Environmental forensic investigation of the air pollution from a cement manufacturing unit

Abstract

Cement manufacturing is a process that results in the emission of significant quantities of suspended particulate matter (SPM) to the ambient air. An environmental forensic investigation was carried out in the surroundings of a major cement manufacturing unit at a place called Coimbatore in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The investigation was carried out to identify the contribution of the cement manufacturing unit to the SPM concentration of the surrounding air environment. The sampling points’ selection and sample collection were done following the principles outlined in the INTERPOL Manual for Pollution Crime Forensic Investigation. On-site monitoring of the air samples was carried out using Mini Laser Aerosol Spectrometer (GRIMM, Mini-LAS Model 11R). The instrument was capable of measuring particles ranging from 0.25 to 32 µm and classifying them into 31 size channels. The test results at majority of the monitoring locations were well above the limits specified in the National Ambient Air Quality Standards of India. Microscopic studies of the dust samples were carried out for surface texture and particle shape. The spatial distribution of particles was analysed using geographic information system (GIS) for the visual identification of the extent of the pollution by keeping the cement factory as the focal point. The results from the GIS and microscopic analysis established the role of the cement factory in the particulate matter pollution of its surroundings, specifically in the areas North-West of the factory. The successfully adopted procedure can serve as a guideline for the environmental forensic investigation of similar pollution incidences.     

Cancer and Non-Cancer Health Risk from Eating Cassava Grown in Some Mining Communities in Ghana

Food crops such as cassava, cocoyam and other tuber crops grown in mining communities uptake toxic or hazardous chemicals such as arsenic, and cadmium, from the soil. Cassava is a stable food for Ghanaians. This study evaluated human health risk from eating cassava grown in some mining communities in Ghana such as Bogoso, Prestea, Tarkwa and Tamso, which are important mining towns in the Western Region of Ghana. The study evaluated cancer and non-cancer health effects from eating cassava grown in the study areas in accordance with US Environmental Protection Agency’s Risk Assessment guidelines. The results of the study revealed the following: cancer health risk for Tamso, 0.098 (RME – Reasonable Maximum Exposure) and 0.082 (CTE – Central Tendency Exposure). This means that approximately 10 and 8 out of 100 resident adults are likely to suffer from cancer related cases by RME and CTE parameters respectively. For Prestea, we have 0.010 and 0.12, which also means that approximately 1 out of 100 and 10 resident adults out of 100 are also likely to suffer from cancer related diseases by RME and CTE parameters. The results of the study obtained were found to be above the acceptable cancer risk range of 1× 10⁻⁶ to 1× 10⁻⁴, i.e., 1 case of cancer out of 1 million or 100,000 people respectively.     

The potentials of internalising social banking among the Malaysian Islamic banks

Islamic banking has established for the last 40 years, yet only recently researchers acknowledge social failures of Islamic banking and finance. This has led to a proposition of forming new forms of banking and non-banking institutions that include social banking. It is argued that in considering the developmentalist needs of the Muslim societies in Malaysia, there is a need to go back to fundamentals of Islamic finance in realising the aspirational Islamic moral economy that emphasises on the social good, capacity development at the individual and social levels. This paper aims to explore the concept of social banking and search for the possibilities for internalisation in Malaysian Islamic banking. To gain understanding on this pertinent issue, an empirical investigation was conducted at 17 Islamic banks in Malaysia. A mixed method was employed. For the primary data collection, 477 respondents of Islamic banks clients and employees participated in a self-administrated survey, and 11 respondents from the executive and managerial level of eight Islamic banks involved in a semi-structured interview survey. The integrated analysis implies that Islamic banking significantly contributes to socio-economic development. On the contrary, financial and economic practices in everyday life do not reflect the social economic justice. The result further illustrates that the Islamic banks lack social contributions as they prone to practice efficiency-oriented institutions. Hence, a social banking model is needed to solve the lack of socio-economic development issue in the current practice of Islamic bank.     

Arsenic in shallow aquifer in the eastern region of Bangladesh: insights from principal component analysis of groundwater compositions

Probable sources and mechanisms of arsenic (As) release in shallow aquifer in eastern Bangladesh are evaluated using statistical analysis of groundwater compositions. Dissolved As in 39 samples ranged from 8.05 to 341.5 μg/L with an average of 95.14 μg/L. Ninety seven percent of wells exceed the WHO limit (10 μg/L) for safe drinking water. Principal component analysis is applied to reduce 16 measured compositional variables to five significant components (principal components—PCs) that explain 86.63% of the geochemical variance. Two component loadings, namely PC 1 and PC 2 (45.31% and 23.05%) indicate the natural processes within the aquifers in which organic matter is a key reactant in the weathering reactions. Four groups of wells are defined by the PCA and each group of wells represents distinct physicochemical characteristics. Among them, group III groundwater shows higher As concentration together with high concentrations of Fe, Mn, dissolved organic carbon, $\text{PO}_{4}^{3-}$ and $\text{HCO}_{3}^{-}$ than groups I and II. Speciation calculations suggest that only wells of group III are saturated with respect to siderite, and all groups of samples are supersaturated with respect of rhodochrosite. The relationship of As with these parameters in the different groups of wells of the study area suggests that reductive dissolution of Fe–Mn oxyhydroxides with microbially mediated degradation of organic matter is considered to be the dominant processes to release As in groundwater.     

