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The objective of the study is to determine accumulation and translocation of heavy metals from soil to paddy straw irrigated with urban sewage wastewater in peri-urban region of Girudhumal subbasin area in Madurai. The soil samples were collected in seven locations irrigated with treated and untreated wastewater and analyzed for physical properties like pH, EC, bulk density, soil type, major (N,P,K) and micronutrients (Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn) and heavy metals Ni, Cd, Pb. SEM analysis showed that soil structure is significantly influenced by wastewater irrigation. It confirms that the wastewater irrigation disturbs soil structure and affecting the plant growth in long run.  Pb content was higher than the prescribed safe limits in S5 and S6 location, similarly, Ni also was higher than the safe limit in all the locations. Pollution Load Index values are in the range of 0.08-0.56 for all sites, and it indicated that chance of heavy metal contamination is less. The EF values show moderate enrichment to Ni and Zn, Significant enrichment for Cd and Cu, Extremely high for Pb and deficiency for Mn. All these results confirmed that there is no immediate risk of heavy metal pollution, however with respect to Pb and Ni the plant tissues are showing higher values. The transfer factor for heavy metals from soil to paddy straw is less than 0.5 for Cd and for others is more than 0.5 indicated greater chances for heavy metal contamination.

Municipal solid waste generation in Malaysia has increase significantly. Organic materials continue to be the major portion of solid waste generated in Kampar, Malaysia. As a result of increasing rate of waste generation and population growth, land area will become more demanding causing the increment of the cost in solid waste management. As a result, solid waste management will become more expensive in the future. Waste separation and organic composting can provide good solution in reducing waste disposal. Nevertheless, public awareness is an important key to improve solid waste management issue. During this study, questionnaire was designed to test out public general knowledge regarding waste management, and their willingness to do composting. 270 questionnaires were distributed to the public. Data analysis of the questionnaire shows that only a few of the respondents (24 numbers) have good awareness. Likert scale was applied to prioritize the factors that discourage waste separation and organic composting practices in Kampar District. This paper concluded that public education and awareness toward solid waste minimization using composting is crucial.

The present study analyses the various uncertainties and nonstationarity in the streamflow projections of Subarnarekha river basin in Eastern India using two widely used hydrological climate models: 1) general circulation model (GCM), and 2) forcing climate change scenarios. These two climate models are used to force the ArcSWAT model. Subsequently this model is calibrated using SUFI-2 optimization technique. The downscaled and bias-corrected data from an ensemble of 10 climate projections with representative concentration pathways (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios (five each) were used in first model, whereas in second model a total of 63 (7 perturbed precipitations and 9 perturbed temperatures) combinations of hypothetical climate change scenarios were used. The results show very good correlation during monthly calibration time steps and relatively good agreement between the observed and simulated streamflows in daily calibration time steps. The uncertainties are expressed in probabilistic terms using probability density function (PDF) and cumulative distribution function (CDF) as they provide significant information for decision process in climate change adaptation in the river basin. The uncertainties associated with climate models, return periods and streamflow extremes are also analysed in the present work. The RCP 8.5 scenarios seem more appropriate than RCP 4.5 scenarios in quantifying the uncertainties under nonstationarity assumptions. The mean values of water balance components and their percentage variation for both historic and future periods reveal that the water balance components get affected significantly due to climate change in a future period. Consequently, the streamflows are likely to decline in the river basin. The present study also highlights the comprehensive approaches that are being planned to facilitate adaptation to climate change as well as those that are specific to the water resources management in the study region. The findings in this work are useful for overall well-being of people in the study area.

Organic solvent extracts of three cyanobacterial species (Anabaena oryzae, Oscillatoria sp. and Stigonema ocellatum) were tested for antimicrobial activity against human pathogenic fungal and bacterial strains as well as for antioxidant and cytotoxic activity against human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7). The acetone extract of Anabaena oryzae was found to be the most active one against tested fungal and bacterial strains. It showed a maximum antimicrobial activity against Serratia marcescens and Candida albicans. The methanol extract of Oscillatoria sp. exhibited the best total antioxidant capacity compared to the other solvents and algal species. Acetone and methanol extracts of Anabaena oryzae exhibited high toxicity against MCF-7 cell line with IC50 of 45.1 and 44.4 µg/L, respectively. Acetone was the best solvent for extracting the active material. The acetone extracts were characterized by Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrophotometer (GC–MS) to identify the compounds responsible for such activities. Pharmaceutical important compounds in the acetone extract of cyanobacterial species like diacetone alcohol, acetic acid butyl ester mesityl oxide and heptadecane were present as a major component. These results indicate that extracts of studied cyanobacterial species exhibited appreciable antimicrobial, antioxidant and cytotoxic activity and could be a source of valuable bioactive materials for health products.