The impact of irrigation with treated wastewaters on soil and kikuyu grass nutrient compositions.

A lysimeter study was conducted for 1 year to examine how the source of wastewater for irrigation impacted soil physicochemical properties and kikuyu grass (Pennisetum clandestinum) nutrient composition. The wastewater used included treated wastewater produced by a membrane bioreactor (MBR) and intermittently decanted aerated lagoon (IDAL) treatment systems. No significant differences were observed between the treatments regarding total nitrogen and total phosphorus across the depths of the columns. However, highly significant differences were observed for Na content of the soils at various depths. Remarkable differences were recorded for soil exchangeable K and Na at different depths. In contrast, soil exchangeable Ca and Mg experienced no significant differences concerning the depth of the columns. For kikuyu grass, sodium contents of the grasses irrigated with MBR and IDAL treated wastewaters increased more than 200% and 100%, respectively, when compared with the grass irrigated with tap water. Over the period of monitoring considered in this study, there was no sign of excessive soil salinity/sodicity issues. The MBR treated wastewater has the potential to supply the grass with a constant dosage of valuable nutrients such as N and P without the requirement of using chemical fertilizers. This reduces the risk of contamination of receiving waters and groundwater and enhances the recycling of the nutrients in the wastewater to achieve a circular economy of nutrients. PRACTITIONER POINTS: Application of treated wastewaters revealed no harmful effects on soil and plant nutritional properties over the study period. The membrane bioreactor (MBR) treated wastewater potentially supplies the grass with constant dosage of valuable nutrients in the absence of chemical fertilisers. Sodium contents of the grasses irrigated with MBR and IDAL treated wastewaters increased more than 200% and 100%, respectively. Soil soluble and exchangeable cations showed very similar trends of changes versus the depth of the soil over the study period.

Microplastics in urban stormwater-developing a methodology for its monitoring.

This study presents microplastics results for stormwater collected in retention ponds. A novel procedure was developed to collect microplastic (MP) particles by filtering stormwater using a purpose-built cascade filtration setup which included 4 steel filters of pore size, 48.5, 170, 2500 and 5000 µm. Based on the methodologies proposed in the literature, a novel procedure was developed incorporating a combination of optical and FTIR methods for quantification and identification of microplastics. The developed methodology was applied for determining and characterising MP from two retention ponds. Average concentrations of 2067 and 2133 MP/m3 were observed, respectively, for dry and wet periods at site 1. Similar concentrations were observed for site 2. The results showed a slight increase in the microplastics concentration for the wet period. Most MP particles existed in the size range 48.5-170 µm and 170-2500 µm. Among the type of MP particles, polyester was significantly more abundant than other types of plastics (78-94%). Comparing the data obtained in this study with those from the literature, it was apparent that the stormwater originated from two urban catchments has been subjected to considerable microplastic contamination. This can be attributed to anthropogenic activities in urban areas. Microplastic particles in the stormwater can have an adverse impact on aquatic life present in the receiving water bodies. Also, the presence of MP may suggest the existence of nanoplastics in urban stormwater. This finding can have broader implications for urban stormwater management.

A framework for assessing the Ecological Sustainability of Waste Disposal Sites (EcoSWaD).

Although the need for sustainability of waste disposal sites (WDS) is largely agreed upon by various stakeholders, there is still a limitation in evaluating sites' sustainability. This study aimed to define ecological sustainability for WDS and develop a framework for its assessment. A WDS's ecological sustainability was defined as the site's capacity to take up waste without compromising the surrounding ecosystems' health and their abilities to self-regenerate or provide other ecosystem services. A model, called EcoSWaD, was developed in this study to assess the ecological sustainability of WDS. The model has 35 indicators divided into five major themes: (i) location suitability; (ii) operational sustainability; (iii) environmental sustainability; (iv) socioeconomic sustainability; and (v) site capacity sustainability. The EcoSWaD brought together all the different interpretations and indicators in the diverse fields of sustainability study or practice to facilitate a comprehensive and meaningful WDS assessment. Testing the model at the Kiteezi landfill showed that the location, environmental, socioeconomic and site capacity themes at the landfill had low values: 18.7, 19.1, 16.9 and 15, respectively. The operation theme had a very low value of 13.5, showing that the landfill's biggest sustainability concerns stem from site operation and the resultant impact on the environment, local community and site capacity. The overall Sustainability Score of 83.1 showed that the landfill's sustainability is low. A tool for the application of the EcoSWaD can be found at https://ecoswad.org/app/console/.

