Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in Indian rivers

Pharmaceutical concentration data for Indian surface waters are currently scarce. Sewage often enters Indian rivers without prior treatment, and so previously reported environmental concentrations from regions with routinely implemented sewage treatment cannot simply be used to predict concentrations in Indian surface water. Improved knowledge of pharmaceutical concentrations in Indian waters would enable determination of potential risks posed to aquatic wildlife and human health in this region. The concentrations of five common non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs; diclofenac, ketoprofen, naproxen, ibuprofen, and acetylsalicylic acid) were determined in surface waters from 27 locations of the Kaveri, Vellar, and Tamiraparani Rivers in southern India. The samples were extracted by solid-phase extraction and analyzed by GC-MS. The measured concentrations of four of the five drugs in this reconnaissance were relatively similar to those reported elsewhere (ND–200 ng/l); however, acetylsalicylic acid, the most readily degradable of the investigated drugs, was found at all sites and at considerably higher concentrations (up to 660 ng/l) than reported in European surface waters. This is the first report on the occurrence of NSAIDs in Indian rivers. The finding of elevated concentrations of acetylsalicylic acid is most likely a result of direct discharges of untreated sewage. Therefore, readily degradable pharmaceuticals may present larger concern in regions without consistent sewage treatment. Based on measured environmental concentrations, the risks of direct toxicity to aquatic wildlife and of humans consuming the water are discussed.     

Biodiversity variability and metal accumulation strategies in plants spontaneously inhibiting fly ash lagoon,India

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - Out of 29 plant species taken into consideration for biodiversity investigations, the present study screened out Cyperus rotundus L., Calotropis...     

Hydrogeomorphic variability due to dam constructions and emerging problems: a case study of Damodar River,West Bengal,India

In the first multipurpose river valley planning of India, the vast resources of Damodar River Basin (DRB) (eastern India) are not only to be envisioned in their entirety but also to be developed in a unified manner where the water, land, and people are simultaneously bounded in a seamless web. Four large dams (Konar, Tilaiya, Maithon, and Panchet), Durgapur barrage, and Tenughat reservoir are built to tamp the flood-prone Damodar River using water resource in an integrated method. The functionality of Damodar fluvial system is controlled by dams, barrage, weirs, sluices, embankments, and canals, maintaining a dynamic equilibrium between fluvial processes and anthropogenic processes. Carrying more than 50 years of legacy, the existing drainage and flood control system of Damodar Valley Corporation has aggravated a number of hydrogeomorphic problems especially in lower DRB, viz. siltation of river bed and reservoirs, uncontrolled monsoonal stream flow, declining carrying capacity of lower course, drainage congestion, low-magnitude annual floods, channel shifting, de-functioned canals, decay of paleochannels, decline of ground water level, and less replenishing of soils with fresh silts. The present paper is mainly tried to investigate the pre-dam and post-dam hydrogeomorphic variability in relation to flood risk and drawbacks of Damodar Valley Multipurpose Project. Specifically, the annual peak flow of Damodar shifts from August to September due to dam construction and reservoir storage. Applying the annual flood series of log Pearson type III distribution, we have estimated post-dam 5-year peak discharge of above 5,300 m³ s^?1 and 100-year flood of above 11,000 m³ s^?1. Due to siltation, the bankfull discharges of sample segments are gradually declined up to 4,011 m³ s^?1, 2,366 m³ s^?1, and 1,542 m³ s^?1, respectively, having recurrence interval of 1.18–3.18 years only. With the regulation of monsoon flow, the standard sinuosity index is gradually increased downstream, having high dominance of hydraulic factors in respect of topographic factors. The upstream section of study area (Rhondia to Paikpara) now shows the dominance of aggradational landforms, braiding, avulsion, high width–depth ratio, breaching of right bank, and valley widening, but downstream of Barsul the phenomena of bank erosion, confined sinuosity, low width–depth ratio, and narrowness are more pronounced.     

