Pollution
Volume:4 Issue: 3, Summer 2018

Trace organic compounds (TrOCs), mostly found in secondary effluents, have a potential impact on the environment, affecting surface water, groundwater, and especially aquatic ecosystems. The present study focuses on oxidation of five selected TrOCs in column experiments, by simulating Soil Aquifer Treatment (SAT) integrated with Fenton-like reaction, using Granular Ferric Hydroxide (GFH) as a catalyst. In order to determine the effectiveness of TrOCs removal from water with this approach, some experiments have been carried out with ultrapure water, containing different target compounds at pH = 6, using different dosages of hydrogen peroxide and catalyst. In this study the optimal concentration of H2O2 for TrOCs removal has been found to be 200 mg/L; however, observed overall removal has been low for each target compound. Moreover, little increase has been observed in chemical oxidation of micro-pollutants through raising the catalyst's dosage. For an optimum concentration of hydrogen peroxide,the removal of 33%, 34%, 28%, 29%, and 35% has been observed for benzotriazole, carbamazepine, phenytoin, primidone, and meprobamate, respectively in 5 h with a hydraulic retention time of 3 h. Therefore, this treatment scheme might not be a promising option for oxidation of secondary effluents. Thus, other treatment options, such as pH decrease, recirculation of effluent through columns to increase the hydraulic retention times, other types of catalyst, and higher dosage of hydrogen peroxide need to be considered for more efficient removal of TrOCs within SAT, integrated with Fenton-like reaction.

As the largest service industry in the world, tourism plays a special role in sustainable development. Geomorphic tourism is known to be a segment of this industry with lower environmental impact and underlying causes that explain lower demand; therefore, it is essential to study, identify, assess, plan, and manage natural tourist attractions. As such, the present study assesses the ability of geomorphological landforms of Haraz watershed, one of the major tourism areas of Iran. In this regard, the features of geomorphologic landforms, including Mount Damavand, the Damavand Icefall, Shahandasht Waterfall, Larijan Spa, and Deryouk Rock Waterfall in different parts of the Haraz watershed have been compared from the standpoint of geotourism features. To assess these landforms, geological maps, topographic and aerial photos, satellite imagery, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and data field have been used as research tools. Evaluation results demonstrate that the average of scientific values in these landforms’ catchment (with 0.76 points) has been greater than the average of other values. These high ratings show the landforms’ potentials to be informative to those examining them for the purpose of education as well as tourist attraction. Through proper planning and understanding of its both merits and demerits, this type of tourism can play an important role in national development and diversify regional economies.

The present study prepares alkali lignin (AL) via acidification of black liquor, obtained from a pulp and paper factory. The average molecular weight of AL (equal to 2,530 g/mol) has been determined with gel permeation chromatography. AL has been modified by ethylene glycol, while lignin nanoparticles (LN) has been prepared through acid precipitation technology, their size being assessed by means of DLS to show that the average diameter of the nanoparticles at pH = 4 has been 52.7 nm. Afterwards, it has used AL and LN to remove Basic Red 2 (BR2) from aqueous solutions.
The absorbent structures and morphologies of AL and LN have been investigated using SEM, and FT-IR spectroscopy.
The optimal conditions for the absorption of AL and LN, using 0.1 gr of the absorbent, include 100 min of duration, at pH of 7, and an initial dye concentration amounting to 100 mg/L. Furthermore, the absorption amount has been mathematically described as a function of experimental parameters, modeled by means of Response Surface Methodology (RSM). A central composite design (CCD) has been applied to evaluate the impacts of four independent variables. Optimum absorption values, obtained via empirical methods, completely match with the values, calculated by the program called Design-Expert.
Both absorbent AL and LN show agree with Langmuir Isotherm with maximum absorption capacities of AL and LN being 55.2 mg/gr and 81.9 mg/gr, respectively. The experimental results show that both absorbent LN and AL follow both pseudo-second kinetic and the intraparticle diffusion models.

Although the vulnerability assessment of forest parks is used to determine the threats they face, a rapid and holistic framework has not been established well. The primary objective of this study is to adopt a framework for rapid assessment of forest parks vulnerability, examined in Lavizan forest park in Tehran (Iran) as the case study. The vulnerability assessment has been conducted, using the evaluation matrix on the basis of landscape and ecological values and threats. In this model, the most important values and threatening factors of the Lavizan forest park have been identified and assessed, based on the intensity of their effect as well as occurrence probability. Finally, this article proposes five strategies to reduce the vulnerability. Results from this research indicate that the most important values have been air purifcation, wildlife, flora and fauna species, environment regulation, mental health, and scientific resources and the most important threats have included reduction of habitat diversity, intensive exploitation of the resources, fire, woodcutting, and reduction of ecological connectivity. Based on these vulnerabilities, the most important strategies propose the use of affordance strategy formulation framework to preserve and enhance ecological and landscape values of the park.