Water quality and chronic kidney disease of unknown aetiology (CKDu) in the dry zone region of Sri Lanka: impacts on well-being of village communities and the way forward.

There has been a growing concern in the dry zone of Sri Lanka that the contaminated surface and ground waters and ecohydrological changes are possibly linked to a number of health issues and overall well-being of village communities, including the widespread renal failure termed as chronic kidney disease of unknown aetiology (CKDu). Two types of data were collected for this study, namely qualitative data from key informant interviews and abstracts of 33 peer-reviewed research articles during the past decade. A total of 35 key informants were recruited, mainly from communities in the northern dry zone region where a higher number of CKDu patients have been reported. The interview transcripts were examined using a range of techniques including content, thematic and semantic network analyses. The findings of the research articles were explored through a word cloud analysis. The study indicates that CKDu seems to be influenced by multifactorial ecohydrological changes linked to anthropogenic stressors such as inefficient use of fertilisers and weedicides in agriculture. This situation is made further complicated by factors such as high fluoride level and hardness of local groundwater. Inappropriate agricultural and water policies and poor governance are other factors, particularly little or no restriction on the use of agrochemicals and pumping of groundwater and limited access to clean municipal water supplies. The key informants indicated grave concerns on the flow on effects of poor surface and groundwater quality in the region on health, livelihood and well-being of communities. There are also inevitable economic implications such as loss of human capital and families losing assets to pay for ongoing health issues. The study highlighted the need for more in-depth research to better understand how the surface and groundwater quality influence CKDu and other health conditions in the region. Furthermore, there is a need for implementing an active water quality management strategy with emphasis on developing locally relevant guidelines, educational programmes and integrated heath monitoring programmes in the region.

Perspectives on impacts of water quality on agriculture and community well-being-a key informant study from Sri Lanka.

Integrated management of water quality is critical for sustaining food production and achieving overall well-being of a community. Further, understanding people's perceptions and engagement can play an important role in achieving water and food security. The main aim of this study was to investigate the perspectives of community and other stakeholders as to how water quality impacts on agriculture, livelihood and community well-being within rural farming communities of two dry zone districts of Sri Lanka. The study adopted 'key informant interviews' as the methodology to investigate community and other stakeholder perspectives to collect primary data over a period of four months. The interview contents were then examined using a frequency matrix and graphed using an Excel graphing tool. The raw text was also analysed to understand the broader patterns in the text. A fuzzy logic cognitive map (FCM) was developed using the relationships between various concepts and linkages provided by the key informants. All key informants were concerned with the quality of drinking water they consume and the water used for their food preparation. Key informants representing the farming community indicated that the use of poor quality groundwater with higher levels of hardness has made growing crops difficult in the region. The key informants also identified extensive and ongoing use of agro-chemicals and fertilisers as a major source of pollution in water bodies in both spatio-temporal scale. Based on key informant interviews, possible initiatives that can help improve surface water and groundwater qualities for both drinking and agricultural use in the dry zone of Sri Lanka can be categorised into four broader themes, viz., provision of filtering/treatment systems, reduction in the use of agro-chemical and fertilisers, education of community stakeholders and support of alternative options for portable water supplies. The study indicates that in the key informants' view of groundwater and surface waters' continued deterioration in the absence of a proper governance structure, a majority of farmers will have restricted access to good quality water to meet daily and agricultural needs, and this will affect the health of the elderly and children in the area. Further, a majority of key informants were of the view that management of surface water and groundwater should be a shared responsibility between the government and the community in the region and appropriate policy initiatives that will improve water literacy at all levels are mandatory to address future water quality challenges.

Emerging contaminants in a river receiving untreated wastewater from an Indian urban centre.

