<Emphasis Type="Bold">Tracing lead contamination in foods in the city of Kolkata,India</Emphasis>

Lead isotopic ratios (LIR) of eight common food items, street dust, coal, diesel, sediments, lead ore and rainwater from India have been reported for the first time in this paper. This study characterized the source and extent of lead pollution in the different foodstuff consumed in Kolkata, a major metropolis of eastern India. The atmospheric lead input to the food items, sold openly in busy roadside markets of the city, has been quantified. The mean 207/206 and 208/206 LIRs of the eight food items ranged from 0.8847 to 0.8924 and 2.145 to 2.167, respectively. Diesel had the highest mean 207/206 and 208/206 values of 0.9015 and 2.1869, respectively, apart from the lead ore. The food items had a mean lead concentration between 3.78 and 43.35 mg kg^?1. The two ratio scatter plots of all the different environmental matrices were spread linearly between the uncontaminated Ichapur sediment and diesel. The 207/206 LIRs of the coal with a mean of 0.8777 did not fall in the linear trend, while the street dust and food samples overlapped strongly. The rainwater sample had a 207/206 LIR of 0.9007. Contaminated sediments in Dhapa, the repository of the city’s municipal garbage, had a mean 207/206 LIR of 0.8658. The corresponding value obtained from the sewage-fed vegetable grown there was 0.8058. The present study indicated that diesel was one of the main contributor to Pb pollution. The atmospheric lead contribution to the food items was in the range of 68.48–86.66 %.     

Recyclable Clay-Supported Heteropolyacid Catalysts for Complete Glycolysis and Aminolysis of Post-consumer PET Beverage Bottles

Journal of Polymers and the Environment - In this investigation, the use of phosphotungstic acid (PWA) and phosphomolybdic acid (PMA) as well as Zn2+ containing kaolin and bentonite explored for...     

Physicochemical and thermal characterization of nonedible oilseed residual waste as sustainable solid biofuel

The present study aims to investigate the potential of nonedible oilseed Jatropha (Jatropha curcas) and Karanja (Pongamia pinnata) defatted residual biomasses (whole seed, kernel, and hull), as solid biofuel. These biomasses showed good carbon contents (39.8–44.5%), whereas, fewer amounts were observed for sulfur (0.15–0.90%), chlorine (0.64–1.76%), nitrogen (0.9–7.2%) and ash contents (4.0–8.7%). Their volatile matter (60.23–81.6%) and calorific values (17.68–19.98 MJ/kg) were found to be comparable to coal. FT-IR and chemical analyses supported the presence of good amount of cellulose, hemicellulose and lower lignin. The pellets prepared without any additional binder, showed better compaction ratio, bulk density and compressive strength. XRF analysis carried out for determination of slagging–fouling indices, suggested their ash deposition tendencies in boilers, which can be overcome significantly with the optimization of the blower operations and control of ash depositions. Thus, overall various chemical, physical properties, thermal decomposition, surface morphological studies and their high biofuel reactivity indicated that residual biomasses of Jatropha and Karanja seeds have high potential to be utilized as a solid biofuel.     

Environmental variables and fisheries diversity of the Naaf River Estuary,Bangladesh

The Naaf River estuary is one of the large estuaries in the Bangladesh coastal region not to have been affected by extensive human disturbance. This research provides information about the fisheries diversity status by Estuarine Set Bag Net (ESBN) sampling relation to physicochemical variables in both spatio-temporal scales. About 25 km of the lower estuary was divided into six zones for sample collection by considering the accessibility and availability of the ESBN operation, fish landing centers and location of the fishing villages. In total 48 samples have been analyzed which were taken throughout March to October 2006. To quantify the species diversity, all fisheries data were analyzed by using EstimateS and EcoSim software which accounts the different diversity indices viz., species richness, Shannon–Wiener diversity Index, Dominance and Evenness index. The research results demonstrate that the Naaf River estuary is a habitat of 161 (species richness, Sobs = 161, Choa 1 = 162 ± 2.34, ACE = 161.73) different species which belong to 98 fin fishes, 23 shrimps and prawns, 13 crabs, 11 molluscs, 3 echinoderms, 4 other crustaceans; while 9 remain unidentified. Results on the aquatic environment, mainly salinity and turbidity were found to have a major influence on their occurrence and distribution. All the findings indicated that the Naaf River estuary is a highly productive system and provides a favourable environment for large variety of estuarine species assemblages.     

Public Water Sources in Rural Watersheds of Nepal’s Middle Mountains: Issues and Constraints

Inadequacy and poor quality of water supply for domestic purposes is increasingly becoming a concern in rural catchments of the Middle Mountains of Nepal. Water quantity is an issue in pocket areas of these catchments, while water quality is subject to concern in most of the water sources. Microbiological contamination in particular poses a risk to human health. In addition, sediment pollution during the monsoon season is perceived as an issue by the local residents. Elevated phosphate and nitrate levels in many water sources indicate intensive interaction with surface water hailing from agricultural areas and human settlements. These water quantity and quality concerns in two watersheds of Nepal, the Jhikhu Khola and the Yarsha Khola watersheds, are not isolated cases. Similar problems are reported from other watersheds monitored under the People and Resource Dynamics in Mountain Watersheds of the Hindu Kush-Himalayas (PARDYP) project in China, India, and Pakistan and the literature of this region.     

