Pollution
Volume:2 Issue: 3, Summer 2016

Phytoremediation is an emerging green technology that uses plants and their associated microbes to remediate different environments contaminated with various pollutants. Phytoremediation, as an effective soil remediation technology, has gained popularity in the past ten years both in developed and developing countries. The main goal of the current article is to improve the understanding of phytoremediation of organic pollutants with emphasis on hydrocarbons. To design phytoremediation systems and also enhancement of their efficiency, either in laboratory or in field experiments, there is a serious need for better knowledge of phytoremediation mechanisms and also of factors affecting phytoremediation. In addition to phytoremediation applications, advantages, and limitations, its mechanisms and related new developments have been discussed in this article.

The present research article highlights the metal (Cd, Cu, Pb, Zn and Fe) distribution pattern in the RSPM generated in different hot spot sites located at Kochi, the Queen of Arabian Sea. These sampling sites are categorized under three different zones as estuarine, riverine, and coastal. Two sampling phases are selected in order to check the consistency in pollution trend after a two year gap and are described in Phase I and Phase II, respectively. Metals are noticed to be intensely concentrated in the post monsoon months in both phases. Among the metals, Fe is revealed as the prominent metal at the estuarine sites. Estuarine and riverine zone expresses the overall enrichment pattern with slight difference at coastal regime in phase I. In phase II, insignificant metal load with irregular pattern is observed. Source apportionment study reveals that major sources of metals are from automobile exhausts and the estuarine zone is entangled with 45.9%.

The concentration of selected trace metals (Fe, Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) in 30 surface sediments were measured using Atomic Absorption Spectrometer to investigate the spatial and seasonal variations of trace metals along Kanyakumari coast, India. To assess the environmental risk of trace metals, enrichment factor, geo-accumulation index,pollution load index, and ecological risk index have been calculated. According to the pollution load index and geo-accumulation index (Igeo) values, Kanyakumari coastal sediments were unpolluted by Fe, Cu, Pb, and Zn, whereas moderately polluted by Cd with low to moderate ecological risk. The existence of the high hydrodynamic condition during the southwest monsoon is more favorable to the transport of sediments and enhance the accumulation of metals, whereas during the northeast monsoon the accumulation of metals is less. The baseline data for spatial distribution and seasonal variation of trace metals and their controlling factors found in this study will be useful for pollution monitoring program along the Kanyakumari coast.

Readymade garment industries are the prominent economic sector for Bangladesh as well as scoping the huge working area for workers. But health condition of workers, drinking water quality, and proper maintenance of the environmental parameters are not well monitored. This study aims to assess the physio-chemical and bacteriological quality of drinking water provided for the garment workers in Dhaka. Ten garment industries were pre-selected for the water quality analysis and three drinking water samples from each industry were taken for further analysis. Physio-chemical parameters viz pH, TDS were measured by probe method and Total harness and Chloride of the water samples were measured by titrimetric method, respectively. Biological parameters viz Total coliforms, Fecal coliforms, Total aerobic bacteria count, Fecal streptococci, Pseudomonas spp., and Vibrio Cholerae were determined through standard procedure. Results show that pH (6.7±0.05 to 7.4±0.20), TDS (126.2±8.42 to 217.9±3.60 mg/L), Total Hardness (92±7.07 to 275±21.22 mg/L), and Chloride (8.5±0.95 to 46.5±3.27 mg/L) are within the acceptable limit. Bacteriological results show that Total coliform (1.05×103±0.071×103 to 2.16×103±0.084×103 CFU/100 ml), Fecal coliforms (145±2.828 to 249±21.213 CFU/100 ml), and Total aerobic bacteria count (2152.5±399.51 to 5540.5±185.97 CFU/100 ml) are higher than the standard limits. Pseudomonas spp. was also present in all drinking water samples but Fecal streptococci and Vibrio Cholerae were absent in all water samples. Bacteriological analysis shows that sources of drinking water are contaminated and proper maintenance and screening facilities should be improved.

The contamination of riverbed sediments by heavy metals has assumed serious problems due to their toxicity and accumulative behavior. The present study investigated the concentrations of heavy metals from the bottom sediments of Shitalakhya River to understand the level of contamination and their distribution. The average concentrations of heavy metals Al, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, As, Cu, Co, Cr, and Zn are 30432.41, 10929.21, 391139.13, 23148.14, 38697.37, 14.02, 143.69, 13.37, 74.82, and 200.59 mg/kg respectively in river sediments, and their abundance decreased in the following order: Ca (79.05%)>Fe (7.82%)>Al (6.15%)>Mg (4.68%)>K (2.21%)>Zn (0.04%)>Cu (0.03%)>Cr (0.015%)>As (0.0028%)>Co (0.0027%). In most cases, the mean concentrations of the heavy metals exceed the permissible limit. Significantly higher concentrations of Ca, Mg, Zn, and Cu were found in sediment samples. The heavy metals contaminations in the sediments were also evaluated by applying index of geoaccumulation (Igeo), contamination factor (Cf), degree of contamination (Cd), and pollution load index (PLI) etc. These indices indicated that most of the samples were moderate to strongly pollute by heavy metals and the spatial distribution showed that the northern and southern parts of the study area are more contaminant than middle portion.

