The rise in pollution cases globally is expected to increase in line with industrialization.
Monitoring activities for pollutants have been hampered by the astronomical costs of
instrumental-based approach. This has resulted in the intense research on low cost
biomonitoring systems using enzymes, organisms including microorganisms. Only positive
samples are sent for instrumental analysis; dramatically cutting the cost of instrumental
analysis. This review attempts to outline and give due recognition to several selected bioassay
systems that have been tested for their applicability using polluted water samples as a routine
first line-of-defense. This includes small aquatic organisms-based assays, enzymes especially
proteases and bacterial-based systems using respiratory dye or luminescence systems as a
method for toxicant detection.
Steroid estrogens, such as estrone (E1), 17β-estradiol (E2), estriol (E3), and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2), are natural and synthetic hormones released into the environment through incomplete sewage discharge. This review focuses on the sources of steroid estrogens in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). The mechanisms and fate of steroid estrogens throughout the entire wastewater treatment system are also discussed, and relevant information on regulatory aspects is given. Municipal, pharmaceutical industry, and hospitals are the main sources of steroid estrogens that enter WWTPs. A typical WWTP comprises primary, secondary, and tertiary treatment units. Sorption and biodegradation are the main mechanisms for removal of steroid estrogens from WWTPs. The fate of steroid estrogens in WWTPs depends on the types of wastewater treatment systems. Steroid estrogens in the primary treatment unit are removed by sorption onto primary sludge, followed by sorption onto micro-flocs and biodegradation by microbes in the secondary treatment unit. Tertiary treatment employs nitrification, chlorination, or UV disinfection to improve the quality of the secondary effluent. Activated sludge treatment systems for steroid estrogens exhibit a removal efficiency of up to 100%, which is higher than that of the trickling filter treatment system (up to 75%). Moreover, the removal efficiency of advance treatment systems exceeds 90%. Regulatory aspects related to steroid estrogens are established, especially in the European Union. Japan is the only Asian country that implements a screening program and is actively involved in endocrine disruptor testing and assessment. This review improves our understanding of steroid estrogens in WWTPs, proposes main areas to be improved, and provides current knowledge on steroid estrogens in WWTPs for sustainable development.
Matched MeSH terms: Water Pollution, Chemical/statistics & numerical data*
Water pollution is a global problem. During current study, ammonia, phosphate, phenol, and copper(II) were removed from aqueous solution by subsurface and surface flow constructed wetland. In current investigation, distilled water was polluted with four contaminants including ammonia, phosphate, copper (Cu), and phenol. Response surface methodology and central composite design were applied to optimize pollutant removal during treatment by subsurface flow constructed wetland (SSFCW). Contact time (12 to 80 h) and initial pollutant concentration (20 to 85 mg/L) were selected as independent factors; some upper and lower ranges were also monitored for accuracy. In SSFCW, water hyacinth transplanted in two substrate layers, namely zeolite and cockle shell. SSFCW removed 87.7, 81.4, 74.7, and 54.9% of ammonia, phosphate, Cu, and phenol, respectively, at optimum contact time (64.5 h) and initial pollutant concentration (69.2 mg/L). Aqueous solution was moved to a surface flow constructed wetland (SFCW) after treating via SSFCW at optimum conditions. In SFCW, Typha was transplanted to a fixed powdered substrate layer, including bentonite, zeolite, and cockle shell. SFCW could develop performance of this combined system and could improve elimination efficacy of the four contaminants to 99.99%. So this combined CW showed a good performance in removing pollutants. Graphical abstract Wetlands arrangement for treating aqueous solution in current study.
Forest ownership is considered as a vital aspect for sustainable management of forest and its associated biodiversity. The Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015 reported that privately owned forest area are increasing on a global scale, but deforestation was found very active in privately owned hill forest areas of Malaysia. Penang State was purposively chosen as it has been experiencing rapid and radical changes due to urban expansion over the last three decades. In this study, analyses of land-use changes were done by PCI Geomatica using Landsat images from 1991 to 2015, future trends of land-use change were assessed using EXCEL forecast function, and its impact on the surrounding environment were conducted by reviewing already published articles on changing environment of the study area. This study revealed an annual deforestation rate of 1.4% in Penang Island since 1991. Trend analysis forecasted a forest area smaller than the current forest reserves by the year 2039. Impact analysis revealed a rapid biodiversity loss with increasing landslides, mudflows, water pollution, flash flood, and health hazard. An immediate ban over hill-land development is crucial for overall environmental safety.
