contribute to soil decharacterisation, as this practice
is not widely adopted in Brazil
As for soil contamination by industrial residues, occurrence
is usually restricted to urban surroundings, like that caused
by pó-de-broca in the State of Rio de Janeiro, radioactive
residues in Goias,etc There are frequent reports about the
impact of acid rain, industrial release and burning of fossil
fuel on population health and agricultural production, but
their effect on soil decharacterisation has not been studied
in depth
The same applies to contamination of the soil by chemical
fertilisers The available data comes from reports aiming at
quality control of water and food However, there is little
information about specific situations such as copper and
zinc contamination in crop and fruit plantations or
compounds of atrazina in irrigated rice plantations, among
others
Regarding pollution, only sanitary landfills are considered
safe for they adopt very strict engineering criteria and
operational procedures In other types of landfills for
disposal (trash heaps and controlled landfills), besides
overgrazing, soil is not impermeabilised, resulting in risk of
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