An assessment of the emissions inventory processing systems EMS-2001 and SMOKE in grid-based air quality models

In the United States, emission processing models such as Emissions Modeling System-2001 (EMS-2001), Emissions Preprocessor System-Version 2.5 (EPS2.5), and the Sparse Matrix Operator Kernel Emissions (SMOKE) model are currently being used to generate gridded, hourly, speciated emission inputs for urban and regional-scale photochemical models from aggregated pollutant inventories. In this study, two models, EMS-2001 and SMOKE, were applied with their default internal data sets to process a common inventory database for a high ozone (O3) episode over the eastern United States using the Carbon Bond IV (CB4) chemical speciation mechanism. A comparison of the emissions processed by these systems shows differences in all three of the major processing steps performed by the two models (i.e., in temporal allocation, spatial allocation, and chemical speciation). Results from a simulation with a photochemical model using these two sets of emissions indicate differences on the order of +/- 20 ppb in the predicted 1-hr daily maximum O3 concentrations. It is therefore critical to develop and implement more common and synchronized temporal, spatial, and speciation cross-reference systems such that the processes within each emissions model converge toward reasonably similar results. This would also help to increase confidence in the validity of photochemical grid model results by reducing one aspect of modeling uncertainty.     

Agricultural innovation and adaptation to climate change: empirical evidence from diverse agro-ecologies in South Asia

While impacts of climate change on agricultural systems have been widely researched, there is still limited understanding of what agricultural innovations have evolved over time in response to both climatic and non-climatic drivers. Although there has been some progress in formulating national adaptation policies and strategic planning in different countries of South Asia, research to identify local-level adaptive strategies and practices is still limited. Through eight case studies and a survey of 300 households in 15 locations in India, Nepal and Bangladesh, this paper generates empirical evidence on emerging agricultural innovations in contrasting socio-economic, geographical and agro-ecological contexts. The study demonstrates that several farm practices (innovations) have emerged in response to multiple drivers over time, with various forms of institutional and policy support, including incentives to reduce risks in the adoption of innovative practice. It further shows that there is still limited attempt to systematically mainstream adaptation innovations into local, regional and national government structures, policies and planning processes. The paper shows that the process of farm-level adaptation through innovation adoption forms an important avenue for agricultural adaptation in South Asia. A key implication of this finding is that there is a need for stronger collaborations between research institutions, extension systems, civil society and the private sector actors to enhance emerging adaptive innovations at the farm level.     

A Comprehensive Numerical Model Simulating Gas,Heat, and Moisture Transport in Sanitary Landfills and Methane Oxidation in Final Covers

A model to simulate gas, heat, and moisture transport through a sanitary landfill has been developed. The model not only considers the different processes that go on in a landfill but also the oxidation of methane in the final cover. The model was calibrated using published results and field data from a pilot scale landfill in Calgary. The model captures the physics of the different processes quite well. Simulations from the model show that waste permeability had a significant impact on the temperature, pressure distribution, and flux from a landfill. The presence of the final and intermediate covers enhanced the gas storage capacity of the landfill. Biodegradation of the waste was enhanced as the final cover minimized the atmospheric influences. In addition, the composition of landfill gas emitted to the atmosphere was significantly different from the composition of gas generated in landfill due to the presence of covers as some of the methane is oxidized to carbon dioxide. There was no significant benefit of using a final cover of higher depth. The presence and number of intermediate covers had an impact on gas flux and temperature distribution within a landfill.     

The Impact of Policy and Institutional Environment on Costs and Benefits of Sustainable Agricultural Land Uses: The Case of the Chittagong Hill Tracts,Bangladesh

As in other mountain regions of Asia, agricultural lands in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh are undergoing degradation due primarily to environmentally incompatible land-use systems such as shifting cultivation (jhum) and annual cash crops. The suitable land-use systems such as agroforestry and timber tree plantation provide benefit to the society at large, but they might not provide attractive economic benefits to farmers, eventually constraining a wide-scale adoption of such land-use systems. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate agricultural land-use systems from both societal and private perspectives in the pursuit of promoting particularly environmentally sustainable systems. This article evaluated five major land-use systems being practiced in CHT, namely jhum, annual cash crops, horticulture, agroforestry, and timber plantation. The results of the financial analysis revealed the annual cash crops as the most attractive land use and jhum as the least attractive of the five land-use systems considered under the study. Horticulture, timber plantation, and agroforestry, considered to be suitable land-use systems particularly for mountainous areas, held the middle ground between these two systems. Annual cash crops provided the highest financial return at the cost of a very high rate of soil erosion. When the societal cost of soil erosion is considered, annual cash crops appear to be the most costly land-use system, followed by jhum and horticulture. Although financially less attractive compared to annual cash crops and horticulture, agroforestry and timber plantation are the socially most beneficial land-use systems. Findings of the alternative policy analyses indicate that there is a good prospect for making environmentally sustainable land-use systems, such as agroforestry and timber plantation, attractive for the farmers by eliminating existing legal and institutional barriers, combined with the provision of necessary support services and facilities.