Indicators of Waste Exposure in an Area of Campania (Southern Italy) Characterized by Numerous Dumping Sites

Abstract

As a task assigned by the Department of Civil Protection of the Italian Governement, a working group including WHO, CNR, ISS, OER and ARPA Campania has been established in order to check whether and how waste treatment in Campania Region could have repercussions on territory and resident population. To assess health risks from the presence of storage, treatment, disposal and illegal dumping sites of hazardous and nonhazardous waste, a number of data dating back to period 1997-2003 and coming from various administrations have been implemented in an apposite geo-database. By means of arcGIS software-platform a territorial analysis has been performed in terms of sites and municipalities. As a result, ‘synthetic descriptive indexes’ have been obtained in order to measure position-variability of such sites and of their potential health impact in the Provinces of Naples and Caserta. Our results represent a base for exposure assessment in epidemiological studies now in progress.