The present study investigates groundwater quality in terms of heavy metals level and microbial contamination as well as the impact of bleaching powder on microbial load of groundwater samples in close proximity to a surface water body inside selected areas of Ibadan Nigeria. To do so, it collects nine water samples from three boreholes and six hand-dug wells from six locations, namely Eleyele, Wofun-Olodo, Oluyole Industrial Estate, Ogunpa, Olorunsogo, and Ojoo, keeping them in 750 mL plastic bottles. The samples are then divided by two, giving a total amount of 18 samples, with 3 and 6 duplicates apiece being treated with bleaching powder and the rest remaining untreated. Both sample sets have been analysed for water quality parameters such as pH, biochemical oxygen demand, and chemical oxygen demand, assessed using standard methods. The coliform count has been determined, using the pour plate method while heavy metal has been set by means of Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) after nitric acid digestion.
Results show that the pH ranges within 6.0-6.5, BOD within 1.67-4.33mg of O2/L, and COD within 2.93-9.43, while heavy metal concentration is from 0.013 to 0.047 mg/L for lead, ND to 0.023 mg/L for chromium, and ND to 0.010 for cadmium. What is more, the coliform count in the samples is between 0.00 and 913.33 CFU/mL. Most of the samples exceed the WHO limits for heavy metals in drinking water, having significant levels of microbial contamination. Bleaching powder treatment alleviated the level of pollution to varying degrees; therefore, constant monitoring of groundwater source and treatment before drinking is of utmost importance.

Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI) is an important tool to screen out plants, based on their tolerance or sensitivity level to different air pollutants. The present study has been conducted to evaluate APTI of four different plant species around polluted and unpolluted industrial site in Sfax, Tunisia. In order to determine the susceptibility level of the selected plant species, it has used four physiological and biochemical parameters like leaf relative water content, ascorbic acid content, chlorophyll content, and leaf pH to compute the APTI values. The results of the study reveal that among the four studied plant species, Olea europaea (APTI = 20.09) and Phoenix dactylifera (APTI = 17.10) are the most tolerant species, whereas Ficus carica (APTI = 8.87) and Morus alba (APTI = 7.49) are the most sensitive ones. The present study suggests that the most tolerant species, i.e., olive and date palm, can be planted in polluted sites for both air pollution abatement and aesthetic improvement. While, the sensitive species, namely common figand white Mulberry, help indicating air pollution and should be utilized as bio-indicators.

Emphasis on sustainable development and the need to protect the environment as well as the adverse effects of environmental pollution on the quality of life have made environmental protection one of the main concerns of economic policymakers. For this purpose, approaches to improve the quality of the environment and the factors affecting it have triggered extensive theoretical and empirical studies over the past few decades. These issues have caught the attention of economic analysts. Accordingly, the main objective of this study is to investigate pollution determinants in developing countries from 1996 to 2016, using Bayesian Model Averaging Method. Given the fact that the weighted mean square coefficient of GDP is positive, the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) Hypothesis can be confirmed with a high degree of certainty. The probability of this variable's effect is 0.98%, being partially a component of each of the 10 optimal models which highlights the great importance of this variable to explain the environmental performance. Energy consumption variables for each unit of GDP and value added of industry sector are placed in the second and third ranks with effectiveness probability of 0.89 and 0.85, respectively. They also have a negative impact on environmental performance. Thus, energy consumption per unit of GDP is considered one of the elements of 8 out of 10 optimal models, while the value added of the industrial sector is an element of 7 out of 10 models. This highlights the relative importance of these variables in explaining environmental performance.