Ralstonia mannitolilytica is a gram negative soil bacterium. Ralstonia infection though rare, has become the emerging nosocomial pathogens in hospital settings. Various clinical manifestations had been described as well as the mode of transmission. Despite its low virulence factor, it is able to survive under harsh condition and this may potentially cause significant morbidity and mortality especially in immunocompromised patients. Outbreak of Ralstonia mannitolilytica infections in the hospital are typically associated with contaminated medical supplies or instruments. We described here a case of Ralstonia mannitolilytica infection in a dialysis patient that occurred during the municipal reservoir water contamination crisis. In this report, we will also describe the behaviour of Ralstonia genus and its 4 main species, namely R. pickettii, R. solanacearum, R. insidiosa, and R. mannitolilytica and the choices of antibiotic therapy based on literature review.
Water pollution is a critical management issue, with many rivers and streams draining urban areas being polluted by the disposal of untreated solid waste and wastewater discharge, storm water and agricultural runoff. This has implications for biodiversity, and many rivers in the developing world are now considered compromised. We investigated benthic macroinvertebrate community structure and composition in relation to physico-chemical conditions of the water column and sediments. The study was conducted in an Austral catchment subject to both urban and agricultural pollutants in two different seasons. We assessed whether sediment characteristics were more important drivers of macroinvertebrate community composition than water column characteristics. We expected clear differences in macroinvertebrate community composition and in the associated community metrics due to distinct flow conditions between the two seasons. A combination of multivariate analyses (canonical correspondence analysis (CCA)) and biological indicator analysis were used to examine these patterns. Chironomidae was the most abundant family (>60%) in the upper mainstem river and stream sites. Stream sites were positively associated with CCA axis 2, being characterised by high turbidity and lower pH, salinity, phosphate concentration, channel width and canopy cover. Canopy cover, channel width, substrate embeddedness, phosphate concentration, pH, salinity and turbidity all had a significant effect on macroinvertebrate community composition. Using CCA variation partitioning, water quality was, however, a better predictor of benthic macroinvertebrate composition than sediment chemical conditions. Furthermore, our results suggest that seasonality had little effect on structuring benthic macroinvertebrate communities in this south-eastern zone of South Africa, despite clear changes in sediment chemistry. This likely reflects the relative lack of major variability in water chemistry compared to sediment chemistry between seasons and the relatively muted variability in precipitation between seasons than the more classic Austral temperate climates.
Malacca River water quality is affected due to rapid urbanization development. The present study applied LULC changes towards water quality detection in Malacca River. The method uses LULC, PCA, CCA, HCA, NHCA, and ANOVA. PCA confirmed DS, EC, salinity, turbidity, TSS, DO, BOD, COD, As, Hg, Zn, Fe, E. coli, and total coliform. CCA confirmed 14 variables into two variates; first variate involves residential and industrial activities; and second variate involves agriculture, sewage treatment plant, and animal husbandry. HCA and NHCA emphasize that cluster 1 occurs in urban area with Hg, Fe, total coliform, and DO pollution; cluster 3 occurs in suburban area with salinity, EC, and DS; and cluster 2 occurs in rural area with salinity and EC. ANOVA between LULC and water quality data indicates that built-up area significantly polluted the water quality through E. coli, total coliform, EC, BOD, COD, TSS, Hg, Zn, and Fe, while agriculture activities cause EC, TSS, salinity, E. coli, total coliform, arsenic, and iron pollution; and open space causes contamination of turbidity, salinity, EC, and TSS. Research finding provided useful information in identifying pollution sources and understanding LULC with river water quality as references to policy maker for proper management of Land Use area.
Matched MeSH terms: Water Pollution, Chemical/analysis*
Gelatin from fish skin is known to be an alternative source for mammalian gelatin. However, it has weaker properties compared to bovine and porcine gelatin, which limits its use in the industry. The conventional method for fish gelatin extraction requires long production time and could cause serious water pollution and chemical treatments are often being used to enhance the yield of fish gelatin and its properties but it may affect the amino acid content of the gelatin. In this regard, High-Pressure Processing (HPP) is a novel method suggested for fish gelatin extraction. The HPP method is classified as green technology as it requires low electricity throughout the process. This study will discuss the impact of HPP the technique gelatin extracted from fish skin. Skins from four types of fish, namely red tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), black tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus), grouper (Epinephelus areolatus) and threadfin bream (Nemipterus tambuloides), were used. High pressure was applied at either pretreatment in citric acid solution or during thermal extraction; and the pressure was maintained at 250 MPa with pressure holding time of 10 minutes and 18 hours of water extraction. Gelatin extract from traditional acid-base method was prepared as a standard for comparison. The study found that there was an increment in the yield of gelatin and the concentration of gelatin extract, and the pre-treatment time was also reduced.
