News Release on Pollution Research: March – 2019
Effect of Depth on Microbial Pollution of Shallow Wells in Makurdi Metropoilis, Benue State, Nigeria
This study looked at the effect of depth on the microbial pollution of shallow wells in the three floodplains of Makurdi metropolis of Benue State, Nigeria. Water samples from the wells were collected and analyzed monthly for seven months from February to August (covering both wet and dry seasons) using the pour plate technique. The assessment was for the presence coliform bacteria. The species isolated were Salmonella typhilis, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus faecalis, Proteus spp. and total coliform. The pollution of wells was found to increase with decrease in depth and decrease with increase in depth. The water table varied from 4.3m (in wet season) to 6.4m (in dry season). Generally pollution level in the floodplains was between 17cfu/ml and 297cfu/ml of bacterial population. No well studied met the limit by World Health organization (WHO) for drinking water which is 0cfu/ml and 10cfu/ml by the National Agency Food and Drugs Administration and Control, Nigeria (NAFDAC). This shows that wells must be up to 15m deep so as to be free from pollution. Screening the wells to the depth of 15m and treatment by disinfection before drinking were the recommendations made. [1]
Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI) Assessment in Tree Species of Coimbatore Urban City, Tamil Nadu, India
Aims: Forest restoration in urbanized and polluted cities is paving the way for mitigation of climate change by reducing the air pollutants level and carbon content level in atmosphere. So, the study was conducted at Coimbatore urban city, Tamil Nadu by using twenty five tree species to know their air pollution tolerance index (APTI) level.
Study Design: The sample procedure used for assessing the APTI was stratified random sampling.
Place and Duration of Study: The leaf sample was collected from different zones of Coimbatore urban city and the sample analysis was carried out in Department of Silviculture, Forest College and Research Institute, Mettupalayam, Tamil Nadu between August 2015-April 2017.
Methodology: Five zones namely residential, industrial, commercial, heavy traffic and control zone were identified from Coimbatore city for estimating the air pollution tolerance index (APTI). In order to assess the air pollution tolerance index of tree species, the biochemical parameters like ascorbic acid content, total chlorophyll content, leaf extract pH and relative water content (RWC) were estimated.
Results: Among the 25 tree species tested, Thespesia populnea recorded highest APTI of 16.07, 15.76, 14.63 and 14.37 in heavy traffic zone, industrial zone, control zone and residential zone respectively. In commercial zone, Pongamia pinnata accounted highest APTI value of 13.96. On contrary, the lowest level of APTI was registered by Michelia champaca in industrial zone (10.21), Peltophorum pterocarpum in heavy traffic zone (10.93), Spathodea campanulata in residential zone (11.11) and Albizia saman in commercial zone (11.46).
Conclusion: On an overall, Thespesia populnea and Pongamia pinnata were performed well with highest APTI and they can be used for controlling the air pollution level in urban cities. [2]
Assessment of Leachate Pollution Index and Greenhouse Gas Emission at MSW Dumpsites along Ganga River at Varanasi, India
Recent scientific attention has shown serious concern towards municipal solid wastes (MSW) as a source of greenhouse gases and concentrated leachate. We studied the leachate pollution index (LPI) and emission fluxes of two greenhouse gases (CH4 and CO2) at two municipal solid waste dumpsites situated along the Ganga River at Varanasi (India). The LPI is a quantitative tool by which the leachate pollution data of dumping sites can be reported uniformly. Concentration of nutrient ions (Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, K+, NO3–, Cl–, PO43- ) and heavy metals (Cd2+, Fe2+, Cu2+, Pb2+, Ni2+, Zn2+, Co2+, Mn2+ ) in leachate varied with season with values being highest in rainy season. Total dissolved solids, conductivity and salinity in leachate showed a similar trend. Leachate pollution index was found to be 87.19 and 82.56 at KZP and BPS sites respectively. The LPI was much higher than the permissible limit at both the sites indicating high contamination potential for surface and ground water and risk to human health. Among all the study metals, Pb was found in abundance at Site 1. The emission flux of CH4ranged from 10.73 to 96.74 mg m-2 h-1 and that of CO2 from 17.28 to 321.89 mg m-2 h-1. Emission flux of both the greenhouse gases increased with rising moisture and temperature. The rates were higher at young landfill site and between-site differences in the emission of CH4 and CO2 were significant. The study has relevance establishing landfill associated contamination to Ganga River and reducing uncertainties in greenhouse gas emission estimates in India. [3]
Reference
[1] Isikwue, M. O., Iorver, D., & Onoja, S. B. (2011). Effect of Depth on Microbial Pollution of Shallow Wells in Makurdi Metropoilis, Benue State, Nigeria. International Journal of Environment and Climate Change, 1(3), 66-73. https://doi.org/10.9734/BJECC/2011/354
[2] Balasubramanian, A., Prasath, C. N. H., Gobalakrishnan, K., & Radhakrishnan, S. (2018). Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI) Assessment in Tree Species of Coimbatore Urban City, Tamil Nadu, India. International Journal of Environment and Climate Change, 8(1), 27-38. Retrieved from http://www.journalijecc.com/index.php/IJECC/article/view/27106
[3] Pandey, J., Kaushik, P., & Tripathi, S. (2014). Assessment of Leachate Pollution Index and Greenhouse Gas Emission at MSW Dumpsites along Ganga River at Varanasi, India. International Journal of Environment and Climate Change, 4(3), 292-311. https://doi.org/10.9734/BJECC/2014/14306