| Waste management practices currently employed in many rural Alaska communities are potentially contributing to human and environmental health impacts, and this problem may be exacerbated with the anticipated warming climate. This research was intended to achieve a better understanding of rural Alaska waste leachate compositions by evaluating contaminant prevalence and diversity, quantifying their concentration levels, and evaluating their potential migration into nearby freshwater systems. Over the course of three years, soil, surface, and subsurface waters were collected in the vicinity of five rural Alaska communities' waste sites and tested for heavy metals, organic constituents, and microbial indicator organisms. The research outcome demonstrates heavy metal migration into nearby freshwaters, the presences of pharmaceuticals, phthalates, and benzotriazole in waste impacted water samples, and high density loads of E.coli and Enterococcus sp. in waste impacted water and soil samples. |