The present study evaluates health risk assessment for inhabitants who are exposed to chromium in fishes and vegetables of the Gulshan Lake. In the fish, chromium concentration has amounted to 2.2 to 149.7 mg/kg, while in vegetables leaf and vegetables stem it has been 5.6 mg/kg and 12.0 mg/kg, respectively. What is more, in sediment it has been 179.5 to 308 mg/kg and in water, 4.0 to 16.9 mg/l. Higher accumulation of chromium (149.7 mg/kg) has been found in a fish species, relatively most affordable for poor people, called Pangas (Pangasius pangasius). Therefore, due to consumption of this fish the resultant non-cancer health hazard indices to people, living nearby Gulshan Lake has been almost 10 times greater than those induced by safe average daily dosages of the respective chemical. Vegetable pathway is still safe in terms of non-carcinogenic health hazard but may be very likely to act as an additive. It is therefore important to immediately take some remedial measures to not only reclaim Gulshan Lake but prevent any further pollution also.

The present study aims at phytoremediation of Lemna gibba L. in aqueous solutions with different concentrations of TC and Degradation Products (DPs). It also tries to determine whether there are differences in TC, ETC, EATC, and ATC levels, accumulated by Lemna gibba L. Exposure concentrations of 50, 100, and 300 ppb have been selected for TC and DPs, showing that the highest TC50, TC100, and TC300 concentrations in the plant have been 23.5.1, 80.1.9, and 274 ppb, respectively, while the highest ETC50, ETC100, and ETC300 have proven to be 39.5.9, 47.8.4, and 168.4 ppb, respectively. The highest EATC50, EATC100, and EATC300 concentrations in the plant have been 45.3.3; 65.0 and 173.0 ppb, respectively, whereas the highest ATC50, ATC100, and ATC300 concentrations in Lemna gibba L. have been 34.7.7, 39.6.2, and 114.6 ppb, respectively. TC, ETC, EATC, and ATC concentrations in Lemna gibba L. have increased with the increase of initial TC, ETC, EATC, and ATC concentration.

The study has been carried out to assess surface water quality of Old Brahmaputra River from September 2015 to March 2016. DO, BOD5, COD, pH, EC, Chloride, Alkalinity, and Hardness concentrations in water samples have been found to range within 0.66-2.9 mg/L, 21-138 mg/L, 45-250 mg/L, 7.1-7.8, 185-1080 uS/cm, 10-98 mg/L, 85-197 mg/L, and 84-148 mg/L, respectively. Multivariate statistical analyses such as Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Correlation Matrix (CM) reveal significant anthropogenic intrusion of pollutants in water, while Cluster Analysis (CA) gives decent results that render three different groups of resemblance between the two sampling sites, reflecting the different water quality indicators of the river system. Very strong positive linear relations have been found between Alkalinity vs. Chloride (0.998), COD vs. BOD (0.994), Chloride vs. EC (0.981), Alkalinity vs. EC (0.976), and Hardness vs. EC (0.952) at the significance level of 0.01, which direct their common origin from industrial effluents, municipal wastes, and agricultural activities. River Pollution Index (RPI) indicates that the water of the Old Brahmaputra River varies from low to high pollution.

Water and sediment samples have been collected from five different stations, located along Djendjen River between February and June, 2016 so that the concentrations of Cd, Ni, Zn, and Cu could be determined. The extent of the sediment pollution has been assessed, using the multiple pollution indices, namely Contamination Factor (CF), Pollution Load Index (PLI), and the geoaccumulation index (Igeo).The distribution of trace elements in water and sediment follows Ni>Zn>Cd>Cu and Zn>Ni>Cu>Cd, respectively. The water sample analysis from Djendjen River shows that the total concentrations of Cu, Ni, Cd, and Zn have been lower according to the references. In comparison, sediment mean metal concentrations with several environmental contamination parameters, like probable effect level (PEC) and background levels, indicates that the concentrations of all investigated elements are lesser than PEC, except for Ni, but higher than the background levels. The Igeo values reveal that Cd has been the most accumulated compared to the other metals. Contamination Factor (CF) confirms that the sediment samples have been moderate in terms of all studied metals contamination. The Pollution Load Index (PLI) values have been above one (>1), indicating an advanced decline of the sediment quality.

Surface waters become more and more polluted, depending on human activities around them. The current study has been conducted to evaluate the impact of Syrian civil war on water quality of the Turkish part of Orontes River. For so doing, it has obtained monitoring data between 2006 and 2014 from state of Hydraulic Works of Turkey, analyzing them via Water Quality Index (WQI) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). WQI reveals that water quality in Orontes River has dropped sharply after 2011 and slightly improved by 2013. This time interval overlaps with Syrian civil war when conflicts between regime forces and dissidents occurred densely. Therefore, it can be concluded that Syrian civil war has impacted the water quality of Turkish water’s with potential causes of water quality degradation identified as polluters from conflicts and immigration activities. In addition, this research has conducted PCA to investigate indicator parameters, representing the water quality variation as a result of war. Results showed that NO2- and NO3- concentration in the surface water can be used as main indicators of Syrian civil war's impact on water quality. Finally, it may said that anthropogenic activities happening in the Turkish part of the watershed also contribute to the pollution level of river, especially domestic and industrial discharges.

