Carwash wastewater (CWW) is considered as an important source of either water pollution or water consumption. Therefore, its treatment is critical not only from the prevention of environmental contamination but also from the recycling of such high-volume water source. Unfortunately, the effective treatment of CWW is almost unknown, complex, and expensive. To overcome the former challenge, this study aimed to systematically review different technologies for CWW treatment. For this, a comprehensive literature survey was conducted and 48 research articles were found suitable to be included in the investigation. The included studies were of coagulation and adsorption (n = 5), membrane-based technologies (n = 15), and electrochemical (n = 11) and combined (n = 17) systems. This comprehensive review showed that the treatment methods of advanced filtration membrane techniques, electrical and chemical coagulation, and advanced oxidation processes can be effective in the removal of pollutants from carwash wastewater (CWW). The mining of different studies, however, showed that the combined methods are the most promising option in the remediation of such wastewater.

Levels of amphetamine, methamphetamine, cocaine, and benzoylecgonine (BE), the metabolite of cocaine, were quantitated by solid phase extraction and liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) in Forester Creek in San Diego County, CA, and in raw wastewater from the region’s sewage treatment plant. Drug residues in these surface waters were detected with 100% frequency. Mean concentrations were 0.022 ± 0.016, 0.450 ± 0.398, 0.024 ± 0.014, and 0.019 ± 0.012 μg/L for amphetamine, methamphetamine, BE, and cocaine respectively. Nonparametric testing by Spearman rank correlation showed significant (p < 0.05) positive correlations between the illicit drugs and traditional chemical markers (caffeine and sucralose) of sewage, with the exception of cocaine and sucralose. Because BE is a metabolite unique to human excretion, its presence in both wet and dry weather stream flows suggests a chronic and continuous condition of human sewage contamination in this urban southern California stream. Wastewater-based analysis also provided a direct way of measuring drug use within the population. Back-calculations of per-capita community drug consumption rates yielded values for amphetamine, methamphetamine and cocaine at 591, 5397, and 751 mg/d/1000 people, respectively. Notably, methamphetamine per-capita consumption rates determined in the present study for this southern California community were among the highest rates ever reported for the U.S. or Europe, and serve to confirm that methamphetamine use is surging in this area of southern California close to the USA-Mexico border.

Heavy metal contamination from landfills has become a worldwide problem. Concerns have been raised over their impacts on human health and the environment. Soil amendment-assisted phytoremediation is rapidly gaining attention as a biotechnology to accelerate heavy metal (HM) removal from contaminated soils or immobilize the HMs. How different amendments influence this process is still an important research question. This study quantified the bioaccumulation factor (BAF) and removal efficiency (RE) of HMs by wheat (Triticum aestivum), bean (Vicia faba), and rocca (Eruca sativa) in a pot experiment with biochar (BC), humic substances (HS) (in the form of potassium humate), and iron oxide (FO) amendments to clarify the effect of these treatments on phytoremediation. Each amendment was applied to the soil at a rate of 20 g kg⁻¹ soil, with unamended soil as a control. The results indicated that the available HMs were significantly decreased in the amended soils (p < 0.05) as compared with untreated soil. Plant concentrations of all the studied metals decreased with the soil amendments as compared to untreated soils. BAF was higher than 1 in all plants, and RE indicated the plants were most efficient in removing Pb from the studied soils. In general, soil amendments aided soil HM immobilization and reduced the accumulation of HMs in the cultivated plants. The studied amendments could be further explored as tools to remediate contaminated sites.

Karst aquifers are significant sources of water of the highest quality. Inaccessible and uninhabited karst areas are mostly away from urban centers and human activities. That is of crucial significance for karst groundwater quality. The discharge regime and karst water quality show the considerable rapid changeability of and dependence on the rainfall distribution and quantity in the catchment area. The purpose of this study is to show that there is no influence of anthropogenic factors on karst water by determining the heavy metal concentration in the water, the significance of monitoring karst water quality parameters, and to show how autocorrelation and cross-correlation analysis could be useful in defining the dependence rainfall–turbidity. The results presented in this paper refer to a case study of the Zlot Source (Bor, Serbia).

Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining (ASGM) is one of the main sources of global Hg emissions and is present over a wide territorial in the southern Amazonia. In this region, there is a rapid approximation between agricultural and livestock activities and the impact of this close proximity having little or no evaluation. Thus, we have determined the Hg concentration in soybean plants in an area with ASGMs activities. The concentration of Hg in plants was higher in the vicinity of the ASGMs, where the Hg leaf concentration was three times higher, suggesting a higher atmospheric metal deposition in this area. It is estimated that atmospheric Hg deposition in the vicinity of ASGMs of up to 6.94 g km⁻² during the contact time between leaves and atmosphere. The translocation and bioaccumulation factors reinforce the effect of atmospheric Hg deposition, mainly, in the leaves. No impact was observed on the edible part of the plant due to the proximity of the ASGMs. It can be inferred that our results point to considerable rates of Hg emissions in the southern Amazon region and indicate the need to monitor these emissions so as to facilitate the taking of pollution mitigation actions. Soybean plants have a potential use as a bioindicator species of Hg contamination from ASGM, and the proposed method consists of an viable alternative, which can be used for the biomonitoring of long-term Hg emissions.

