With the rapid growth of global demand for water and energy, the two increasingly restrict economic and social development. The total energy consumption and water use are positively correlated. Identifying the key drivers influencing the energy-water development can realize national resource management and sustainable supplement. In this context, this study aims to capture the key driving forces that affect the sustainable energy-water development characteristics in Chinese change processes throughout 2000–2017. Five driving forces, the EW intensity effect, industrial structure effect, GDP value-added effect, income improvement effect, and population-scale effect, were further decomposed by the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) model to explore the energy consumption and water use. Our findings indicated that the largest and lowest energy consumers were the manufacturing and construction sectors, while agriculture accounted for the largest share in water use. During the three time intervals, the cumulative effects increased the EW use, but the contributions were declining. Further, these effects had a more prominent influence on water use than energy consumption; GDP value-added effect, income improvement effect, and population-scale effect increased the EW use, while intensity effect played a vital role in decreasing EW use during the study period. Notably, the industrial structure effect had a seesaw role during 2000–2006, which led to a tradeoff between various driving factors. In future sustainable issues, policymakers should pay more attention to energy-saving than water-saving to achieve the national energy and water conservation targets.

Roxarsone (ROX), an organoarsenic feed additive, can be discharged into aquatic environment and photodegraded into more toxic inorganic arsenics. However, the photodegradation behavior of ROX in aquatic environment is still unclear. To better understand ROX photodegradation behavior, the influencing factors, photodegradation mechanism, and process modelling of ROX photodegradation were investigated in this study. The results showed that ROX in the aquatic environment was degraded to inorganic As(III) and As(V) under light irradiation. The degradation efficiency was enhanced by 25% with the increase of light intensity from 300 to 800 μW/cm² via indirect photolysis. The photodegradation was temperature dependence, but was only slightly affected by pH. Nitrate ion (NO₃⁻) had an obvious influence, but sulfate, carbonate, and chlorate ions had a negligible effect on ROX degradation. Dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the solution inhibited the photodegradation. ROX photodegradation was mainly mediated by reactive oxygen species (in the form of single oxygen ¹O₂) generated through ROX self-sensitization under irradiation. Based on the data of factors affecting ROX photodegradation, ROX photodegradation model was built and trained by an artificial neural network (ANN), and the predicted degradation rate was in good agreement with the real values with a root mean square error of 1.008. This study improved the understanding of ROX photodegradation behavior and provided a basis for controlling the pollution from ROX photodegradation.

Natural products particularly natural colorants have attained worldwide importance and being eco-friendly can be considered an alternative to toxic dyes in order to reduce environmental pollution. The current study is based on the exploration of natural coloring behavior of bitter gourd leaves extract for cotton dyeing. Colorant was extracted using different extraction media like aqueous, alkali, organic, and acidic at different conditions. It has been found that on application of 50 ml of acidic extract having 6 g/100 ml of table salt for 55 min at 60 C°, maximum color yield has been obtained onto cotton. Upon using chemical and bio-mordants, new shade with good color fastness rating was obtained. FTIR analysis of extract showed the presence of flavonoids. It is concluded that under mild condition, bitter gourd leaves extract can be considered potential source of natural colorant for cotton dyeing and the presence of bio-mordant has made the process more soothing and sustainable in nature.

Due to increased industrialization, arsenic (As) in the soil has become a serious issue for wheat production since past few decades. We investigated the role of Azospirillum brasilense and trans-zeatin riboside (tZR) in the mitigation of arsenic toxicity in wheat for 2 years (2018–2019 and 2019–2020) in pot experiments. Wheat plants grown in soil artificially spiked with arsenic (50, 70, and 100 μM) was left alone or amended with A. brasilense, tZR, or their combination as mitigation strategies. A treatment without arsenic or amendments was maintained as control. Arsenic-induced physiological damages were noticed in the wheat plants. Detrimental effects on the plant physiological functions, such as disruption of cell membrane stability, reduced water uptake, and stomatal functions, were noticed with increase in As toxicity. Application of biological amendments reversed the effects of As toxicity by increasing wheat plant growth rate, leaf area, and photosynthesis and also yield. Therefore, application of tZR and wheat seed inoculation with A. brasilense could be a sustainable and environmentally friendly strategy to mitigate arsenic-induced crop physiological damages.