The plants, grown in the soils around a Fuel Holding Depot of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria have been investigated in this research in terms of their density and species composition so that the impact of contamination by petroleum products on soil seed banks could be determined. The study has used designated plots (25m by 25m) in a site, contaminated by petroleum products, as well as a non-contaminated site. In each plot, replicate soil samples have been collected randomly at 0-5 cm, 5-10 cm, and 10-15 cm, with the soil samples being subjected to emergence of seedling test for three months in order to determine the species composition, species density, and seed viability at different soil depths. Results show that 17 species from 14 families with a total seedling density of 975 seedlings (19,073 seeds/m2) have been encountered in the seed bank of the non-contaminated soil, whereas just one species with 339 seedlings (6,632 seeds/m2) has been recorded in the contaminated soil. Herbaceous species notably, Spermacoce ocymoides, Spermacoce verticillata, and Peperomia pellucida dominate the seed bank of the non-contaminated soil, whereas Eleusine indica is the sole species, encountered in the seed bank of the contaminated soil. There is a general reduction in seed viability as the soil depth is increased. In conclusion, contamination by petroleum products narrow the species composition and density of soil seed bank, though has no effect on seed viability, irrespective of soil depth. Eleusine indica, being the only species encountered in the contaminated soil, may be tolerant to petroleum hydrocarbon, thus portending useful potentials for phytoremediation.

The study evaluates associated health risks of heavy metals in the soil to inhabitants of two mining areas of Nigeria. For so doing, it collects and analyses nine homogenous soil samples for their lead, copper, cadmium, zinc, and chromium levels, using AAS. The samples are then used to calculate health risks to adults and children. For adult population in Agbaja community, the calculated hazard quotients fall below one in all considered pathways. Hazard index values for all the pathways are also less than one, taking the following order: Cu>Cr>Pb>Cd>Zn. It is shown that for all considered heavy metals, the adult population in Agbaja mining community was not at any risk of non-carcinogenic effects from these metals. As for the children in Agbaja, the calculated HQ values for Cd and Zn have been less than one in all the pathways, while the HQ values for Pb, Cr, and Cu have significantly surpassed 1, with the ingestion route being the main pathway. The HI values have been in the following order: Cu>Cr>Pb>Cd>Zn, which poses serious non-carcinogenic health risks to the children, living around this community. The carcinogenic risk has been calculated based on Pb, Cd, and Cr, with the former (Pb) proven to be the highest contributor to cancer risk. USEPA considers acceptable cancer risk within the range of 1×10−6 to 1×10−4. Though insignificant in its values, carcinogenic risk for adults in Agbaja (2.95×10-4) and Itakpe (4.71×10-4) and for children in Itakpe (4.47×10-4) have been higher than the acceptable values. Hence, the adults are more at risk, for whom ingestion is the main contributor to excess lifetime cancer risk, followed by dermal pathways. Considering the health hazards, entailed by the accumulation of these heavy metals, on human health, mining sites and areas require to get monitored properly.

Wind erosion is considered a major global environmental problem. Dust storms from the migration of sand dunes can seriously damage civil, industrial, and agricultural areas and a method to stabilize these sand dunes is mulching. The present study investigates the feasibility of using organic wastes of Press mud and Dunder with clay for the production of environmentally-friendly mulches. Sandy soil from the Dejgah Region, Fars Province, has been used as bed treatment. The treatments have been prepared, using different ratios of the above mentioned materials and 250 ml of water has been added to the each mulch combination to be sprinkled on a plot of sand, 50 × 30 × 1 cm in size. The research has measured Mechanical parameters such as Compressive Resistance (CR), Abrasion Resistance (AR), and Impact Resistance (IR), created by mulches, along with Wind Erodibility (WE) of the treatments and has analyzed the resultant measured data by means of SPSS software. An increase in the fraction of organic wastes has significantly increased CR, IR, and AR values, thus reducing WE. Higher amounts of organic matter and clay increase the CR and the application of 100g Dunder plus 100g Clay has been considered the best composition of organic mulch for stabilization of sand dunes.