Research over the last decade on emerging trace organic contaminants in aquatic systems has largely focused on sources such as treated wastewaters in high income countries, with relatively few studies relating to wastewater sources of these contaminants in low and middle income countries. We undertook a longitudinal survey of the Ahar River for a number of emerging organic contaminants (including pharmaceuticals, hormones, personal care products and industrial chemicals) which flows through the city of Udaipur, India. Udaipur is a city of approximately 450,000 people with no wastewater treatment occurring at the time of this survey. We found the concentrations of many of the contaminants within the river water were similar to those commonly reported in untreated wastewater in high income countries. For example, concentrations of pharmaceuticals, such as carbamazepine, antibiotics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, ranged up to 1900 ng/L. Other organic contaminants, such as steroid estrogens (up to 124 ng/L), steroid androgens (up to 1560 ng/L), benzotriazoles (up to 11 µg/L), DEET (up to 390 ng/L), BPA (up to 300 ng/L) and caffeine (up to 37.5 µg/L), were all similar to previously reported concentrations in wastewaters in high income countries. An assessment of the population densities in the watersheds feeding into the river showed increasing population density of a watershed led to a corresponding downstream increase in the concentrations of the organic contaminants, with quantifiable concentrations still present up to 10 km downstream of the areas directly adjacent to the highest population densities. Overall, this study highlights how a relatively clean river can be contaminated by untreated wastewater released from an urban centre.

Efficacy of Deferasirox as an Oral Iron Chelator in Paediatric Thalassaemia Patients.

INTRODUCTION: Thalassaemia Major patients require frequent blood transfusion leading to iron overload. Excessive iron gets deposited in vital organs and leads to dysfunction of the heart, liver, anterior pituitary, pancreas, and joints. Our body has limited mechanism to excrete iron, so patients with iron overload and its complications need safe and effective iron chelation therapy. AIM: To assess the efficacy of Deferasirox (DFX) as an iron chelator, with specific reference to reduction in serum ferritin level. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a prospective; observational study done in 45 multitransfused Thalassaemia Major Children receiving DFX therapy at registered Thalassaemia society Raipur Chhattisgarh. DFX was given in an initial dose of 20 mg/kg/day and according to response increased to a maximum of 40 mg/kg/day. Serum ferritin level was estimated at time of registration and at every three monthly intervals (four times during study period). The primary end point of the study was change in serum ferritin level after 12 months of DFX therapy. RESULTS: The mean serum ferritin before DFX therapy of all cases was 3727.02 ng/mL. After 12 months of mean dose of 38 mg/kg/day of DFX, the mean decline in serum ferritin was 1207.11 ng/mL (drop by 32.38%, p-value <0.001). CONCLUSION: DFX monotherapy has a good safety profile and effectively chelates total body iron in Thalassaemia major patients.

Adverse drug reactions at adverse drug reaction monitoring center in Raipur: Analysis of spontaneous reports during 1 year.

BACKGROUND: India is a developing country and adverse drug reactions (ADRs) influence most of the diseases in our population, and monitoring is required due to the paucity of ADRs. The present study was done to analyze the ADRs at the ADR monitoring center (AMC) of tertiary care hospital in Raipur during 1 year. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Study of ADR monitoring of outpatient and inpatient was a prospective and observational study carried out between September 2015 and August 2016. The ADRs in the form of Individual Case Safety Report (ICSR) was sent to the Indian database (Vigiflow®). RESULTS: Total ICSRs reported to Vigiflow® were 232 during 1 year. Among them, 63.79% were found to be nonserious and 36.21% were serious. Nearly 45% of ADRs were implicated only due to antimicrobials, which is highest among all other groups of drugs. A maximum number of ADRs were observed in 31-60 years of age group (52.15%). In causality assessment, the probable cases had a higher incidence (67.24%), followed by possible (27.58%) and certain (4.74%). The frequency of ADR reporting at our AMC was low (0.043%) compared to national average. Our AMC shared 0.35% of total ICSRs, which is insignificant (P < 0.001) compared to the JSS, Mysore and PGIMER, Chandigarh, AMCs, which have shared most of the ICSRs in Vigiflow®. CONCLUSIONS: The frequencies of ADRs reporting in our study are less compared to those reported with other similar studies. Underreporting is a very serious concern in Raipur, and Pharmacovigilance Programme of India must intercede to pick up ADRs across the country.

Wastewater treatment by a modular, domestic-scale reedbed system for safe horticultural irrigation.

