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Chemical Pollutants in Water, Air, and Soil: Risk Assessment, Monitoring and Governance

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Soil Conservation and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2023) | Viewed by 16694

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Balram Ambade

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Chemistry, National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur, India
Interests: analytical chemistry; environmental chemistry; atmospheric chemistry; source apportionment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Lekhendra Tripathee

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Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China
Interests: environmental science; atmospheric chemistry; air quality; climate change

Dr. Ram Lal Verma

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Regional Resource Centre for Asia and the Pacific (RRC.AP), Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Pathumthani 12120, Thailand
Interests: atmospheric science; air pollution; atmospheric pollution
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue comprises selected papers on the risk assessment, monitoring and governance of the chemical pollutant contamination of water, air, and soil. Chemical contaminants persist for a long time in the environment and can accumulate and pass from one species to the next through the food chain. Human activities harm the environment by polluting the water we drink, the air we breathe, and the soil in which plants grow. Although the Industrial Revolution was a great success in terms of technology, society, and the provision of multiple services, it also introduced the production and emission of huge quantities of pollutants that are harmful to human health. Global environmental pollution is considered an international public health issue with multiple facets. Social, economic, and legislative concerns and lifestyle habits are related to this major problem. Urbanization and industrialization are reaching unprecedented and upsetting proportions worldwide in our era. Subsequently, suggestions for future research for proactive risk governance are given. Suggestions include the development of systematic analytical approaches incorporating various information sources so that potential chemical contaminants which degrade water, air, and soil quality can be identified quickly. In addition, an investigation into the possibility and benefit of including the public concern about chemical contaminants into the risk governance process is encouraged.

Prof. Dr. Balram Ambade
Dr. Lekhendra Tripathee
Dr. ‪Ram Lal Verma
Guest Editors

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Keywords

water research
pesticides and soil pollution
air quality and trace gases
environment health
toxicity and risk assessment
modeling of pollution processes
contaminants of emerging pollutant
policy and sustainability
soil contamination (including the effects of toxic chemicals and pollutants)
pollution management and climate change

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 3268 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Accumulation and Toxicity of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Long-Term Soil Irrigated with Treated Wastewater

by Shrikanta Shankar Sethi, Balram Ambade, Faruq Mohammad, Hamad A. Al-Lohedan and Ahmed A. Soleiman

Sustainability 2023, 15(18), 13581; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151813581 - 11 Sep 2023

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 1328

Abstract

Our study focuses on examining the effects of treated wastewater irrigation (TWWI) on agricultural soils in water-scarce regions, with a specific emphasis on the presence and accumulation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). This issue is particularly significant due to its potential threats to environmental security. During our research, we discovered the existence of 16 different PAHs in these soils, which are known to have harmful impacts on ecosystems and human health. The concentration of total PAHs ranged from 163.9 ng g⁻¹ to 9177.4 ng g⁻¹, with 4- and 5-ring PAHs being the most dominant contributors. The PAHs Fluoranthene and Pyrene were found to be the most prevalent in all soil samples. Comparing the PAH concentrations in our research area to those reported in other studies, we observed that the agricultural areas in our study were more contaminated. Through positive matrix factorization (PMF) and diagnostic ratios (DRs) analyses, we identified petroleum combustion, vehicular emissions, as well as coal, grass, or wood combustion as the primary sources of PAH contamination. We also noted a negative correlation between clay, silt, pH, and PAH concentrations, while a significant positive relationship was observed between total organic carbon (TOC), sand, and PAHs. Based on the computed environmental risk index value, the presence of PAHs in the area poses a moderate to high level of ecological risk. TWWI was identified as the main contributor to PAHs in the agricultural soils we studied. Therefore, it is crucial to establish and enforce standards for wastewater reuse in agricultural fields before irrigation takes place. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Pollutants in Water, Air, and Soil: Risk Assessment, Monitoring and Governance)

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16 pages, 1075 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Human Impact in the Watershed of the Atoyac River in the Metropolitan Area of Puebla, Mexico

by Ana Cristina Covarrubias-López, Wendy Argelia García-Suastegui, Rafael Valencia-Quintana, Fabiola Avelino-Flores, Aarón Méndez-Bermúdez and Anabella Handal-Silva

Sustainability 2023, 15(13), 10565; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151310565 - 5 Jul 2023

