Phenols have attracted global interest in the sphere of environmental management due to their potential toxicity on human health. This study determined concentrations of three priority phenolic compounds in effluent and water of a local textile industry in Abeokuta, Nigeria.  During tie-dye production, triplicates of effluent, well water, stream and control water were collected three times from five points to give a total of forty-five samples. Physicochemical parameters of samples including temperature, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total suspended solids (TSS) and total dissolved solids (TDS) were determined according to standard methods while the concentrations of the priority phenolic compounds (4-nitrophenol, 4-chloro-3-methylphenol and 2, 4-dinitrophenol) were determined using High Performance Liquid Chromatography equipped with Ultra-Violet detector (HPLC/UV). Data obtained were subjected to descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and inferential (ANOVA) statistics. pH, EC and TSS of effluent and water samples were higher than the permissible limits of World Health Organization (WHO) and Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) while temperature of the effluent samples and TDS of the well water samples were within standard values. Higher concentrations of the priority phenolic compounds occurred in effluent than water samples but 4-nitrophenol was below detection limit (DL) in water samples. Concentrations of 4-nitrophenol, 4-chloro-3-methylphenol and 2,4-dinitrophenol in effluent exceeded stipulated standard of WHO (0.01 mg/L) and water samples. High concentrations of phenols in water bodies at the local textile industry suggest uncontrolled discharge of effluent from the industry which could eventually reach surface and ground water with potential significant health implications to the populace.

Environmental threats from the accumulation of plastic trash are getting worse.  It is robust, lightweight, corrosion-resistant, affordable, and durable. Microorganisms play a significant role in protecting our environment by degrading plastic wastes that are harmful either naturally or by chemical modification.  The current study aims to investigate the biodegradation of synthetic polyethylene through the utilization of a laboratory bioreactor. Various types of additives were introduced to the soil samples before subjecting them to a 30-day UV treatment. The degradation of polyethylene was shown through a reduction in weight following a 24-week incubation period with certain bacterial strains. Experimental findings have revealed that models subjected to UV radiation exhibit the highest degree of vulnerability and degradation. Approximately 52% of polyethylene (PE) films underwent degradation when exposed to soil enhanced with peat moss. In contrast, only 40% and 45% of PE films were destroyed when subjected to garden soil that was untreated and treated with UV radiation, respectively. In contrast, the addition of husk resulted in a 48% to 53% reduction in weight for PE films that were buried for the same duration of the experiment.  The highest level of effectiveness was achieved by the disintegration of the plastic material that was introduced into the soil along with organic fertilizers, resulting in a value of 56.60%. The weight loss outcomes have been substantiated by the utilization of the Atomic Force Electron Microscope (AFM) images, which exhibited the highest magnitude in the experimental model using soil supplemented with fertilizers.

Microplastics can contaminate water owing to their small size. If aquatic biota consume microplastics, they disrupt their reproductive processes, digestive tracts, and development. This study aimed to identify microplastic waste from silkworms (Tubifex spp.) in the Brantas River. The study was conducted in a descriptive manner by collecting samples of microplastic waste from silkworms and examining the shape, type, amount, and percentage of microplastic abundance in the river. An FTIR test was used to determine the microplastic content. Using a Zeiss Axio Zoom.V16 at 50x magnification, microplastic particles from individual worms and worm samples were visually identified. Then, the 50% hot needle test was used to determine the composition of the plastic. A total of 263 microplastic particles were found in the worm samples. Silkworms (Tubifex spp.) in the Brantas River, Kediri City, were shown to contain four types of microplastics, namely fibers, filaments, fragments, and granules, which were dominated by filament particles with 49% filament content, 45% fiber, 5% fragments, and 1% granules. The microplastic polymers identified via FTIR were polyethylene and ethylene-polypropylene-diene copolymers. These microplastics can originate from plastic bags, used drinking bottles, rope fibers, and pieces of water hose, which are often found around the Brantas River. Silkworms found in the Brantas River contain microplastic waste from various pollution sources.