The aim of the study was to assess the sequential treatment performance of a commercial, domestic-scale modular reedbed system intended to provide safe horticultural irrigation water. Previously only mechanical treatment systems involving forced aeration with subsequent disinfection, usually by tablet-chlorination, had been accredited in Australia. The modular design of the hybrid, subsurface-flow reedbed system offered 5 control points where monitoring and management of the treatment train could be carried out. Ten chemical parameters (chemical and biochemical oxygen demand, total organic carbon, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen, nitrite nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, total nitrogen, dissolved oxygen percentage saturation and suspended solids) and 4 microbial parameters (total coliform, Escherichia coli, enterococci and Clostridium perfringens) reached satisfactory levels as a result of the treatment process. Health requirements for safe horticultural irrigation were met by the outlet of the second reedbed, providing a high level of treatment-backup capacity in terms of the remaining 2 reedbeds. This suggested that chlorination was a redundant backup precaution in treating irrigation water to the acceptable regional guideline level for all horticultural uses, including the spray irrigation of salad crops eaten raw.

Understanding the relationships among phytoplankton, benthic macroinvertebrates, and water quality variables in peri-urban river systems.

In this article, using the Hawkesbury-Nepean River as a case study, the spatial and temporal trends of water quality variables over three sampling surveys in a peri-urban situation are examined for their effect on benthic macroinvertebrate communities and phytoplankton communities and whether phytoplankton and benthic macroinvertebrate species can be used as indicators for river health assessment. For this, the authors monitored the spatial and temporal difference of 10 water quality parameters: temperature, turbidity, pH, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, oxidation reduction potential, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, manganese, and suspended solids. The variability in water quality parameters clearly indicated a complex pattern, depending on the season (interaction p = 0.001), which highlighted how the river condition is stressed at multiple points as a result of anthropogenic effects. In particular, the downstream locations indicated an accumulation of nutrients, the presence of increased sediments, and phytoplankton related variables such as total counts, bio-volumes, chlorophyll-a, and total phosphorus. The patterns of phytoplankton communities varied in a complex way depending on the season (interaction p = 0.001). Abundances of phytoplankton were also found in low concentrations where the water column is not severely disturbed by flow and tide. However, when the water clarity drops resulting from tidal cycles, inflows from tributaries, and intense boating activities, the phytoplankton abundances also increased considerably. On the other hand, benthic macroinvertebrates compositions were significantly different between locations (p = 0.001) with increased abundances associated with upstream sites. Aphanocapsa holsatica and chironomid larvae appeared as the important indicators for upstream and downstream site differences in water quality. Water temperature influenced the phytoplankton community pattern (ρ(w) = 0.408), whereas pH influenced the benthic macroinvertebrate community pattern (ρ(w) = 0.437). The findings of this study provide valuable insights into the interactions of water quality parameters on biotic assemblages and to the extent that benthic macroinvertebrates and phytoplankton assemblages are suitable as indicators for monitoring and assessing peri-urban river health.

Magnetic treatment of irrigation water and snow pea and chickpea seeds enhances early growth and nutrient contents of seedlings.

The effects of magnetic treatment of irrigation water and snow pea (Pisum sativum L var. macrocarpon) and Kabuli chickpea (Cicer arietinum L) seeds on the emergence, early growth and nutrient contents of seedlings were investigated under glasshouse conditions. The treatments included (i) magnetic treatment of irrigation water (MTW), (ii) magnetic treatment of seeds (MTS), (iii) magnetic treatment of irrigation water and seeds (MTWS) and (iv) no magnetic treatment of irrigation water or seeds as control treatment. A magnetic treatment device with two permanent magnets (magnetic induction: 3.5-136 mT) was used for the above treatments. Seeds were sown in washed sand and seedlings were harvested at 20 days. The results showed that MTW led to a significant (P < 0.05) increase in emergence rate index (ERI; 42% for snow pea and 51% for chickpea), shoot dry weight (25% for snow pea and 20% for chickpea) and contents of N, K, Ca, Mg, S, Na, Zn, Fe and Mn in both seedling varieties compared to control seedlings. Likewise, there were significant increases in ERI (33% for snow peas and 37% for chickpea), shoot dry weight (11% for snow pea and 4% for chickpea) and some nutrients of snow pea and chickpea seedlings with MTS in comparison with the controls. The results of this study suggest that both MTW and MTS have the potential to improve the early seedling growth and nutrient contents of seedlings.