Anemia has been a public health issue evoking global concern, and the low hemoglobin (Hb) concentration links to adverse pregnancy outcomes. However, the associations of PM₂.₅ and its constituents with Hb and anemia in pregnant women remain unclear. In this retrospective birth cohort study, 7932 pregnant women who delivered in the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University from 2015 to 2018 were included. The Hb during the third trimester in pregnant women was assessed before delivery. PM₂.₅ and its constituents (BC, NH₄⁺, NO₃⁻, OM, SO₄²⁻, and Dust) during pregnancy were retrieved from the V4.CH.03 product constructed by the Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group. Generalized linear regression model was applied to investigate the effects of PM₂.₅ and its constituents on Hb and anemia during the third trimester in pregnant women. The means and standard deviations of PM₂.₅, BC, NH₄⁺, NO₃⁻, OM, SO₄²⁻, and Dust were 69.56 (15.24), 10.02 (2.72), 8.11 (1.77), 14.96 (5.42), 15.36 (4.11), 10.08 (1.20), and 10.98 (1.85) μg/m³, respectively. Per IQR increase (μg/m³) of PM₂.₅, BC, NO₃⁻, and OM linked to − 0.75 (− 1.50, − 0.01), − 0.85 (− 1.65, − 0.04), − 0.79 (− 1.56, − 0.03), and − 0.73 (− 1.44, − 0.03) g/L decrease of Hb during the third trimester in multiparous pregnant women, but not for NH₄⁺, SO₄²⁻, Dust, and primiparous pregnant women. PM₂.₅ and its constituents had no significant association with anemia, except for Dust (OR: 0.90, 95% CI: 0.82, 0.99, per IQR increase) in primiparous pregnant women. Besides, SO4²⁻ was of lag effects on Hb and anemia in multiparous pregnant women. Moreover, non-linear associations were found among PM₂.₅ and its constituents, Hb, and anemia. Therefore, exposure to PM₂.₅ and some constituents of PM₂.₅ was associated with reduced Hb level during the third trimester in multiparous pregnant women. Related departments and pregnant women should take targeted actions to eliminate the detrimental effects of PM₂.₅ and its constituents on pregnancy outcomes.

Aquaculture is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world, and its prominent role has been proven in supplying food for the growing world population. The expected growth of aquaculture requires the development of responsible and sustainable approaches, technologies, culture systems, and practices. The integrated multitrophic aquaculture (IMTA) system has been developed over the past decades. This system is based on the use of all food levels for simultaneous production of some aquaculturally species in a way that contributes to environmental sustainability (biocontrol), economic stability (product diversity and risk reduction), and social acceptance (better management operations). In IMTA, selecting suitable culture species and considering their appropriate population size is absolutely necessary to achieve an optimal biological and chemical process, improving the ecosystem health and sustainability of the industry. Biofloc technology (BFT) is closely related to the IMTA system, where the IMTA potential can be used to control suspended solids in aquaculture systems with limited water exchange. This study reviews the significance of IMTA systems, potential target species for cultivation, the relationship between BFT and IMTA, total suspended solids control, the economics of IMTA farming, and the recent findings in these fields.

The current research describes the synthesis, characterization and application of CoFe₂O₄/g-C₃N₄/bentonite as a novel nanocomposite for the efficient degradation of aniline blue under solar irradiation. Powder XRD, TIR, SEM, TEM, VSM and UV-DRS were used to describe the formation and morphology of the composite. The composite has been used as a heterogeneous photocatalyst to degrade aniline blue in the presence of H₂O₂. In the presence of H₂O₂ in solar radiation, it was possible to degrade 88.5% of 10 ppm aniline blue solution just in 50 min using 50 mg of the composite. The improvement in photodegradation rate in the existence of H₂O₂ was attributed to the advanced oxidation process (AOP) mechanism of photo-Fenton involving the production of reactive hydroxyl and perhydroxyl radicals. The degradation was found to follow first-order kinetics with high regression coefficient with elevated rate constant.