This study was undertaken to evaluate concentration of Uranium (U) in the drinking water of the Tonk district of Rajasthan (India). The main objective of the study is to determine the distribution of Uranium concentration and the geochemical behavior of Uranium in pre-monsoon (PRM) and post-monsoon (POM) drinking water samples. Uranium was measured by LED fluorimeter. Total 318 drinking water samples were collected for both seasons. It is observed that the water quality of all the samples is within the limits prescribed by WHO (30 µg/L) except a few, and can be used for domestic purposes. The Uranium concentration was found to be in the range 0.21 to 173.72 µg/L with a mean value of 8.58 µg/L in pre-monsoon and 0.21 to 162.34 µg/L with a mean value of 11.22 µg/L in post-monsoon samples. The geochemistry of the study area shows rock-water interaction. The order of average anionic concentration is found to be HCO3 – > Cl – > SO4 2– > NO3 –. Although no definite trend of seasonal variation in the concentration of U was observed, large samples have higher Uranium concentrations in post-monsoon than pre-monsoon.

This investigation aims to study synoptic analysis in the dynamic structure accompanied by air pollution of extreme heat during July 2019 in the Yazd province. The time-series data analysis for the yearly surface air temperatures during the past two decades shows a significant peak surface air temperature in July 2019 in Yazd province. The long-term mean and anomalies of the daily basis (2001 to 2019) for the daily mean sea level pressure show a decrease in pressure with a maximum of about 6 hPa and an increase in geopotential height at 500 hPa with a maximum of about 20-30 gpm (geopotential meter), which has led to an increase in the average daily temperature of about 2 to 4 degrees Celsius. Also, showed high values for Ozone mass mixing ratio over the study area mostly over the west with a maximum of ~92 ppb in Yazd province on 1 July 2019. The AIRS (Atmospheric Infrared Sounder on NASA's Aqua satellite) data shows a positive trend (2003- 2019) for the total daytime Ozone column-averaged over the study area during July. Furthermore, the results of this work obtained from OMI satellite observation show a significant increase in the ultraviolet aerosol index (UVAI) during the study period time. This study shows the recent extreme weather changes in the study area which may be necessary for a better future forecast for heat warnings along with poor air quality and health risk when such events may happen in the future.

In this work, it was attempted to evaluate and demonstrate disinfection effectiveness of an electrochemical process to entirely remove coliform from wastewater effluent following secondary treatment. For the tests, an experimental bench-scale batch electrochemical cell was constructed, and aluminum electrodes were employed in the electro-disinfection reactor. In the electric disinfection phase, wastewater samples were put in the reactor/disinfector and a direct current (DC) was applied to it. According to findings, a significant decrease occurred in the total number of coliforms in the treated wastewater, and a high improvement occurred in the effluent properties. At a contact time of 15 min and a current density of 5.5 mA/cm2, led to a bacterial killing effectiveness of 97.7% or above. As the current density and contact time increased, a general increase occurred in the bacterial killing efficiency, and the effect of the two above-mentioned factors was much greater than the effect of salinity. Moreover, according to the experimental data, the removal efficiency of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total suspended solids (TSS) by the aluminum electrodes were 78.50% and 99.93%, respectively. The findings indicate the applicability of the proposed electrochemical treatment to wastewater effluent. Nevertheless, to be able to apply this system at an industrial scale in the future, it is necessary to conduct more research into the optimum operation conditions and make an in-depth comparison of energy consumptions between the electrochemical treatment and the conventional approaches.

Urban Heat Island (UHI) is a common urban problem associated with a wide variety of factors, including air pollution. This study investigated the relationship between Land Surface Temperature (LST) and air pollution as two spatial phenomena affecting urban areas. LST was estimated from OLI sensor images taken on 01/07/2020 using the single-channel algorithm. Air pollution was assumed to be indicated by the concentrations of NOX, NO2, NO, PM2.5 and SO2, which were obtained by Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) interpolation from the data recorded on the same date as satellite images. Correlations were measured in terms of R and R2 and errors were estimated in terms of RMSE, MAE and MBE. The highest R and R2 were obtained for SO2 (20.89 and 45.99, respectively). The results showed that despite the high correlation between SO2 and LST, PM2.5 has a much better error distribution. Therefore, further research should be conducted on the relationship between these indices.