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1912

Abstract

The largest economic, population, administrative, and service production of the State of Puebla (east-central Mexico) is concentrated in the Metropolitan Area of Puebla (MAP), and its effect on the water quality of the Atoyac River is substantial. The anthropogenic contamination of the Atoyac River and its tributaries in the MAP was evaluated and characterized. For this purpose, industry types and industrial density (ID) were identified, and the physical–chemical quality of water in the urban Atoyac, Rabanillo, Zapatero Rivers, and the Covadonga and Echeverría Dams were analyzed. In addition, the cytotoxicity of water was evaluated using the biomodel Allium cepa by analyzing the mitotic index (MI) and the interphase index (II). The correlation between the physical–chemical variables of water and MI was estimated. The results included 4500 industries, among which are the construction, metallurgy, metalworking, food, and textile industries. The highest ID was found in the municipality of San Pedro Cholula. The greatest anthropogenic impact occurred in the Rabanillo River and the Echeverría Dam. Throughout the watershed, anoxic conditions were registered and 18 chemicals, most of which are toxic and carcinogenic, were detected. A Correlation analysis showed that the greatest antimitotic effect in Allium cepa was induced by turbidity, chemical oxygen demand (COD), and lead (Pb), with correlation coefficients of −0.919, p = 0.008; −0.864, p = 0.013; and −0.692; p = 0.030, respectively. It was concluded that if the population, industry, and natural resources are associated in the MAP under current conditions, the outlook, if nothing changes, is that the degradation of the water resource will be disruptive and probably unsustainable for any type of use. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Pollutants in Water, Air, and Soil: Risk Assessment, Monitoring and Governance)

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14 pages, 5153 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Lead Extraction Methods in Roadside Soils and Its Relationship with Soil Properties

by Shazia Nawaz, Muhammad Irshad, Muhammad Atiq Ur Rehman Tariq, Muhammad Mohiuddin, Muhammad Ashraf, Sumera Bibi, Nadeem Shaukat, Ashfaq Ahmad Shah and Anne Wai Man Ng

Sustainability 2022, 14(20), 13207; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142013207 - 14 Oct 2022

Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1657

Abstract

Lead (Pb) is an environmental pollutant, and its concentration in the soil environment has received greater attention. Studies on the interrelation of Pb and major soil properties using different extraction methods have been poorly documented. The lead extraction method is important to be identified, which may accurately reflect Pb extractability from soils. Therefore, a study was conducted to investigate the Pb pollution of roadside soils. Four extractants: ammonium acetate (NH₄OAc), hydrochloric acid (HCl), diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA), and sodium hydroxide (NaOH). Soil samples were sieved for three particle sizes: finer to coarser particles (0.5 to 2 mm). Results showed that there were substantial differences for Pb concentrations among sampling sites depending on the extracting reagents: HCl > DTPA > NH₄OAc > NaOH. The extractability of Pb from soil was apparently enhanced with the increasing strength of a reagent used for the soil solution. The NH₄OAc extractable Pb concentrations in the surface soil samples from the Abbottabad area ranged from 67.9 to 246.7 mg kg⁻¹, and in Haripur, the Pb concentrations ranged from 97.6 to 242.5 mg kg⁻¹. At 20% HCl solution, the average Pb concentrations were 2.6 times higher than the NH₄OAc solution in the topsoil of Abbottabad area. The roadside soils contained Pb concentrations higher than the permissible limits. The control soil samples (from a distance of 200 m) exhibited Pb concentrations in the relative range of 28.5 to 61.7 mg kg⁻¹. Pb concentrations in the topsoil and subsoil were found to be apparently inconsistent. The concentration of Pb was higher in the soil containing a higher amount of organic matter and clay content. The soil pH and particle size were inversely related to extractable Pb in the soil. Higher Pb pollution in the soil could be associated with the higher traffic density. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Pollutants in Water, Air, and Soil: Risk Assessment, Monitoring and Governance)

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26 pages, 1991 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Social, Economic, Environmental, and Physical Vulnerability Assessment: An Index-Based Gender Analysis of Flood Prone Areas of Koshi River Basin in Nepal

by Uddhav Prasad Guragain and Philippe Doneys

Sustainability 2022, 14(16), 10423; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141610423 - 22 Aug 2022

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2945

Abstract

Gender analysis in vulnerability assessments is needed in disaster risk reduction (DRR). This study examined headship-based household vulnerabilities in the Koshi River Basin of Nepal. This comparative study between male-headed households (MHHs) and female-headed households (FHHs) analyzed the social, infrastructural, economic, and environmental components of vulnerability assessments. A mixed method was used to collect data, including a survey of 216 households, 15 key informant interviews, 40 in-depth interviews, and 8 focus group discussions. The results from the weightage average index (WAI) revealed that the FHHs are more vulnerable in all components. Social and physical components show greater vulnerability for FHHs compared to economic and environmental components. The t-test showed that the difference in multidimensional vulnerability is highly significant (F = 3.423, p-value = 0.000). The WAI calculation showed 42%, 51%, and 7% FHHs and 6%, 35%, 49%, and 10% of MHHs are in very high, high, moderate, and low levels of vulnerability, respectively. Sociocultural norms were the main factors driving the gap which affected households’ ability to respond to and recover from flood disasters and impacted the DRR process. The study suggests that more attention is given to FHHs through increased access to services, capacity building, awareness training, livelihood initiatives, participation in preparedness activities, and inclusion in the DRR process to minimize the impact of floods in the future, particularly for FHHs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Pollutants in Water, Air, and Soil: Risk Assessment, Monitoring and Governance)

