Mapping non-conventional atmospheric drinking-water harvesting opportunities in Central Eurasia: The case of Kazakhstan

Drinking water scarcity is becoming an urgent problem worldwide, and it affects developing and developed countries alike. Kazakhstan is not an exception and has its primary sources of drinking water (groundwater, rivers, and lakes) continuously depleted and polluted; moreover, the country will be close to its exploitation limits within the following decades. However, modern technologies allow us to harvest drinking water from unintegrated sources, like the atmosphere. Therefore, it is crucial to research which non-conventional technologies can be used to obtain drinking water from unintegrated sources for the country, considering the cost, viability of use through the year, and local climate conditions. Thus, the present assessment was performed for the 14 demographic regions in Kazakhstan and two city-states, and a map depicting the most feasible technology for each region is presented, including their levelized cost per liter. Seven mature technologies were found to be feasible in Kazakhstani year-round climates. However, Air AW₃ technology and Artificial Glaciers (AG) were the most cost-effective for family-size and village-size solutions, respectively. The water provided via utility pipelines proved to be the most cost-effective manner, when available, to supply drinking water at a family-size scale, but found a less expensive competitor in the AG technology for village-size solutions. Moreover, the lack of utility water pipelines in some Kazakhstani regions, principally countryside rural areas, makes it vital to deploy and implement these alternative water-harvesting technologies to guarantee the future water security of these regions.     

Effect of diflubenzuron on the development of Pinus pinaster seedlings inoculated with the ectomycorrhizal fungus Pisolithus tinctorius

Diflubenzuron (DFB) is an insecticide commonly used to control forest pests. The objectives of this study were to assess the effect of diflubenzuron on the development of Pinus pinaster seedlings and Pisolithus tinctorius under laboratory conditions and to study the possible protective role of this ectomycorrhizal fungus against the effects of diflubenzuron. In vitro experiments revealed that diflubenzuron inhibited fungal growth at all tested concentrations (0.01, 0.1, 1, 10 and 100 mg L^?1). Root growth was inhibited at the two highest diflubenzuron concentrations. The activity of the antioxidant defence system of non-inoculated P. pinaster increased at 1 and 10 mg DFB kg^?1 substrate, and inoculation increased the threshold to the highest concentration. The protective role of the ectomycorrhizal fungus was seen in the increase of CAT activity. This study revealed that despite causing no mortality, diflubenzuron has the ability to cause sub-lethal damage to P. pinaster. The disproportionate use of this insecticide may lead to higher amounts of its residues in soil and the biosphere, endangering trees, fungi and their symbiosis.     

Phytomanagement of Cd-contaminated soils using maize (Zea mays L.) assisted by plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria

Zea mays (L.) is a crop widely cultivated throughout the world and can be considered suitable for phytomanagement due to its metal resistance and energetic value. In this study, the effect of two plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria, Ralstonia eutropha and Chryseobacterium humi, on growth and metal uptake of Z. mays plants in soils contaminated with up to 30 mg Cd kg^?1 was evaluated. Bacterial inoculation increased plant biomass up to 63 % and led to a decrease of up to 81 % in Cd shoot levels (4–88 mg Cd kg^?1) and to an increase of up to 186 % in accumulation in the roots (52–134 mg Cd kg^?1). The rhizosphere community structure changed throughout the experiment and varied with different levels of Cd soil contamination, as revealed by molecular biology techniques. Z. mays plants inoculated with either of the tested strains may have potential application in a strategy of soil remediation, in particular short-term phytostabilization, coupled with biomass production for energy purposes.     

Hydrogeochemistry and stable isotopes in radon-rich thermal waters of Belokurikha (Altai,Russia)

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - The first integrated isotope and chemistry results have been obtained for radon-rich thermal waters from the Belokurikha field which are used at a...