Measurement of soil radioactivity levels and radiation hazard assessment in southern Rechna interfluvial region, Pakistan

Rechna interfluvial region is one of the main regions of Punjab, Pakistan. It is the area which is lying between River Ravi and River Chenab, alluvial-filled. Radioactivity levels in soil samples, collected from southern Rechna interfluvial region, Pakistan, have been estimated by using gamma-ray spectrometric technique. ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, the primordial radionuclide ⁴⁰K, and the artificial radionuclide ¹³⁷Cs have been measured in the soil of the study area. The mean radioactivity levels of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th, ⁴⁰K, and ¹³⁷Cs were found to be 50.6 ± 1.7, 62.3 ± 3.2, 662.2 ± 32.1, and 3.1 ± 0.3 Bq kg^???1, respectively. The mean radium equivalent activity (Ra_eq), outdoor radiation hazard index (H _out), indoor radiation hazard index (H _in), and terrestrial absorbed dose rate for the area under study were determined as 190.8 ± 8.7 Bq kg^???1, 0.52, 0.65, and 69.8 nGy h^???1, respectively. The annual effective dose to the general public was found to be 0.43 mSv. This value lies well below the limit of 1 mSv for general public as recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection. The measured values are comparable with other global radioactivity measurements and are found to be safe for the public and the environment.     

Determination of radioactive elements and heavy metals in sediments and soil from domestic water sources in northern peninsular Malaysia

Soil serves as a major reservoir for contaminants as it posseses an ability to bind various chemicals together. To safeguard the members of the public from an unwanted exposure, studies were conducted on the sediments and soil from water bodies that form the major sources of domestic water supply in northern peninsular Malaysia for their trace element concentration levels. Neutron Activation Analysis, using Nigeria Research Reactor-1 (NIRR-1) located at the Centre for Energy Research and Training, Zaria, Nigeria was employed as the analytical tool. The elements identified in major quantities include Na, K, and Fe while As, Br, Cr, U, Th, Eu, Cs, Co, La, Sm, Yb, Sc, Zn, Rb, Ba, Lu, Hf, Ta, and Sb were also identified in trace quantities. Gamma spectroscopy was also employed to analyze some soil samples from the same area. The results indicated safe levels in terms of the radium equivalent activity, external hazard index as well as the mean external exposure dose rates from the soil. The overall screening of the domestic water sources with relatively high heavy metals concentration values in sediments and high activity concentration values in soil is strongly recommended as their accumulation overtime as a consequence of leaching into the water may be of health concern to the members of the public.     

Development of geomorphologic instantaneous unit hydrograph for a large watershed

Hill torrents cause a lot of environmental and property damage in Pakistan every year. Proper assessment of direct runoff in the form of hill torrents is essential for protection of environment, property, and human life. In this paper, direct surface runoff hydrograph (DSRH) was derived for a large catchment using the geomorphologic instantaneous unit hydrograph concept. The catchment with hill torrent flows in semi-arid region of Pakistan was selected for this study. It was divided into series of linear cascades and hydrologic parameters required for Nash's conceptual model, and were estimated using geomorphology of the basin. Geomorphologic parameters were derived from satellite images of the basin and ERDAS and ArcGIS were used for data processing. Computer program was developed to systematically estimate the dynamic velocity, its related parameters by optimization and thereby to simulate the DSRH. The data regarding rainfall-runoff and satellite images were collected from Punjab Irrigation and Power Department, Pakistan. Model calibration and validation was made for 15 rainfall-runoff events. Ten events were used for calibration and five for validation. Model efficiency was found to be more than 90% and root mean square error to be about 5%. Impact of variation in model parameters (shape parameter and storage coefficient) on DSRH was investigated. For shape parameter, the number of linear cascades varied from 1 to 3 and it was found that the shaper parameter value of 3 produced the best DSRH. Various values of storage coefficient were used and it was observed that the value determined from geomorphology and the dynamic velocity produced the best results.     

Spatial patterns of heavy metals in soil under different geological structures and land uses for assessing metal enrichments

One hundred and thirty composite soil samples were collected from Hamedan county, Iran to characterize the spatial distribution and trace the sources of heavy metals including As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, V, Zn, and Fe. The multivariate gap statistical analysis was used; for interrelation of spatial patterns of pollution, the disjunctive kriging and geoenrichment factor (EF_G) techniques were applied. Heavy metals and soil properties were grouped using agglomerative hierarchical clustering and gap statistic. Principal component analysis was used for identification of the source of metals in a set of data. Geostatistics was used for the geospatial data processing. Based on the comparison between the original data and background values of the ten metals, the disjunctive kriging and EF_G techniques were used to quantify their geospatial patterns and assess the contamination levels of the heavy metals. The spatial distribution map combined with the statistical analysis showed that the main source of Cr, Co, Ni, Zn, Pb, and V in group A land use (agriculture, rocky, and urban) was geogenic; the origin of As, Cd, and Cu was industrial and agricultural activities (anthropogenic sources). In group B land use (rangeland and orchards), the origin of metals (Cr, Co, Ni, Zn, and V) was mainly controlled by natural factors and As, Cd, Cu, and Pb had been added by organic factors. In group C land use (water), the origin of most heavy metals is natural without anthropogenic sources. The Cd and As pollution was relatively more serious in different land use. The EF_G technique used confirmed the anthropogenic influence of heavy metal pollution. All metals showed concentrations substantially higher than their background values, suggesting anthropogenic pollution.