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15 pages, 319 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluating the Economic Benefits of Tightening Regulations on the Use of Toluene, a Hazardous Chemical, in South Korea

by So-Yeon Park, Ju-Hee Kim, Jungkwan Seo and Seung-Hoon Yoo

Sustainability 2022, 14(11), 6745; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116745 - 31 May 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2217

Abstract

The South Korean government currently designates toluene as a hazardous chemical, only limiting its use in products that are feared to be harmful. Since no measures to prohibit the use of toluene have been implemented, toluene is frequently detected in amounts that exceed the limit. Accordingly, the Government is considering implementing a plan to tighten the current regulations related to the use of toluene to prevent the occurrence of diseases caused by exposure and addiction to it. Therefore, the most important objective of this research is to evaluate quantitatively the economic benefits arising from the implementation of the plan in South Korea. To achieve the purpose of this paper, contingent valuation, an economic technique for analyzing data collected from a survey of people based on economic theory, is applied. For this purpose, a survey of 1000 people nationwide is conducted, and an analysis model that is well received in the literature is adopted. In other words, the annual willingness to pay (WTP) per household to strengthen the regulations to reduce the human health risks of toluene is evaluated to calculate its economic benefits. All the estimated WTP models secure statistical significance. The average WTP per household per annum is derived as KRW 3394 (USD 3.02). Considering that the country contained 20,573,060 households in 2021, the national economic benefits are calculated as KRW 69.82 billion (USD 62.23 million) every year. It is difficult to estimate accurately the costs incurred by tightening the regulations on toluene use, but they do not seem to exceed the benefits. Because tightening the regulations would be socially desirable, the Government would be justified in making this decision. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Pollutants in Water, Air, and Soil: Risk Assessment, Monitoring and Governance)

19 pages, 1152 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Generalized Skewed Model for Spatial-Fractional Advective–Dispersive Phenomena

by Ricardo Mendonça de Moraes, Luan Carlos de Sena Monteiro Ozelim and André Luís Brasil Cavalcante

Sustainability 2022, 14(7), 4024; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14074024 - 29 Mar 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1396

Abstract

The conventional mathematical model expressed by the advection–dispersion equation has been widely used to describe contaminant transport in porous media. However, studies have shown that it fails to simulate early arrival of contaminant, long tailing breakthrough curves and presents a physical scale-dependency of the dispersion coefficient. Recently, advances in fractional calculus allowed the introduction of fractional order derivatives to model several engineering and physical phenomena, including the anomalous dispersion of solute particles. This approach gives birth to the fractional advection–dispersion equation. This work presents new solutions to the fractional transport equation that satisfies the initial condition of constant solute injection in a semi-infinite medium. The new solution is derived based on a similarity approach. Moreover, laboratory column tests were performed in a Brazilian lateritic soil to validate the new solution with experimental data and compare its accuracy with the conventional model and other fractional solutions. The new solution outperforms the existing ones and reveals an interesting fractal-like scaling rule for the diffusivity coefficients. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Pollutants in Water, Air, and Soil: Risk Assessment, Monitoring and Governance)

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21 pages, 2758 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Ecological-Health Risks of Potentially Toxic Metals in Mangrove Sediments near Estuaries after Years of Piggery Farming Bans in Peninsular Malaysia

by Chee Kong Yap and Khalid Awadh Al-Mutairi

Sustainability 2022, 14(3), 1525; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14031525 - 28 Jan 2022

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2349

Abstract

The Sepang Besar River (SBR) was reported to be highly contaminated with Cu and Zn due to piggery farming wastes before 1998. Following the piggery farming ban (PFB) in 1998 in Bukit Pelanduk, the present study aimed to assess the ecological-health risks of potentially toxic metals (PTMs) (Cu, Pb, and Zn) in the mangrove surface sediments from SBR. Two adjacent rivers, namely the Sepang Kecil River and Lukut River, were also included for comparison purposes. The PTMs of present sediment samples collected in 2007 and 2010 were compared with those reported before and after PFB. The PTMs levels were lower than those of established sediment quality guidelines. Results of bioavailable fractions, individual contamination factor, risk assessment code, potentially ecological risk index (PERI), and non-carcinogenic risk (with HI < 1.0 based on the pathways of Cu, Pb, and Zn and the order: ingestion > dermal contact > inhalation), the present findings indicated that the three rivers had caused no ecological-health risks of Cu, Pb, and Zn. In particular, SBR estuary had drastic lower levels of Zn (7.48–9.40 times lower between 1998 and 2010) and Cu (8.30–36.9 times lower between 1998 and 2010), after 12 years of PFB. Based on the exponential decay model, the PERI values showed that the estuary of SBR has been improved from a “considerable ecological risk” to a “minimal ecological risk” after 12 years of PFB. This is the first paper on the ecological-health risks of Cu, Pb, and Zn in the estuary of SBR. Future monitoring is still necessary for effective risk management of the mangrove ecosystem at SBR. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Pollutants in Water, Air, and Soil: Risk Assessment, Monitoring and Governance)

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