Water pollution is exacerbated due to irrational human activities in China. Restoring and rebuilding river basin ecosystems are major ecological strategies at present. Controlling the non-point source pollution (NPSP) by reasonable management of land use in the basin and phytoremediation of contaminated waters is the optimum approach. Thus, it is significant to study on the relationship that between landscape change and the aquatic environment, as well as further to analyze on the combined effect of the landscape and water quality. This paper describes the application and development of the “source–sink” landscape theory in China, and the role of the theory in controlling NPSP. From this perspective, a landscape capable of generating NPSP would be a “source” landscape, such as farmland, while another capable of preventing NPSP would be a “sink” landscape, such as forests and wetland. Applying the source-sink landscape theory, it is possible to exert the ecological benefits of the landscape while playing the esthetic value of the landscape. Also, the purification mechanism of plants in contaminated water is discussed. Besides, it is vital that research on water body restoration should focus not only on single discipline but also on integration and coordination between various ones such as ecology, environmental science, and geography to jointly push up researches related to water body phytoremediation. Hopefully, this paper could help to control water pollution from a new perspective, also to improve water environment and benefit human lives.

Effects of imidacloprid and iprodione, isolated and in mixture, were assessed by using seed germination and root growth test, flow cytometry, and chromosomal aberrations test on Allium cepa root meristem. The highest concentrations of imidacloprid, including field concentration, increased the frequency of sub-G₁ particles, decreased the frequency of nuclei in G₂/M, increased the coefficient of variation of G₁ (CVG₁) and the frequency of aberrant cells, and inhibited the mitotic index culminating in the reduction in root length. All doses of iprodione also presented cytogenotoxic action. The highest concentration of the fungicide affected the growth of A. cepa roots. In response to exposure to pesticide mixtures, the cell cycle of A. cepa was blocked in the G₁ phase. The mixtures with low doses of the pesticides significantly decreased the mitotic index, and as a consequence, the genotoxicity was reduced. In the mixtures with the highest doses of the agrochemicals, the blockage of the cell cycle was insufficient for damage repair, resulting in a significant increase of chromosomal aberrations. The results suggest caution in the use of pesticides doses that induce cytological abnormalities in non-target organisms.

Global warming is considered as the main environmental stress affecting ecosystems as well as physiological and biochemical characteristics, and survivability of living organisms. High temperature induces various stresses and causes reduction of fertility through reducing the oocyte developmental competence and alteration in surrounding cells’ functions. This causes major economic loss to livestock creating a selective pressure on animals to the advantage of better adapted genotypes and to the detriment of others. In this review, a search in Science Direct, Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and SID databases until 2020 was conducted. Keywords which include heat stress, shock, high temperature, oocyte, cumulus, and animals were investigated. Studies have exhibited that heat stress can disturb the development and function of oocyte and cumulus cells (CCs) concerning reproductive efficiency. Heat stress has deleterious consequences on oocyte maturation and development via reduced number of polar body extrusion, adenosine monophosphate, and guanosine monophosphate synthesis. Heat stress caused the alteration of cytoplasmic and nuclear features as well as trans-zonal projections and gap junctions. In addition, heat stress is accompanied with reduced mitochondrial activity (copy mDNA number, distribution, and membrane potential) in cumulus–oocyte complexes. This review targets the description of results in the most recent studies that aimed to call attention to the influences of heat stress on molecular, functional, and cellular changes in oocytes and CCs in animals to design evidence on the acting mechanisms as the core of this problem from a comparative review.

Arsenic (As), a toxic metalloid, is finding its route to human through intake of As-contaminated water and consumption of food grown on contaminated soil. Rice is the most As-affected crop. Present study is aimed to assess the impact of stabilized orthosilicic acid (a proprietary formulation for plant-available silicon (Si) and earlier used as fertilizer for rice to enhance growth and yield) in reducing the accumulation of As in rice grains. Application of arsenic in the form of arsenate (Asⱽ) and arsenite (Asᴵᴵᴵ) significantly affected plant growth in a dose-dependent manner. Higher doses of Asⱽ and Asᴵᴵᴵ (50 and 25 mg L⁻¹ respectively) significantly decreased the yield attributes leading to lower yield. A significant accumulation of As in grain was observed in both Asⱽ- and Asᴵᴵᴵ-exposed plants in a dose-dependent manner. Arsenic exposure also increased the level of Si in rice grains. Application of Si, either in soil or on leaves (foliar), greatly reduced grain As accumulation (up to 67% in Asⱽ and 78% in Asᴵᴵᴵ) and enhanced the growth and yield of plants under As stress. The level of thiols and activities of antioxidant enzymes were also enhanced under Si application. Foliar Si application was more effective in increasing grain Si level and reducing grain As than soil Si. The level of other trace elements was also significantly enhanced by Si application irrespective of the presence or absence of As in comparison with control. Arsenic exposure constrained some of the trace elements, such as Zn and Co, which were restored by Si application. Results of the present study showed that the application of currently used Si formulation may effectively reduce grain As level even in highly As-contaminated soil and improve grain quality of rice.

Respiratory diseases’ mortality and morbidity have been a major public health burden primarily attributed to widespread exposure to indoor and outdoor pollutants in the environment. The study conducted among 510 Bangladeshi women residing in the northeastern zone of the Sylhet division from semi-urban and rural settings to compare the biomass fuel users (N = 255) with the non-biomass users (N = 255). It has been observed that all the symptoms had a higher prevalence among the women who were exposed to biomass fuel compared with those exposed to clean gas fuel. Women exposed to biomass group reported frequent cough and phlegm production episodes during a 3-month timeline before the survey period which was found statistically higher (p < 0.001) compared with that of the clean gas fuel group. Moreover, the use of biomass fuel has been associated with a significant decrease in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV₁), forced vital capacity (FVC), and peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR). Appropriate strategies from stakeholders and government authorities in disseminating health hazards from biomass fuel along with supporting the community by providing alternative energy sources for cooking can largely impact people’s lives.