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Evaluation of the hydrogeochemical processes governing the heavy metal distribution and the associated health risk is important in managing and protecting the health of freshwater resources. This study mainly focused on the health impacts due to the heavy metals pollution in a known Cretaceous-Tertiary (K/T) contact region (Tiruchinopoly, Tamilnadu) of peninsular India, using various pollution indices, statistical, and geochemical analyses. A total of 63 samples were collected from the hard rock aquifers and sedimentary formations during southwest monsoon and analysed for heavy metals, such as Li, Be, Al, Rb, Sr, Cs, Ba, pb, Mn, Fe, Cr, Zn, Ga, Cu, As, Ni, and Co. Ba was the dominant element that ranged from 441 to 42,638 μg/l in hard rock aquifers, whereas Zn was the major element in sedimentary formations, with concentrations that ranged from 44 to 118,281 μg/l. The concentrations of Fe, Ni, Cr, Al, Cr, and Ni fell above the permissible limit in both of the formations. However, the calculated heavy metal evaluation index (HEI), heavy metal pollution index (HPI), and the degree of contamination (Cd) parameters were higher in the sedimentary formation along the contact zone of the K/T boundary. Excessive health risks from consumption of contaminated groundwater were mostly confined to populations in the northern and southwestern regions of the study area. Carcinogenic risk assessment suggests that there are elevated risks of cancer due to prolonged consumption of untreated groundwater. Ba, Sr, and Zn were found to be geochemically highly mobile due to the partitioning between the rock matrix and groundwater, aided by the formation of soluble carbonato-complexes. Factor analysis indicates that the metals are mainly derived from the host rocks and anthropogenic inputs are relatively insignificant. Overall, this study indicated that groundwater in K/T contact zones is vulnerable to contamination because of the favorable geochemical factors. Long-term monitoring of such contact zones is required to avert the potential health hazards associated with consumption of the contaminated groundwater.

The quality of groundwater has been severely impacted by urbanization around coasts. The change in climate and land use patterns has deteriorated the quality and availability of groundwater. One of the main issues in contemporary groundwater quality research is dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in the water. The influence of DO, water level and water temperature on DOC in groundwater was identified in the current study by sampling 68 groundwater samples. The analytical results revealed that ~18% of total samples have DOC > 5 mg/L. The groundwater samples represented in the urban regions show high DOC. The samples with higher DOC correlated positively with dissolved inorganic ions, such as Ca, K, NO3, Fe and DO. Domestic wastewater, agricultural runoff and local geology all have an impact on the DOC of groundwater. Groundwater chemistry is shown to be controlled by both aerobic and anaerobic conditions based on the DOC’s interactions with other ions. The study interrelates various sources, such as land use, geology, water level and temperature, to the DOC in groundwater and infers that the levels are higher in shallow groundwater, predominantly around the built-up region followed by the agricultural region. The temperature changes enhance the DOC in groundwater due to the variation in microbial activity. The shallow water level with a lower temperature shows the maximum DOC. Apart from the sediment organic matter and microbes, the study also attributes land use pattern to the source of DOC in groundwater.

This study considered the temporal variations in rainfall and water level patterns as governing factors, which influence the geochemical process of coastal aquifer around Pondicherry, South India. Rainfall and water level data were collected from 2006 to 2016, which showed that the amount of rainfall from 2006 to 2011 was higher than that of 2011 to 2016. To understand the geochemical process governing groundwater, samples were collected during 2006 ( n = 54), followed by 2011 ( n = 93), and during 2016 ( n = 63) as part of continuous observation. The major ions and stable isotopes (δ 18 O and δD) were analyzed in the samples to determine the geochemical variations. The predominant types were noted as Na-HCO 3 and Na-Cl; Ca-HCO 3 and Ca-Mg-Cl; and Na-Cl and Ca-Mg-Cl in 2006, 2011, and 2016, respectively. Saturation states of sulfate and carbonate minerals were compared for the study periods and it indicates that the saturation index (SI) values were increased from 2006 to 2011, but decreased from 2011 to 2016. PHREEQC inverse modeling revealed the predominance for the dissolution and leaching of carbonate minerals during increased rainy periods, and the increase of halite saturation during lesser rainfall period. AQUACHEM mixing studies suggested that geochemical signatures of 2006 and 2011 were preserved in samples of 2016 in different proportions. Considering the major factors, the main processes prevailing in the study area were inferred to be dissolution and leaching during 2006~2011 years and seawater intrusion along with ion exchange during 2011~2016 years. In all these periods of study, anthropogenic impact was also identified in the groundwater samples. Hence, this study revealed that the rainfall and water level gave a significant variation in the geochemical process of groundwater in the coastal aquifer system.