Sungai Sarawak is the most important river in Sarawak. This study was aimed at assessing water quality in the selected stations from Satok bridge to the downstream, Muara Tebas, located along Sungai Sarawak. Water quality trend analysis was conducted to determine the correlation between the water quality parameters. Trend analysis was carried out using Mann-Kendall Test because data collected was non-parametric. Next, Spearman rank was used in order to determine the correlation between parameters. The results obtained and the observation made in this study reveals that the trend exists only for Chemical Oxygen Value (COD). But there are trends for Biochemical Oxygen Demand, (BOD), Dissolved Oxygen (DO), Total Suspended Solid (TSS), Ammoniacal Nitrogen (NH4N) and Turbidity to decrease or increase with no trends between 2007 and 2011. The correlation between parameters is not very strong because there are many determinants of water quality parameters. The result from this study would provide useful information for water quality management in order to maintain and improve the water quality of Sungai Sarawak.
Extraction of gelatin using traditional acid-base pretreatment method has several limitations
such as time consuming and causes serious water pollution. Chemical treatment often being used
as an alternative process to overcome the weaknesses of the conventional method. However,
excessive chemical elements would damage the structure of the gelatin due to its high sensitivity
to the acid content. High Pressure Processing (HPP) is a novel and environmental friendly
method that has been suggested to assist gelatin extraction. Pressurization during pretreatment
could reduce the extraction time and amount of acid used. It also has a potential in enhancing the
properties of the gelatin extract and increasing the gelatin yield. In this research, One-Factor-
at-Time (OFAT) and optimization study were done to determine the optimum parameters for
extraction of gelatin assisted by HPP from red tilapia skin. Four parameters; applied pressure,
pressure holding time, ratio of acid to skin and extraction time have been selected for the OFAT
design and concentration of the gelatin extract and percentage of yield gelatin were evaluated.
From OFAT, optimum technical parameters for response surface optimization design were 250
MPa pressure, 7.5 ml of acid to 1 g of skin and 12 hours extraction time. Pressure holding
time was fixed for 10 min. FCCCD has been used for optimization study. Results from the
data shows that the optimum conditions for gelatin extraction from red tilapia skin were 250
MPa for pressure, 10 min of pressure holding time, 7.5 ml of acid for 1 g of skin and 12 hours
of extraction time while the maximum concentration and yield were 19.51 mg/ml and 32.04%
(320.4 mg/g), respectively. These findings proved that HPP could increase the concentration
and the yield of the gelatin while reducing the chemical waste and shortening the extraction
process.
This study investigates the spatial variation of water quality parameters in Sungai Setiu Basin at ten different locations from March 2010 to February 2011. The water quality was assessed using the Water Quality Index by Malaysian Department of Environment (DOE-WQI) and classified according to the Malaysia Interim National Water Quality Standard (INWQS). Six water quality parameters embedded in the DOE-WQI were dissolved oxygen (DO), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), pH, ammoniacal nitrogen (AN) and total suspended solid (TSS). In addition, this study also examined the changes in water quality over the past 10 years by comparing the present water quality to the previous works. The overall mean WQI value obtained was 84.0 which indicate that the Sungai Setiu basin is in clean condition and all measured water quality parameters gave value within the permissible limits of the INWQS classification except for pH which fall in Class III. It can be concluded that water quality in Sungai Setiu does not varies greatly over a decade. Hence continuous monitoring is needed to improve the water quality and minimize water pollution.
Rapid socioeconomic development in the Linggi River Basin has contributed to the significant increase of pollution discharge into the Linggi River and its adjacent coastal areas. The toxic element contents and distributions in the sediment samples collected along the Linggi River were determined using neutron activation analysis (NAA) and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) techniques. The measured mean concentration of As, Cd, Pb, Sb, U, Th and Zn is relatively higher compared to the continental crust value of the respective element. Most of the elements (As, Cr, Fe, Pb, Sb and Zn) exceeded the freshwater sediment quality guideline-threshold effect concentration (FSQG-TEC) value. Downstream stations of the Linggi River showed that As concentrations in sediment exceeded the freshwater sediment quality guideline-probable effect concentration (FSQG-PEC) value. This indicates that the concentration of As will give an adverse effect to the growth of sediment-dwelling organisms. Generally, the Linggi River sediment can be categorised as unpolluted to strongly polluted and unpolluted to strongly to extremely polluted. The correlation matrix of metal-metal relationship, principle component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) indicates that the pollution sources of Cu, Ni, Zn, Cd and Pb in sediments of the Linggi River originated from the industry of electronics and electroplating. Elements of As, Cr, Sb and Fe mainly originated from motor-vehicle workshops and metal work, whilst U and Th originated from natural processes such as terrestrial runoff and land erosion.