Evaluation of surface water quality is a complex process undertaking multiple parameters. Converting great amount of parameters into a simpler expression and enabling easy interpretation of data are the main purposes of water quality indices. The main aim of this study is to plan effective water resources management system for Karun River by combination of CCMEWQI and Geographic Information System (GIS). The investigation was carried out to set a management plan through exploratory and spatial analysis of physicochemical water parameters of collected samples from 10 stations over one year period. Since all indices were obtained from index, river zoning was conducted by GIS. Moreover, trace metals concentrations (As, Cr, Cd, Fe, Zn, Mn, and Al) ranged in safer limit. The highest values of F1 belonged to aquatic life and the lowest ones belonged to irrigation. Aquatic life and drinking uses received the maximum values of F2. The lowest values were devoted to livestock and then recreation uses. It was inferred from index that the quality of the Karun River is principally impacted by high turbidity, TDS, NO3, SO4, and PO4 due to high suspended sediment loads. The main cause is incremental agricultural, industrial, and residential effluents. Amongst stations, station one only received the priority for drinking water supply and recreation.

We investigated the issue of noise pollution in the Bidboland gas refinery by noise measurement and surveys. The Bidboland gas refinery has several process units. The sound pressure levels were measured at several places, such as units of 200, 300, 400, 500, boiler, powerhouse area, cooling towers pumps, and maintenance area, and the corresponding noise maps were produced by using sound plan software. We identified the sources of noise pollution. We first measured the mean A-weighted sound pressure level in each study unit and analyzed the obtained data in Microsoft Excel. The noisiest units were identified and some suggestions were offered to reduce the sound exposure level. It was specifically noted through the surveys that the noise levels detected in all tested industries was much above 80 dBA limit specified by regulations. In lieu, various measures to control the noise pollution were contemplated and discussed.

The knowledge of local and regional factors that affect effective solid waste collection plays an important role in choosing appropriate technology. Waste collection has grown to become a major challenge demanding daily response from waste managers and it becomes inevitable to provide stakeholders with necessary information to aid key decision-making. This paper provides a comprehensive and detailed review of local-based factors that affect waste collection in Nigeria. Literature study and on-site observation were used for getting theoretical and useful information on the collection of waste in the study area. The study considered various standard collection technologies and their supporting factors in order to assess the effectiveness of existing methods. The current collection techniques existing in different parts of the country together with unique local factors for these various areas are reported. The findings in many cases reveal that the method of waste collection adopted and equipment used are faced with many challenges. This paper revealed that there is no investment presently made on the existing development plan to initiate a modern waste collection system. The study recommends a new approach that could be used by institutions and government agencies for efficient municipal solid waste collection to achieve sustainable and effective sanitation which will consequently facilitate the development of an aesthetically balanced and friendly environment.

The staff working at beauty centers are exposed to various chemical products used daily in their working environment. Both hair dressers and nail technicians are exposed to chemicals that are known to have an influence on the respiratory system. In order to evaluate such influence, this cross-sectional observational study was conducted on a randomly selected 14 beauty centers in Dammam City, Saudi Arabia. At the investigated salons, both of respiratory symptoms and the quality of air were evaluated and data were analyzed statistically. 40.5% out of the 79 subjects included inthe study were hairdressers, 17.7% were nail technicians and (41.8%) were working in both of the previously mentioned areas as part of their everyday practice. The staff complained of respiratory symptoms which include dyspnea, cough, phlegm, wheeze, and shortness of breath. Both hairdressers and nail technicians developed respiratory symptoms while working in the salons. Indoor Air pollution was assessed and many data were out of the normal standard ranges which include: relative humidity (RH), volatile organic compounds (VOC), carbon dioxide (CO2), and ammonia (NH3). We conclude that good ventilation is required to reduce the influence of such substances on the respiratory symptoms of the staff working at salons.

Kerosene is the colorless liquid and slightly heavier than gasoline that specific odor removes after evaporation. Soil and underground water source are contaminated with different pollutants such as petroleum hydrocarbons. These pollutants have various negative environmental effects on soil and surrounding environment. The aim of this research is to understand the effect of kerosene pollution on two different soils. The two different collected soils include Industrial and Forest soil. Six microcosms were designed. Indeed, each soil has three microcosms: unpolluted microcosm, polluted microcosm, and polluted microcosm with nutrient (Nitrogen and Phosphor). Some factors were assayed in each microcosm during 120 day of experiment. These factors include total heterotrophic bacteria, total kerosene degrading bacteria, dehydrogenase enzyme, and kerosene biodegradation. The results of this study show that the highest quantity of heterotrophic bacteria is related to forest soil (6×109). The quantities of kerosene degrading bacteria significantly were lower than heterotrophic bacteria in all soil microcosms. The quantity of kerosene degrading bacteria have decrement pattern until 60th day of experiment, but, after this day, these bacteria have increment pattern. The best dehydrogenase activity between different microcosms is related to polluted microcosm with kerosene except for farmland soil. The highest biodegradation of kerosene in all studied soil belongs to industrial microcosm (95%). Statistical analysis of the results shows that there is a significant correlation between MPN quantity of heterotrophic bacteria and other assayed factrs. Also, forest soil has significant difference with other soils. It may be possible to propose appropriate strategies for bioremediation of different studied soil types using the results obtained in this research.