Assessment of the environmental condition in the area of the closed landfills of the Krakowskie Zakłady Sodowe Solvay

The soda waste sediment ponds of Krakowskie Zakady Sodowe Solvay are located in the southern part of Krakow, within the city.The complex of sedimentation ponds consists of three parts, where approximately 5 million Mg of waste was deposited.Between the landfills flows the Wilga River.During field research, water samples were taken from river before it entered the sediments area and afterwards.Surface layer soil samples were also taken from sediment ponds that were not fully reclaimed, including the places where the ground cover was devastated.Physicochemical tests of collected water and soil samples (including tests of water extracts from soil) as well as biological tests were performed to assess phytotoxicity.The concentration of ions was investigated using the photometric method; results indicate that the chloride concentration in water of river after flowing through sediment ponds is 5.4 times higher.The concertation of sulfate is also higher, by about 18%.The analysis of the phytotoxic properties of the sediments included testing the phytotoxicity of the water extract from the sediments against Lepidium sativum.They were also not found to be phytotoxic to the test plants, and differences in the early growth of the test plants were statistically insignificant, although a slight inhibition was noted in the test sites compared to the control.