The paper reports the results of research on the Bratsk water body (Russia), the hugest man-made reservoir in the world, using aquatic plants as bioindicators. This aquatic environment requires constant monitoring due to metal emissions by metallurgical, machine-building, and other industries. To that end, the accumulation capacities of Myriophyllum spicatum L., Elodea canadensis Michx., Potamogeton pectinatus L. and Cladophora glomerata L. were compared. The Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn, and, Pb contents in the plants were quantified with X-ray fluorescence. The calculated bioaccumulation indexes provided similar indicator characteristics of these species. The clustering analysis specified the spatial metal pollution in the reservoir. The aquatic plants sampled near industrial enterprises demonstrated the high concentrations: Ti (573-887), Cr (14-22), Mn (609-1080), Fe (9231-12724), Ni (8-11), Cu (51-103), Zn (35-45) and Pb (10-40) µg/g. The average concentrations in the samples collected away from emission sources were significantly lower: Ti (443-598), Cr (7-10), Mn (439-591), Fe (4575-6573), Ni (6-7), Cu (36-58), Zn (27-33) and Pb (6-9). While, they were several-fold higher than threshold values reported for the Lake Baikal plants: Ti – 6; Cr – 2-2.6; Ni – 1.9; Fe – 3-6.7; Mn – 1.5-2.6; Cu – 4; Zn – 1.2-2, and Pb – 7.3. In addition to industrial impacts, the sedimentation processes, coastal erosion, wood rotting and ore occurrences caused increasing in metal contents. Assessment of pollution through the pollution load index and the integration Nemerov index provided the classification of the environment of the Bratsk water reservoir as polluted one.

Noise and toluene are among the numerous physical and chemical pollutants that can induce adverse effects on different body tissues and systems; nevertheless, most studies have only experimented the auditory changes induced by co-exposure to them. The present in-vivo study aimed to examine the endocrine effects of co-exposure to toluene and noise on the testes and adrenal glands. In this experimental study, 24 healthy male New Zealand White rabbits were used. The noise intensity was 100 dB (white noise) and the toluene concentration was 1000 ppm for two consecutive weeks. The luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), testosterone, cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) were measured using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. The hematoxylin and eosin stain method (H&E) was performed for the histopathological analysis. Comparing different parameters in different groups on post-exposure days was carried out using GEE (generalized estimating equations) method. The results indicated that noise and toluene increased cortisol, LH and FSH levels during different days after the exposure. Exposure to toluene and noise made vacuolization and reduction of primary spermatogonial cells in the testes. Moreover, lymphocyte infiltration, congestion, swelling and vacuolization were detected in adrenal glands through exposure to toluene and noise. Toluene and noise induced different destructive effects on the endocrine system. More studies are required to elucidate other endocrine changes induced by exposure to toluene and noise.

The main objective of the current study is to determine the distributions of the specific radioactivity concentrations (226Ra, 232Th and 40K) from terrestrial sources using gamma spectroscopy system (HPGe-detector). Forty (40) agricultural soil samples were collected from Wadi Al-Hussini and Tuban in Yemen. The study locations are famous for exporting coffee all over the world. The average of radio-concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K were 61.95±11.57, 32.33±8.03 and 1045.17±153.47 Bq/kg for Wadi Al-Hussini and 65.20±11.59, 50.95±9.80 and 1078.13±157.57 Bq/kg for Tuban, respectively. The obtained results are higher than the average worldwide values reported by UNSCEAR. So, it is not acceptable with global safe criteria. Also, the radiation hazard parameters such as radium equivalent activity, absorbed gamma dose rate, outdoor and indoor annual effective dose equivalent, external and internal radiation hazard index, gamma index level, annual gonadal dose equivalent and excess lifetime cancer risk. All of these parameters are acceptable and within the worldwide values. The obtained results could be considered as reference data to follow up any changes in the future for natural radionuclides pollutants and their risks in the study area.