Matched MeSH terms: Water Pollution, Chemical/statistics & numerical data
In order to evaluate the water quality of one of the most polluted urban river in Malaysia, the Penchala River, performance of eight biotic indices, Biomonitoring Working Party (BMWP), BMWPThai, BMWPViet, Average Score Per Taxon (ASPT), ASPTThai, BMWPViet, Family Biotic Index (FBI), and Singapore Biotic Index (SingScore), was compared. The water quality categorization based on these biotic indices was then compared with the categorization of Malaysian Water Quality Index (WQI) derived from measurements of six water physicochemical parameters (pH, BOD, COD, NH3-N, DO, and TSS). The river was divided into four sections: upstream section (recreational area), middle stream 1 (residential area), middle stream 2 (commercial area), and downstream. Abundance and diversity of the macroinvertebrates were the highest in the upstream section (407 individual and H' = 1.56, respectively), followed by the middle stream 1 (356 individual and H' = 0.82). The least abundance was recorded in the downstream section (214 individual). Among all biotic indices, BMWP was the most reliable in evaluating the water quality of this urban river as their classifications were comparable to the WQI. BMWPs in this study have strong relationships with dissolved oxygen (DO) content. Our results demonstrated that the biotic indices were more sensitive towards organic pollution than the WQI. BMWP indices especially BMWPViet were the most reliable and could be adopted along with the WQI for assessment of water quality in urban rivers.
Matched MeSH terms: Water Pollution, Chemical/statistics & numerical data*
Water from La Pampa, Argentina, was used for washing and cooking rice to examine the in-situ impact of using naturally-contaminated water for food preparation on the elemental dietary intake. Whilst washing with the control tap water (28 μg/L As) reduced the concentration of As in rice by 23%, the use of different well waters (281-1144 μg/L) increased As levels significantly (48-227%) in comparison with the original concentration in the rice (0.056 µg/g). Cooking the rice at a low water-to-rice ratio (2:1) using modern methods increased the levels of As in the cooked samples by 2-3 orders of magnitude for both pre-washed and un-washed rice. Similar trends were observed for vanadium. Although the levels of manganese, iron, copper, zinc and molybdenum in rice were reduced during washing and cooking for most water samples, the molybdenum concentration in the cooked rice doubled (2.2-2.9 µg/g) when using water containing >1 mg/L Mo.
El Niño and Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a natural forcing that affects global climate patterns, thereon influencing freshwater quality and security. In the advent of a strong El Niño warming event in 2016 which induced an extreme dry weather in Malaysia, water quality variation was investigated in Kampar River which supplies potable water to a population of 92,850. Sampling points were stratified into four ecohydrological units and 144 water samples were examined from October 2015 to March 2017. The Malaysian Water Quality Index (WQI) and some supplementary parameters were analysed in the context of reduced precipitation. Data shows that prolonged dry weather, episodic and sporadic pollution incidents have caused some anomalies in dissolved oxygen (DO), total suspended solids (TSS), turbidity and ammoniacal nitrogen (AN) values recorded and the possible factors are discussed. The month of March and August 2016 recorded the lowest precipitation, but the overall resultant WQI remained acceptable. Since the occurrence of a strong El Niño event is infrequent and far between in decadal time scale, this paper gives some rare insights that may be central to monitoring and managing freshwater resource that has a crucial impact to the mass population in the region of Southeast Asia.
Matched MeSH terms: Water Pollution/statistics & numerical data
Nitrate is required to maintain the growth and metabolism of plant and animals. Nevertheless, in excess amount such as polluted water, its concentration can be harmful to living organisms such as microalgae. Recently, studies on microalgae response towards nutrient fluctuation are usually limited to lipid accumulation for the production of biofuels, disregarding the other potential of microalgae to be used in wastewater treatments and as source of important metabolites. Our study therefore captures the need to investigate overall metabolite changes via NMR spectroscopy approach coupled with multivariate data to understand the complex molecular process under high (4X) and low (1/4X) concentrations of nitrate ([Formula: see text]). NMR spectra with the aid of chemometric analysis revealed contrasting metabolites makeup under abundance and limited nitrate treatment. By using NMR technique, 43 types of metabolites and 8 types of fatty acid chains were detected. Nevertheless, only 20 key changes were observed and 16 were down regulated in limited nitrate condition. This paper has demonstrated the feasibility of NMR-based metabolomics approach to study the physiological impact of changing environment such as pollution to the implications for growth and productivity of microalgae population.
