Clean-soil Air Water最新文献

Arsenic is considered one of the most hazardous trace metals in groundwater researched to date because of the hazardous impacts like cancer, skin irritation, and other skin-related diseases. The present study involved collecting 60 water samples from Bhagalpur district, Bihar, India, to estimate the arsenic concentration. The human health risk assessment of the samples concerning children and adults was also performed, and the maximum concentration of arsenic was found to be relatively high in some sample sites. Prolonged exposure to arsenic could be fatal to the local population. The current study also focuses on developing a low-cost paper-based arsenic detection kit. The paper-based test kit was tested for parameters like color development for different forms and concentrations of arsenic, storage conditions for the test strips, the effect of different interfering agents on color development, and optimization of the AgNO₃ solution. The cost analysis was carried out, and it was found that the kit would cost 0.046 USD per sample, which is 70–100 times lower than the cost of current methods.

Sediment from the Serbian Great Bačka Canal (GBC), which has long been classified as toxic waste due to high pollutant concentrations, exemplifies the sediment management challenges in Europe, where regulations vary by country. Serbian legislation primarily focuses on total metal concentrations relative to prescribed limits. Our study addresses this limitation by using an integrated approach to assess sediment pollution's detrimental effects at the ecosystem level. This approach is particularly relevant for the GBC, an environmental hotspot historically impacted by severe pollution from untreated industrial wastewater and population growth. Although previous research on the GBC has predominantly focused on chemical analyses, often overlooking broader environmental and health impacts, our study aims to evaluate whether ecotoxicological tests provide a more comprehensive assessment of sediment quality compared to traditional methods. Although only copper concentrations surpassed national limits, multiple metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) exceeded international sediment quality guidelines (SQGs). Sequential extraction revealed that 50% of copper was immobilized in the residual fraction, and ecotoxicological tests with Myriophyllum aquaticum indicated potential toxicity. Human health risk assessments showed a low risk of carcinogenic effects from PAHs, but a higher risk associated with zinc and copper. These findings highlight the urgent need for pollution reduction and ecological restoration in the GBC and similar river systems.

Water, a crucial input in agricultural production, is distributed based on geographical and topographical patterns. However, anthropogenic climate change has intensified water scarcity in semi-arid regions. This research aims to precisely estimate crop evapotranspiration (ET) and examine the diurnal and seasonal patterns of surface energy fluxes in maize (Zea mays) crops cultivated in a semi-arid region. The precision of our methodology is underscored by the use of a large-aperture scintillometer (LAS), which measured surface energy fluxes at 5-min intervals over two crop-growing seasons. The results, a testament to the accuracy of the LAS, indicated that during the rainy (Kharif) season of 2015–2016, the seasonal sensible heat flux (H) and latent heat flux (LE) values were 185.91 and 242.14 mm, respectively. In the rainy (Kharif) season of 2017–2018, these values were 151.57 mm for H and 373.63 mm for LE. LE values ranged from 0.40 to 6.83 MJ m⁻² day⁻¹ throughout the growing season. The findings, which highlight the LAS's ability to accurately estimate surface energy fluxes, provide a deeper understanding of their interactions with microclimatic factors, such as weather, soil, and crop management. These insights, with their significant implications for ecophysiological studies and improving agricultural practices in semi-arid regions, underscore the importance of our research.

Simulation–optimization (S–O) is a well-regarded method for solving groundwater (GW) management problems. Although S–O has significantly improved the decision support system for GW management, it still lacks practical applicability. As a result, many researchers have been improving its components, leading to slightly or significantly better performance. To understand these challenges efficiently, this article delves into principal components of S–O that offer in-depth critical insights into GW's sustainability. The discussed segments are divided into simulation models, optimization methods, categories and conceptualization of management problems, and the formulation of real-world objective functions. This review also examines surrogate-assisted simulation models to reduce computational challenges. Methods to address model uncertainty and decision-making in applying S–O for sustained yield problems are addressed. The review outlays critical steps in S–O methodology and recommends potential research directions to aid researchers in further enhancing the practicality of S–O.