On understanding the land–ocean CO2 contrast over the Bay of Bengal: A case study during 2009 summer monsoon

Ship-based observations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration over the Bay of Bengal (BoB) between 17 July 2009 and 17 Aug 2009 offered an excellent opportunity to evaluate the land–ocean contrast of surface CO₂ and facilitated its comparison with model simulated CO₂ concentrations. Elevated values of CO₂ with large variability near the coastal region and relatively low values with correspondingly lower variability over the open ocean suggest that this observed CO₂ variability over the ocean essentially captures the differences in terrestrial and oceanic CO₂ fluxes. Although the region under investigation is well known for its atmospheric intraseasonal oscillations of Indian summer monsoon during July and August, the limited duration of observations performed from a moving ship in a research cruise, is not able to capture any high-frequency variability of atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. But band-passed sea surface temperature and wind anomalies do indicate strong intraseasonal variability over the study region during the observational period. The synoptic data, albeit quite short in duration, thus offer a clear benchmark for abrupt variability of CO₂ concentration between land and ocean.     

Identification of hot spots and well managed areas of Pichavaram mangrove using Landsat TM and Resourcesat—1 LISS IV: an example of coastal resource conservation along Tamil Nadu Coast, India

The present work is a multi-temporal satellite based study on the spatial dynamic of an important coastal habitat, the Pichavaram mangrove ecosystem, over a period of 15 years. The Pichavaram mangrove forest near Chidambaram, South India is the second largest mangrove forest in the world. Unsupervised classification, the Iterative Self Organising Data Analysis Technique (ISODATA), has been used to classify the mangrove cover into the open and dense classes. The status of the classes has been monitored using Landsat TM of 1991, 2001, and Resourcesat–1 LISS IV of 2006 satellite data. The study demonstrated that by classifying mangrove ecosystem into just the 3 classes using remote sensing data and by studying their temporal variations, it is possible to get a reasonably accurate picture of the extent and condition of the mangrove ecosystem. The total area of the Pichavaram mangrove showed a net increase of 2.51 km² within a span of 15 years (1991 to 2006). The hot spots that are at a risk of being degraded, and on the other hand, the mangrove areas that are well managed are identified using Geographical Information System (GIS) tools for the restoration and conservation measures.     

Search for social justice for the victims of erosion hazard along the banks of river Bhagirathi by hydraulic control: a case study of West Bengal,India

Frequent erosion along the banks of the river Bhagirathi–Hooghly constitutes one of the most important hazards in West Bengal, India. This frequent nature of erosion is induced by hydraulic control by the construction of Farakka Barrage in 1975 and Indo-Bangladesh water sharing treaty of 1977 and 1996. Water sharing treaties result in fluctuating discharge on 10-day scale in the lean period (January–May). The stream discharge variability affects the bank erosion through its impacts on erodibility factors of banks. It has been observed that in the pre-Farakka period bank erosion was huge only during the monsoon months, and rest of the year, there was little or no bank erosion because in the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon periods, the river Bhagirathi received very little or no discharge from the river Ganga. But in the post-Farakka period, the river Bhagirathi received considerable amount of water in variable quantities from the river Ganga, especially in lean period which has steadied the river bank erosion in the year round. It is to mention that benefits of this planning are to survive the port-industrial economy of South Bengal and provision of fresh water for inhabitants of Kolkata. So beneficiaries of this controlled hydrology must have to pay affluent tax for the victims by this project. In this paper, the nature, mechanism and pattern of bank erosion and its impact on socio-economic vulnerability of the people in the selected erosion-prone areas have been depicted. At the end, a search for social justice for the victims has been articulated from the perspective of Pareto-optimal justice.     

Implementation of water safety plan for a large-piped water supply system

A water safety plan for the city of Nagpur was developed by the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC). Possible hazards were identified through field visits. Based on this, an improvement plan was drawn up to suggest corrective actions and a time frame for implementation. The findings of this study are being used to modify or repair components of the water supply system and upgrade management procedures. This paper highlights the lessons learnt during implementation of the WSP and the key challenges faced.