| Abstract: | Burial grounds are generally provided by local authorities in cemeteries (subject to planning consent and to compliance with any considerations for environmental health). Their design has been submitted to studies of hydrogeological characteristics of soil with regard to its ability to purify wastewater coming from corpse decomposition, its ability to avoid the infiltration of pollutants in groundwater, and its ability to skeletonize buried corpses within the given times foreseen by the law in force. Greater environmental awareness has necessitated that new and existing burial grounds are assessed to determine the environmental load which they could release to soil or any downstream component. This problem arises in countries where there is a high density of built-up areas, a custom of disposing of the dead by burial, a lack of available spaces and suitable soils to designate as burial grounds. This paper reports some results from a study carried out on ground lands of Italy in order to revise articles 82 and 83 of the Decree No 285 of 1990 in force in relation to burial grounds. Soil permeability to water and air is a parameter of critical importance in relation to purification and/or diffusion of leachates from inhumed corpses in the soil, and in relation to its influence on the time necessary to completely skeletonize a human corpse. |
