The occurrence of microplastics in the environment, together with increasing temperatures as a result of climate change, has become a global concern. However, few reports are available on microplastic ingestion in lower benthic marine animals sampled from their natural environment during different seasons of the year. This study investigated microplastic uptake in Dotilla fenestrata (Hilgendorf 1869), Holothuria cinerascens (Brandt 1835) and Pyura stolonifera (Heller 1878) sampled from their natural environment during winter and summer. Animals sampled were cleaned of sand and attached animals and transported on ice to the laboratory. D. fenestrata, H. cinerascens (guts), and P. stolonifera (soft tissues) were digested in 10% potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution for 24 hours at 60°C and analysed for microplastics. The per cent occurrences of microplastics found in sampled animals were more than 95 % in both seasons, and fibres were the most predominant microplastic types found. Season significantly affect microplastic uptake in Dotilla fenestrata (t-test: t-value = 2.915, df = 58, p = 0.01) while it had no effect in H. cinerascens and P. stolonifera sampled. A significantly higher number of microplastics were found in D. fenestrata than H. cinerascens (ANOVA HSD: df = 2, p = 008) and P. stolonifera (ANOVA HSD: df = 2, p = 000) in winter while H. cinerascens had a higher number of microplastics than P. stolonifera in summer (ANOVA HSD: df = 2, p = 002). These results show that microplastic uptake in some ectotherms may be season-dependent and that feeding method impacts the accessibility of marine invertebrates to microplastics in their environment.

In India, festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja form an integral part of its rich and diverse cultural heritage. The ritual of idol worshipping and immersion into water bodies signifies the cycle of creation and dissolution, acknowledging the rhythm of nature that all things come from nature and go seamlessly back to it for a cycle to begin. But, in recent times the practice of immersing Plaster of Paris (POP) made idols along with other decorative material into natural water bodies has immensely raised the severe issue of water pollution and creating an uncongenial aquatic ecosystem. In this purview, a pilot project for chemical disintegration of POP idols during Ganesh festival was run in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India to study the effective application of a chemical method developed by CSIR-NCL, Pune by using ammonium bicarbonate. Water samples were collected before and after idol immersion activity from the tank. The detailed chemical analysis of the aqueous phase was carried out to study the effect on various parameters and application of residues. The analytical results reveal that the method has its practical utility as both the products of the reaction can further be used in chalk making and as fertiliser with dilution. The concentration of heavy metals was found minimal and in the limits in the treated aqueous phase. This paper also supports the sustainable management of such functions rather than the use of artificial materials.

Information of interactions between waves and aquatic vegetation is becoming increasingly important, in particular, due to the trend of plant-induced wave attenuation towards sustainable coastal management systems. This study aims to understand monotypic vegetation-wave interactions through three-level, four factors, response surface methodology (RSM) using laboratory wave flume under controlled conditions. Cymodocea Serrulata is one of the prevalent monotypic seagrass species found in the Gulf of Mannar, Tamilnadu, South India. It was physically simulated using synthetic plant imitations to create a relationship between wave attenuation (E%) and four direct control factors, i.e., water depth (h), wave period (T), plant density (N) and bed roughness factor (f) using an empiric model. The model developed was tested using the analysis of variance technique (ANOVA) and evaluated for the main and interaction effects of the studied parameters. The findings showed that both individually and in combination, all of the parameters considered were significantly effective on E%. All model-based findings were compared with a new collection of experimental data and validation tests were performed. The comparison of experimental results with model predictions was at a good agreement with a high coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.98 (with p-value < 0.05).

In the phytoremediation process, there is an interaction between plants and microorganisms in the soil. The objective of this study was to explore the effect of mercury-resistant bacteria on phytoremediation of soil contaminated with small-scale gold mine tailings that contain mercury. Two isolates of mercury resistant bacteria (Brevundimonas vesicularis and Nitrococcus mobilis) were applied to Paspalum conjugatum as a mercury accumulator plant that was grown for 70 days on gold mine tailing-contaminated soil. Ammonium thiosulfate was used as a chelating agent to stimulate mercury extraction by the plant. After P. conjugatum was harvested (60 days), the remaining soil in the pot was planted with maize until the maximum vegetative period. The results showed that the application of mercury-resistant bacteria and ammonium thiosulfate increased 157-162% of P. conjugatum biomass compared to that without the application of mercury-resistant bacteria. The application of mercury-resistant bacteria with ammonium thiosulfate in soil phytoremediation with P. conjugatum reduced 18% and 20% mercury content in the soil contaminated with small-scale gold mine tailings containing mercury. The decrease in mercury content in the soil due to the application of B. vesicularis and N. mobilis in soil phytoremediation with P. conjugatum increased biomass production of a maize plant by 131% and 145%, respectively.