Surface and subsurface anomalies, hydrological conditions, and dynamic interactions between embedded thematic layers influence groundwater recharge potential (GRP). Conducting a GRP study plays an essential role in promoting the sustainable use of groundwater resources amid a growing population and unplanned urbanization. This study focuses on assessing GRP in the semi-arid eastern plains of Rajasthan by delineating groundwater potential zones (GPZs) using an integrated approach involving remote sensing and geographical information system (RS-GIS) technique and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method. Research findings indicate that the region dominated by fine sand, silt and clay, pediment-pediplain complex, aeolian sand sheet, higher drainage density, cambisols soil, river channels, floodplains, water bodies, soil hydraulic conductivity and higher surface wetness significantly contributed to good recharge potential in plains of the region. Additionally, lineaments, hills and valleys regulate water movement. A strong negative correlation (–0.78) between decadal-mean-depth fluctuation and GPZs frequency classes validates identifying high potential zones in areas with low mean-depth fluctuation. Sensitivity analysis highlights geology and geomorphology as crucial factors. However, the study addresses potential limitations and challenges, such as data scaling and spatial resolution issues due to nonlinear pixel fusion algorithms and AHP method-related limitations in model interpretation. The current study presents a convenient approach for improving groundwater resource management in hydrogeologically sensitive and drought-prone regions.

The global population is increasing at an elevated speed leading to the expansion of urbanization at the cost of environmental degradation, especially aquatic ecosystem pollution due to the enhanced discharge of wastewater. These aquatic ecosystems are primarily polluted by potentially toxic elements, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, dyes, plastics, pesticides, organic compounds, and molecules present in fertilizers, household wastes, industrial effluents, and sewage discharge. The enhanced deterioration of water bodies has led to the search for natural solutions for a sustainable ecosystem. The utilization of the natural microbial flora of the aquatic ecosystem for remediation, more popularly known as bioremediation, is of global interest because of its cost-effectiveness and eco-friendly approach. Bioremediation can be broadly categorized into bacterial remediation, mycoremediation, and phytoremediation and is more commonly studied for soil pollution. However, in this review, we discuss bioremediation techniques and mechanisms with respect to water pollution. Aquatic microbes utilize the toxic components present in wastewater as a substrate for their own metabolism by acting as a biologically active methylator or by chemical alteration of the toxicants into less harmful products, thus degrading the toxic environmental pollutants into nontoxic products thereby eliminating their detrimental effects. Microalgae used in phytoremediation also help to elevate the dissolved oxygen level in the aquatic ecosystem thereby reducing the probability of eutrophication. This review represents the study of diverse pollutants remediation and a method involving microbial consortia in a bioreactor for optimum efficacy at minimum cost.

Unlike make–use–dispose practice in the linear economy, the circular economy aims to achieve make–use–recycle–reuse to realize higher environmental gains with minimum costs. In the present study, cultivation of Agaricus bisporus was attempted, and 20.4 kg of fresh mushroom yield was harvested per 100 kg of compost. The leftover spent mushroom substrate (SMS) after harvesting the mushrooms was further re-composted to convert it into spent mushroom compost (SMC). French beans were raised in a field trial with SMC prepared by different methods, and a maximum yield of 11.15 t ha⁻¹ was recorded with the application of SMC enriched with rock phosphate at 2% w/w. SMC had exhibited a strong de-acidifying effect in the soils of the high-rainfall temperate region of the Western Ghats, India. The soil organic carbon increased significantly by 29% than the untreated control, and the soil micro-aggregates increased significantly from 6.72% in the pre-treated soil to 37.39% in SMC-treated soil. Soil CO₂ efflux at the field conditions was found to be 26.5% lower in SMC-treated soil (0.47 µmol m⁻² s⁻¹) than the recommended practice of application of farmyard manure (0.64 µmol m⁻² s⁻¹) in the study area. High-throughput sequencing to study the fungal biota revealed that SMC-applied soils were dominated by the genus Mortierella. Adopting circular economy practices in hill agriculture can lead to more resilient, sustainable, and environmentally friendly agricultural systems, which are essential for the long-term viability of agriculture in these regions.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a diverse group of hazardous and toxic pollutants widely distributed in the environment. The anaerobic degradation is a promising technique for the removal of recalcitrant aromatic hydrocarbons from waste stream. In this study, anaerobic degradation of naphthalene (NAP) was investigated by using cow dung-enriched mixed microbial consortia with varying NAP and sulfate concentrations. The maximum removal of NAP (99.8%) and sulfate (68%) was achieved while varying the sulfate concentration from 50 to 500 mg/L in 500 mg/L NAP influent concentration. 41.9 mg/L of sulfate was generated during this study. Similarly, when NAP concentration was varied from 100 to 1000 mg/L, 84% of chemical oxygen demand (COD), 74% of sulfate, and 92% of NAP were observed at constant sulfate concentration of 250 mg/L. This result reveals that sulfate concentration had no significant effect on NAP degradation. NAP mineralization was evidenced by the formation of sulfide and production of metabolites with decreasing NAP concentration. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) confirmed the formation of metabolites like naphthol and 1,2-dihydroxynaphthalene due to monooxygenation at C-1 as part of the metabolic pathway. The rate of NAP, COD, and sulfate removal followed the first-order kinetics with high regression coefficients while varying the influent NAP concentrations.