WHO: The Impact of Cemeteries on the environment and public health- World Health Organization, WHO Regional Office for Europe, European Centre for Environment and Health, Nancy Project Office
· "In cemeteries, human corpses may cause groundwater pollution not because of any specific toxicity they possess, but by increasing the concentrations of naturally occurring organic and inorganic substances to a level sufficient to render groundwaters unusable or unpotable."
Net: Water flowing into Canyon Lake could become unusable and unsafe to drink. Human contact might not be allowed.
· "Through the action of infiltrating rainfall, adsorbed pathogenic organisms can escape from the soil particles, mix with the groundwaters beneath the cemeteries and migrate considerable distances."
Net: The bad stuff from dead bodies could be carried long distances, certainly to Lake Elsinore (via spillway overflow on Railroad Canyon Dam).
Integrated approach to unsaturated zone characterization as it relates to burial practices and its impact on the immediate environment - National Library of Medicine
· Because of the narrow unsaturated zone, the study found that the position of the cemetery has a high risk of environmental impact on its near vicinity.
· The values obtained from the study area are significantly greater than the WHO standard, making them unfit for human or household consumption. The high concentration is most likely due to the presence of leachate from the nearby cemetery, which seeps into the aquiferous strata in the area.
Assessment of cemetery effects on groundwater quality using GIS- Desalination and Water Treatment, Desalination Publications, Nov 2019
· "The main objective of the present study was to investigate the contamination potential of a cemetery with Islamic culture by detection of various chemical and biological factors in higher depth and show the results in geographic information system."
· "According to the obtained data, cemeteries have a great potential to contaminate aquifers."
"According to the results of accomplished studies, cemeteries can be similar to a particular kind of municipal solid waste landfill site. Therefore, cemeteries can be a pollution source for groundwater and a potential danger for human health."
Impact of cemeteries on groundwater contamination by bacteria and viruses- Journal of Water & Health, Vol 13, Issue 2, June 2015
· "Cemeteries are among the chief anthropogenic sources of pollution and contamination of water in urban areas and beyond them. Many researchers are convinced that all cemeteries represent potential threats to the environment."
· "In the process of decomposition of a human body, 0.4-0.6 litres of leachate is produced per 1 kg of body weight. The leachate contains pathogenic bacteria and viruses that may contaminate the groundwater and cause disease when it is used for drinking."
· Cemeteries could pollute groundwater posing health threats in shallow aquifer areas.
· Human disease functional profiles revealed involvement, in infectious (cholera), neurodegenerative (Alzheimer's disease) cardiovascular (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) immune system (Systemic lupus erythematosus) metabolic (Type I & II diabetes) diseases and cancer. Antibiotic resistance and antibiotics synthesis signatures were also identified.
Assessment of groundwater quality along cemeteries and associated potential health concerns in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania - Water Practice and Technology, May 2022
· The value of EC ranged between (469.5 μS/cm–2,852.33 μS/cm), NH3-N (0.16 mg/L–6.9 mg/L) while NO3− ranged from 9.21 mg/L to 239.5 mg/L whereby, 91.3% of sampled boreholes had elevated concentration of NO3− above 50 mg/L permissible limit, NO2-N (0.01 mg/L–2.17 mg/L), which is also above the 0.5 mg/L TZS and WHO guidelines. These results are indicators that there is potential pollution from cemeteries that calls upon proper urban planning.
Use of the geophysical approaches for studying the environmental impact assessment of the human burying techniques to the soil and groundwater: A case study of Geheina cemeteries, Sohag, Egypt - Journal of African Earth Science, Volume 172, Dec 2020
· "Burying of death bodies directly in the soil leads to more soil and groundwater pollution than burying in the coffins."
· "Leakage of the putrefactive liquid resulting from decomposition of the corpses lead to negative SP values." [SP=Self Potential means bad water.]
· "The World Health Organization (WHO, 1998) stated that the cemeteries are considered the major problems of soil and groundwater pollution and an important impact on the environment and public health."
Net: cemeteries are major problems of groundwater pollution.
· "Therefore, if the grave framework existed on the weak soil or if the soil reached its depurative limit, the contamination may enter the groundwater zone (Ucisik et al., 1998)." [note: “depurative” means to decontaminate.]
Burial practice and its effect on groundwater pollution in Maiduguri, Nigeria - National Library of Medicine, June 2019
· The high levels of pH (9.5), EC (1874 μs/cm), NO3 (67.4 mg/l), NO2 (0.92 mg/l), PO4 (344.5 mg/l), and NH4 (1.03 mg/l) in groundwater samples (especially the cemetery borehole) are an indication that higher interment density over time presents a significant threat to groundwater quality.
Potential for Area Earthquake to Create Liquefaction - Source - California Geological Survey.
Reason for concern - liquefaction brings below ground water to the surface (including body ooze)
· Preliminary Geologic Map of the Elsinore 7.6' Quadrangle, Riverside County, California
· https://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2011/03/17/liquefaction-from-the-sendai-earthquake/
· Liquefaction video from an earthquake in Japan - direct link to video follows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn3oAvmZY8k
· https://youtu.be/19ujjFXLGYU?si=wYF7B-0hX_KI1gbI - California Geological Survey Liquefaction Demonstration by the California Department of Conservation
Title 22, California Code of Regulations §7585. Evaluation of hazard.
The water supplier shall evaluate the degree of potential health hazard to the public water supply which may be created as a result of conditions existing on a user's premises. The water supplier, however, shall not be responsible for abatement of cross-connections which may exist within a user's premises.
The EPA Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water (OGWDW), together with states, tribes, and many other partners, protects public health by ensuring safe drinking water and protecting ground water. OGWDW oversees implementation of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Copyright © 2026 Save Our Lakes - All Rights Reserved.
Powered by GoDaddy