Landfill leachate is one of the sources of surface water pollution in Selangor State (SS), Malaysia. Leachate volume prediction is essential for sustainable waste management and leachate treatment processes. The accurate estimation of leachate generation rates is often considered a challenge, especially in developing countries, due to the lack of reliable data and high measurement costs. Leachate generation is related to several variable factors, including meteorological data, waste generation rates, and landfill design conditions. Large variations in these factors lead to complicated leachate modeling processes. The aims of this study are to determine the key elements contributing to leachate production and then develop an adaptive neural fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) model to predict leachate generation rates. Accuracy of the final model performance was tested and evaluated using the root mean square error (RMSE), the mean absolute error (MAE), and the correlation coefficient (R). The study results defined dumped waste quantity, rainfall level, and emanated gases as the most significant contributing factors in leachate generation. The best model structure consisted of two triangular fuzzy membership functions and a hybrid training algorithm with eight fuzzy rules. The proposed ANFIS model showed a good performance with an overall correlation coefficient of 0.952.
Given predicted increases in urbanization in tropical and subtropical regions, understanding the processes shaping urban coral reefs may be essential for anticipating future conservation challenges. We used a case study approach to identify unifying patterns of urban coral reefs and clarify the effects of urbanization on hard coral assemblages. Data were compiled from 11 cities throughout East and Southeast Asia, with particular focus on Singapore, Jakarta, Hong Kong, and Naha (Okinawa). Our review highlights several key characteristics of urban coral reefs, including "reef compression" (a decline in bathymetric range with increasing turbidity and decreasing water clarity over time and relative to shore), dominance by domed coral growth forms and low reef complexity, variable city-specific inshore-offshore gradients, early declines in coral cover with recent fluctuating periods of acute impacts and rapid recovery, and colonization of urban infrastructure by hard corals. We present hypotheses for urban reef community dynamics and discuss potential of ecological engineering for corals in urban areas.
Rapid increase in industrialization and urbanization in the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia has led to the intense release of petroleum and products of petroleum into the environment. Surface sediment samples were collected from the Selangor River in the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia during four climatic seasons and analyzed for PAHs and biomarkers (hopanes). Sediments were soxhlet extracted and further purified and fractionated through first and second step column chromatography. A gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used for analysis of PAHs and hopanes fractions. The average concentrations of total PAHs ranged from 219.7 to 672.3 ng g-1 dw. The highest concentrations of PAHs were detected at 964.7 ng g-1 dw in station S5 in the mouth of the Selangor River during the wet inter-monsoonal season. Both pyrogenic and petrogenic PAHs were detected in the sediments with a predominance of the former. The composition of hopanes was homogeneous showing that petroleum hydrocarbons share an identical source in the study area. Diagnostic ratios of hopanes indicated that some of the sediment samples carry the crankcase oil signature.
Matched MeSH terms: Water Pollution, Chemical/analysis
Surface and ground water resources are highly sensitive aquatic systems to contaminants due to their accessibility to multiple-point and non-point sources of pollutions. Determination of water quality variables using mathematical models instead of laboratory experiments can have venerable significance in term of the environmental prospective. In this research, application of a new developed hybrid response surface method (HRSM) which is a modified model of the existing response surface model (RSM) is proposed for the first time to predict biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and dissolved oxygen (DO) in Euphrates River, Iraq. The model was constructed using various physical and chemical variables including water temperature (T), turbidity, power of hydrogen (pH), electrical conductivity (EC), alkalinity, calcium (Ca), chemical oxygen demand (COD), sulfate (SO4), total dissolved solids (TDS), and total suspended solids (TSS) as input attributes. The monthly water quality sampling data for the period 2004-2013 was considered for structuring the input-output pattern required for the development of the models. An advance analysis was conducted to comprehend the correlation between the predictors and predictand. The prediction performances of HRSM were compared with that of support vector regression (SVR) model which is one of the most predominate applied machine learning approaches of the state-of-the-art for water quality prediction. The results indicated a very optimistic modeling accuracy of the proposed HRSM model to predict BOD and DO. Furthermore, the results showed a robust alternative mathematical model for determining water quality particularly in a data scarce region like Iraq.
Matched MeSH terms: Water Pollution/statistics & numerical data*