Various problems of traditional cast-in-place buildings, such as heavy energy consumption, severe environmental pollution, and low labour productivity, have hindered the development of the construction industry. Prefabricated buildings have a direct bearing on national economic development and transformation of people’s lifestyles because of their high economic, environmental, social, and safety benefits. The technological research and development level for prefabricated buildings and system policies in China are still in the initial stage, and the environmental performance and influencing factors of prefabricated buildings limit their large-scale implementation. The literature in developed countries regarding the environmental performance and influencing factors of prefabricated buildings was first reviewed in this study. Community A in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province was used as the case study. AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) was applied to measure the factors influencing the environmental performance of prefabricated buildings, and policy suggestions were proposed to improve their environmental performance. Results indicate that developed countries tend to construct prefabricated buildings in large areas because of their remarkable economic, environmental, social, and safety benefits. Measurement results of Community A in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province show that the main environmental pollution factor of prefabricated buildings is waste discharge, accounting for 40%, followed by noise pollution, energy consumption, and dust pollution. The environmental performance of prefabricated buildings can be improved by promoting their development, reducing their environmental pollution, establishing a standard prefabricated concrete system, enhancing the environmental standards for buildings, expanding the application scope of prefabricated concrete, encouraging environmental technology innovation of buildings, cultivating prefabricated building bases, and strengthening environmental governance of construction sites. The findings will serve as reference in determining the main factors influencing the environmental performance of prefabricated buildings, establishing an evaluation system for the environmental benefits of prefabricated buildings, promoting their improvement and optimized development, and enriching and perfecting an evaluation research system for their comprehensive benefits.

Surface mining method enormously affects the environment in terms of fugitive dust emission than underground mining method. All the several sources of dust emission from opencast mining, haul road transportation system are the main source of fugitive dust. In this research article, a biodegradable polyacrylamide (PAM) was used to suppress dust generation from haul road of mine. It improves the moisture carrying capacity of haul road than the water. PAM has been synthesized by free radical polymerization process using ceric ammonium nitrate initiator. It was characterized by 1H NMR, IR & intrinsic viscosity measurements, whereas size distribution of haul road dust was measured by sieve analysis. Laboratory work has been carried out to investigate the water holding capacity of haul road dust particles using PAM solution and compared with only water for 8 hours duration. The temperature of the chamber was kept constant at 35°C while relative humidities (RH) varied from 40% to 70%. It was observed that moisture retention of dust with the application of PAM solution and only water were 25.65% and 20.4% at 70% RH and 7.14% and 1.65% at 40% RH, respectively after 8 hours.

The species Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata is a freshwater microalga belonging to Chlorophyceae. It is one of the best-known bioindicators in eco-toxicological research. It has been increasingly prevalent in many freshwater bodies worldwide. They have been since times used in many landmark toxicological analyses due to their ubiquitous nature and acute sensitivity to substances. During a survey of chlorophytes in effluent impacted lakes of Attibele region of Southern Bangalore, Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata was identified from the samples collected from the Giddenahalli Lake as well as Zuzuvadi Lake. This is the first identification of this species in India. Analysis based on micromorphology confirmed the status of the organism to be Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance of anaerobic digestion of organic fraction of municipal solid waste to biogas in a mesophilic (32°C) continuous digester at a total solid concentration (TS) of 12%. The digester was operated with different organic loading rates and constant retention time. The performance of the reactor was evaluated using parameters like pH, volatile fatty acid (VFA), alkalinity, chemical oxygen demand (COD), total organic carbon (TOC), ammonia-N and biogas yield. During the reactor’s start-up period (first phase), the process is stable and there is no inhibition occurred. In the second phase, the reactor was fed in continuous mode with different organic loading rates and constant retention time. The highest volatile solid (VS) degradation of 65.9%, with specific biogas production of 368 L.kg-1 VS fed was achieved with organic loading rate (OLR) of 3.1 kg VS.m-3.d-1 and a retention time of 30 days.

As an important material resource of human being, water resource is of great significance to promote sustainable development of economy and society, and it must be managed and utilized reasonably. Water resources management in Zhejiang Province has always been at the forefront of China, but the lagging development of the local legal system has seriously hindered the construction of water ecological civilization. To meet the actual work demand of water resource management in Zhejiang Province of China, its social development and water resource management situation in 2019 was probed by using comparative analysis. Results show that water resource management and local legal system construction has a logic relationship and that their hidden dangers and shortcomings in the practice of water resources legal system in Zhejiang Province of China. Legislation standard path and countermeasures are put forward for water resources management in Zhejiang Province of China.

The present study aims to assess the pollutant impact from everyday untreated or partially treated industrial wastes, wastewater treatment plants and Baghdad Medical City wastewater discharge into Tigris River, Baghdad, Iraq. Water samples were collected from seven locations of the Tigris River near Baghdad Medical City in November 2018. Morphological characteristics and biochemical methods were used to characterize Escherichia coli and Klebsiella isolates revealing that the Tigris River accumulate different amounts of antibiotic-resistant E. coli and Klebsiella sp. isolates and that pattern of resistance is different in each site. E. coli was the predominant bacterial contaminant at site 1 which is near sewage of several hospitals in Baghdad Medical City. The influence of different water quality parameters (total dissolved solids, electric conductivity, alkalinity, turbidity, total hardness, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, phosphate ion, nitrate, sulphate, chloride) and heavy metals (Cd, Zn, Co, Cu, and Ni) were investigated at bacterial contaminated site 1. Besides, physiological parameters (pH value and temperature) were applied. The results revealed that these parameters were within Iraqi standards levels with a slight increase in pH and temperature at site 1.