Sustainable management aims at the governance of natural resources to meet the needs of future generations. The limited resources of freshwater in arid regions have led to the development of alternative water management strategies. To meet the future challenges of water scarcity, an attempt has been made in this study to utilize treated greywater obtained by gravity-governed filtration technique and disinfection for domestic usage. The study addresses the possibilities of groundwater recharge with the treated greywater. The method focuses on a gravity-governed flow through a column containing activated carbon, sand and gravel. The greywater used for the treatment contains a mixture of equal proportions of water collected from three different sources such as kitchen sink, shower and washing machine in Fahaheel, Salmiya and Farwaniya areas of Kuwait. The study concluded that for a volume of 1167 cm3 filtration media used, the designed column was 34% effective for first 1100 mL of greywater. Later, the column was regenerated by washing with distilled water and the regenerated column still proved to be effective with a removal efficiency of 26% for next 600 mL of greywater. The quality of the treated greywater was assessed in terms of physical, chemical and microbiological parameters as per the standard methods to check the suitability for domestic purposes. The results obtained were also compared with the groundwater quality of Kuwait group and Dammam aquifers, and it was inferred to be at par with their quality. The TDS of treated greywater has been reduced from 4910 to 1508 mg/L, which is also lower than the TDS in groundwater of both the aquifers, and pH was reduced from 10.29 to 7.94. The present study proved its efficiency equally to other existing methods, and the efficiency of removal for some of the analyzed parameters was measured as 23%, 95%, 52%, 88%, 100% and 100% for pH, color, TDS, turbidity, total coliform and E. coli, respectively. Hence, the study is simple and cost-effective approach that can be adopted for the treatment and reused greywater for domestic and agriculture and also for recharging the aquifers to prevent saltwater intrusion along the coastal aquifers.

Kuwait, being one of the leading oil producers in the world, is enriched with CO2 in the atmosphere, despite the frequent dust storms. Rainwater dissolves the atmospheric CO2 that acts as a carbon sink. The different sources for the contribution of CO2 in an arid region like Kuwait were determined by collecting 50 rainwater samples from November 2018 to December 2019. Total CO2, dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and pCO2 calculated from the analytical values of rainwater chemistry were distributed spatially to identify the specific areas enriched with CO2. Shuaiba, an industrial region, observed acidic pH (5.69) that led to the highest pCO2 (388ppmV) while Ishbiliya, the residential area, had alkaline pH with the highest DIC and total CO2 as 1147.9 µmole/L and 50.4 mg/L, respectively. The carbonate dust and major neutralizing ions were inferred to govern the DIC and the total CO2 in rainwater. Comparing the rainwater values to that of the groundwater and the seawater reflects similar pCO2 values, but the seawater has very high DIC. The biotic respiration and phytoplankton community influence pCO2 at the ocean-atmospheric interface. This phenomenon alters the transfer of CO2 to the atmospheric sink, thereby CO2 concentration in the rain showers. The statistical analysis of the rainwater chemistry data for samples from both residential and industrial regions predominantly indicated the influence of natural than anthropogenic sources. Samples of the study area and those from different parts of the world were represented in a bivariate plot using Total CO2 and (HCO3−/Ca2+ + Mg2+) variables. It was inferred from the graph that the samples of GCC region fall in a definite range.

Sustainable management of water resources is a daunting challenge, especially with respect to microbes. This study primarily focused on the development of a novel application for the removal of specific bacterial groups in different water types using a green synthetic nano Cur-Zn(II) complex. The results of UV and FT-IR spectroscopic techniques suggested the formation of a chelation complex. Proton NMR showed that the main enolic proton peak with a chemical shift of 16.45 nm identified in curcumin was missed, indicating the contribution of carbonyl oxygen of enol in the formation of the complex. The crystalline nature of the complex and Wurtzite structure of annealed products was inferred from the XRD analysis data. SEM results confirmed the complex’s morphology as spherical and clustered with a rough surface, having an average particle size of 68.2 nm. In addition, the complex was observed to be stable up to 300 °C without any decomposition from STA. Being acidic in nature with a pH of 5.36, the complex penetrates into the cell membrane and inhibit microbial growth. Intrinsically, no studies have been reported for the removal of microbes from water using natural materials embedded with inorganic metals, particularly in nano form. Therefore, the study is the first, innovative, eco-friendly, and economical method to use nano Cur-Zn(II) for removing targeted bacteria in real water samples with 100% efficiency by using optimized amounts (0.025–0.2 g/L) of the complex at a contact time interval between 4 and 24 h. The complex developed is toxic-free and can be applied in situ.

Extensive use of groundwater is a result of the growing population; in relation to this, studies have focused on groundwater conservation measures. This study identified groundwater artificial recharge zones (GWARZs) in the upper Manimuktha sub-basin through the application of remote sensing and GIS. A spatial analysis using the analytical hierarchical process (AHP) and weighted overlay analysis (WOA) was employed by integrating several spatial thematic layers such as geology, geomorphology, aquifer thickness, lineament density (LD), drainage density (DD), soil, slope, rainfall, and land use/land cover (LULC) in order to classify the GWARZs. The geomorphology along with lithology, higher aquifer thickness, low lineament densities, higher drainage densities, and gentle slope regions, were identified as suitable areas for artificial recharge zones. The study area was divided up into five classifications based on the integration analysis: excellent (41.1 km2), good (150.6 km2), moderate (123.9 km2), bad (125.5 km2), and very poor (57.7 km2). Excellent and good GWARZs were identified in the eastern and central regions of the study area. The final outcomes of this research were evaluated with seasonal electrical conductivity (EC) variations. The majority of samples with minor seasonal EC variations were observed in the excellent and good GWARZ categories. The results showed that the spatial analysis tool is useful for GWARZ delineation and sustainably managing groundwater resources.