Cemetery Soil and Groundwater Contamination By Leachate on Cemetery in Botucatu - Brazil.

Urban sprawl leads to the need for environmental mitigations, and with that studying the planning of the soil use and its occupation process is imperative in order to enable such actions. With urban sprawl, more attention is needed towards cemeteries as contamination in soil and underground sources of water nearby have surfaced. Currently, the Brazilian National Environmental Council (CONAMA) has two resolutions about constructive aspects to the purpose of controlling existing waste, such as leachate from cemeteries (necrochorume). Considering those issues, this paper presents a preliminary study in the Jardim Municipal Cemitery in the city of Botucatu, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. During the study, all of the steps of exhumation were followed: residue management; ossuary conditions; vegetation area; water seepage and erosion. For each of these activities, mitigations solutions were suggested for better cemetery management. And among them there are: separate the exhumation residue of the regular waste, using, instead of bags, shelves with identification in a large room for storage ossuary bones; increase the number of trees around the cemetery; place wells to monitor the contamination of both soil around it and underground water. The study verified that there is both water and soil contamination by leachate from the cemetery. Thus those problems are a result from lack of planning due to rapid urban sprawl.