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Role of Nanoclay Polymers in Agriculture: Applications and Perspectives
Published in Surender Kumar Sharma, Nanohybrids in Environmental & Biomedical Applications, 2019
Water stress poses a great threat to food security and is one the important and crucial abiotic stresses, hindering about 50% of the global agriculture (Vinocur and Altman 2005; Krasensky and Jonak 2012). There have been many approaches employed in order to cope with water stress like the use of water stress tolerant genotypes, fertilizers usage and certain chemicals as absorbents of soil moisture for longer periods of time. In this regard, nanotechnology has also proposed a number of solutions to cope with environmental water stress e.g. nano-superabsorbent polymers. These being very small in size offer more surface area to hold more water which could be utilized for longer periods of time, thereby increasing the water use efficiency of crop plants and ultimately the optimum production of crops (Lokhande and Varadarajan 1992; Nge et al. 2004). Moreover, moisture availability for longer periods of time would reduce the amount of irrigation water required especially under arid and desert condition and increase the fertilizer use efficiency with optimum production of crop plants. Also, these nanohybrids become cost-effective when compared with the conventional amendments being used, as these offer great surface area to volume ratio which increases their absorption capacity and ultimately more utilization efficiency for optimum crop production. These absorbents have been successfully utilized in agriculture, horticulture and the health sector (Sakiyama et al. 1993).
A Decision Support for Prioritizing Process Sustainability Tools Using Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process
Published in Ali Emrouznejad, William Ho, Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process, 2017
The main problem with excessive usage of water is scarcity of water. Due to overpopulation, the availability of water is becoming limited. Apart from population growth, other reasons for increased water stress level are economic growth and climate change. This includes water used for operations and water used for production of raw materials required by plants. Thus, it is necessary to optimize water consumption to sustain this world. Unlike carbon footprint analysis, water footprint analysis methodology is still evolving. Thus, the methodology to assess the impacts created by water use was not practically applied. On the other hand, Pfister et al. (2011) developed a water stress index to assess the impacts of blue water at the national level. Also, ISO 14046 (ISO, 2012) outlined various operational steps of water footprint analysis. Overall, the optimization of water consumption has a great influence on sustaining the operations of a manufacturing process.
Drought and Acceptable Risks for Public Systems
Published in Saeid Eslamian, Faezeh Eslamian, Handbook of Drought and Water Scarcity, 2017
While adding treated wastewater to dams for indirect potable reuse reduces health issues considerably, inherent pollution in rivers is a major problem in several parts of the world, especially in Asia. This stems from discharge of untreated sewage (chemical and biological pollution) and industrial waste (physical and chemical pollution, including heavy metals and toxins) into the rivers. An estimated 90% of sewage and 70% of industrial waste end up in local streams and rivers in developing countries [33]. Additional risks are posed by naturally occurring groundwater pollution from arsenic that affects millions of people in different countries such as Bangladesh, where up to 77 million people are affected [30]. Drought and water stress mean that people who lack alternatives will end up using contaminated water and suffer health consequences.
Groundwater quality evaluation for drinking purpose using water quality index in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal
Published in Water Science, 2023
Sunita Shrestha, Sayara Bista, Naina Byanjankar, Suraj Shrestha, Dev Raj Joshi, Tista Prasai Joshi
Globally, 844 million people were still without access to a basic drinking water service in 2015 (WHO and UNICEF, 2017) and more than 2 billion people reside in nations with high water stress (WWAP, 2019). Growing water stress is a sign of intensive water resource usage, which has a negative impact on the sustainability of water supplies. An impending water crisis is imminent with rampant groundwater extraction, declining water table, and water quality (ADB, 2016). Water supply is directly impacted by poor water quality, which also raises health hazards associated with drinking water (WWAP, 2019). Numerous water-borne illnesses, including cholera and schistosomiasis, are still widespread in many impoverished countries (WWAP, 2019). The Sustainable Development Goal 6 aimed to provide everyone with equal access to clean, affordable drinking water by 2030.
Assessing water use and reuse options - a holistic analysis of a Model City, coupling dynamic system modelling with Life Cycle Assessment
Published in Urban Water Journal, 2023
Yael Gilboa, Eran Friedler, Manfred Schütze
To overcome water stress, exploration of new water sources is needed, such as seawater desalination, which offers a seemingly unlimited, steady supply of high-quality water (Elimelech and Phillip 2011), and wastewater reuse mainly for irrigation (Friedler 2001; Meneses, Pasqualino, and Castells 2010). Whilst these two pathways clearly offer a solution for tackling water scarcity, there are several concerns with both because of negative environmental impacts (such as: high energy consumption for desalination resulting in air pollutants and greenhouse gases emissions and damage to the marine environment) and costs. Therefore, alternative steps should be integrated in the water supply/wastewater collection systems in order to enhance the sustainability of the water-wastewater sector of urban areas. A fit-for-purpose strategy should be adopted, in which alternative water sources are used for non-potable uses (uses that do not require drinking water quality), such as toilet flushing, laundry and landscape irrigation. To adopt this approach, dual supply networks will be needed, one for potable water and one for non-potable water (Ma et al. 2015).
Characterization of Blighia sapida synthesized-copper nanoparticle and its application in periodic pharmaceutical effluent treatment
Published in Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Part A, 2021
Emmanuel O. Ajani, Juwon S. Afolayan, Saheed Sabiu
Due to the growing water stress both in terms of water quality and quantity, the need for the treatment and reuse of wastewater has become a common necessity as a more promising and efficient use of water resources.[11,12] Effluents are discharged from homes and industries,[13] and they have varied concentration of heavy metals depending on the activities that generate them.[14] These metals constitute considerable hazards and pose a threat to human health, wellbeing and the ecosystem.[14,15] Water for both domestic and industrial activities are usually sourced from underground water, but certain climatic factor such as rainfall has been reported to influence their heavy metals concentration,[16] and this explains why the metals may be leached in the soil during rainfall events.[17]