Metals in the soil of urban cemeteries in Carazinho (South Brazil) in view of the increase in deaths from COVID-19: projects for cemeteries to mitigate environmental impacts

Alcindo Neckel; Cleiton Korcelski; Luis F O Silva; Henrique Aniceto Kujawa; Brian William Bodah; Adriano Marcos Rodrigues Figueiredo; Laércio Stolfo Maculan; Affonso Celso Gonçalves Jr; Eliane Thaines Bodah; Leila Dal Moro

doi:10.1007/s10668-021-01879-y

Metals in the soil of urban cemeteries in Carazinho (South Brazil) in view of the increase in deaths from COVID-19: projects for cemeteries to mitigate environmental impacts

Environ Dev Sustain. 2022;24(9):10728-10751. doi: 10.1007/s10668-021-01879-y. Epub 2021 Oct 10.

Affiliations

¹ Faculdade Meridional (IMED), Rua Senador Pinheiro 304, Passo Fundo, RS 99070-220 Brazil.
² Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of La Costa, CUC, Calle 58 # 55-66, Barranquilla, Atlántico Colombia.
³ University of Perugia, Piazza Università, 1, 06123 Perugia, Italy.
⁴ Thaines and Bodah Center for Education and Development, 840 South Meadowlark Lane, Othello, WA 99344 USA.
⁵ Federal University of Mato Grosso Do Sul - UFMS, Cidade Universitária, Av. Costa E Silva, Pioneiros, MS 79070-900 Brazil.
⁶ Center of Agrarian Scienes, State University of Western Paraná - UNIOESTE, Rua Pernambuco, 1777, Centro, Marechal Cândido Rondon, PR 85960-000 Brazil.
⁷ State University of New York, Onondaga Community College, 4585 West Seneca Turnpike, Syracuse, NY 13215 USA.

Abstract

The increasing mortality of COVID-19 can aggravate soil contamination by metals, harmful to the health of the population, requiring new projects for future cemeteries capable of mitigating these impacts to the environment, justifying the importance of studying the concentrations of metals in the soil of urban cemeteries. The paper analyzed the levels of metals in the soil of urban cemeteries in the City of Carazinho, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, located in southern Brazil, considering the increase in deaths by COVID-19, for the purpose of future projects for cemeteries aimed at mitigating the impacts generated on the environment. The soils of the three urban cemeteries in Carazinho were sampled, with 5 internal and external points, with 3 repetitions at depths of 0-20 and 20-40 cm, adding 180 samples to measure the concentrations of Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Cr and Pb (g kg^-1), considering the analytical sequence: (1) analysis in triplicate with mean deviation (RDS); (2) R2 of the analytical curve; (3) traceability of the pattern of each metal; (4) quantification limit of each metal (QL), with the performance of nitroperchloric digestion of the samples and the determinations of metals by flame modality atomic absorption spectrometry. Quantitative data on deaths by COVID-19 were analyzed by univariate modeling of time series, in the integrated autoregressive moving averages model. The results of this study were made available to fifteen architects, who attributed future solutions for environmentally sustainable cemeteries. The results showed high levels of copper (Cu) and iron (Fe) in the soil of the cemeteries studied. Considering the increase in deaths and subsequent burials per COVID-19 revealed a prediction for the death toll of 6,082,306 for June 9, 2022, it is assumed that metal contamination can reach even higher levels. To mitigate these levels of contamination by metals, 80% of the architect respondents expressed their preference for a vertical cemetery, with treatment of gases and effluents to mitigate environmental impacts.

Keywords: Environmental analysis; Ground contamination; Pandemic; Population mortality; Project solutions.