The present study, with the aid of GIS, utilizes high-density groundwater (GW) sampling data (1398 samples) to analyze the spatial variation characteristics of GW fluoride in Weifang City (WFC), and evaluate the health risks associated with drinking water routes. The concentration of fluoride in the GW of WFC is observed to be between 0.08 and 9.16 mg/L, with a mean value of 0.62 mg/L. The fluoride concentration of a total of 192 GW samples exceeded the limit of China’s GW quality standards (1 mg/L), accounting for 14.74%. The GW fluoride concentration in most areas of WFC is less than 1 mg/L. However, the relatively high-value zones are mostly concentrated in the upper reaches of Wen River, the east of Shouguang, the southeast of Anqiu, the east of Qingzhou, the east of Fangzi, and the southeast and northwest of Gaomi. The hydrochemical types of GW in WFC are mostly HCO₃-Ca·Mg and SO₄·Cl-Ca·Mg, while GW samples with hydrochemical types HCO₃-Na and SO₄·Cl-Na are characterized by high fluoride content. The hydrochemical characteristics of GW in WFC are mostly dominated by rock weathering. In addition, the northern coastal plain is evidently influenced by seawater intrusion. The concentration of fluoride in GW is affected by the dissolution of fluorine-containing minerals, cation exchange, and alkaline environmental factors. The effect of GW by seawater intrusion and very high content of Na⁺ will decrease the fluoride content of the GW through cation exchange. Health risk assessment demonstrated that the mean values of non-carcinogenic hazard quotient (HQ) for infants, children, teenagers, and adults were 0.52, 0.35, 0.31, and 0.30, respectively. In addition, the distribution characteristics of GW fluoride in high health risk areas (HQ > 1) in WFC are further consistent with the spatial variation of GW fluoride content. Overall, the health risk distribution area of GW fluoride in WFC is decreasing in the following order: infants > children > teenagers > adults.

Sedimentation tanks are the workhorses of both water treatment plants (WTPs) and waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) and are crucial cogs in their respective treatment machinery. Therefore, it is desirable to operate them at maximum efficiency. But sedimentation tanks are usually overdesigned with a large safety factor to make up for the lack of knowledge and be safe from failures that may be of biological, physicochemical, or hydraulic origin. A new era of settling tank design began after the advent of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Rapid development in the design and optimisation of sedimentation tanks had taken place since then. This paper aims to provide a review of the state-of-the-art in applying CFD in sedimentation tank design and analysis, focussing on the main factors that affect its hydrodynamics — density current, inlet and outlet configuration, baffle structures, wind, and a special type of settling tank called lamella settler or inclined plate settler (IPS), whose design may be the saviour for the numerous ageing settling tanks currently in existence. Although improvement in settling tank design went up by leaps and bounds in recent years with the help of CFD, researchers still have to compromise on many vital areas due to lack of computational power. However, with exciting revolutionary developments in computational technology like quantum computing that promises a monumental leap in computational power, a full-scale realistic transient simulation of settling tank incorporating sub-models for flocculation, sludge rheology, thermal, and wind all at once is hopeful in the near future.

The mussel M. galloprovincialis is one of the most popular species in world’s mariculture and environment pollution bioindicators. Although this mollusk was in a focus of numerous publications, the detoxifying and accumulating role of some of its body parts was insufficiently studied. The goals of the present work were as follows: (a) to study the distribution of potentially toxic elements (Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Hg, Pb) in soft tissues, byssus, and shell liquor of this bivalve as a function of sampling location in the Black Sea near the southwestern coast of Crimea and (b) to assess human health risks from consuming soft tissues of mussels cultivated on a mollusk farm. Multivariate analysis showed significant differences in the overall distribution of the elements among the body parts and sampling sites under consideration. The trace element contents in soft tissues of M. galloprovincialis decreased in the following order: Zn > Cu > As > Ni > Pb > Cd > Cr > Co > Hg. The noncarcinogenic hazard index from the cultivated mussel consumption was found to be well below one and the carcinogenic risk index was found within the tolerable limits, which indicate the safety of consuming these mussels for humans. Byssus of M. galloprovincialis was characterized as a perfect indicator of marine environment pollution with Ni, Cu, Pb, Сo, and Cr. For the first time, the concentrations of trace elements were determined in the shell liquor and the function of byssus and shell liquor as the systems of trace element excretion from soft tissues was demonstrated.