Urban management and public health
N.Y. Guerrero Del Castillo; J.C. Musa Wasil; K.J. Malavé Llamas; C. Morales Agrinzoni
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The lakes in the state of Minnesota (MN) have undergone accelerated changes with the passing of time, where cattle ranching, agriculture, the increase of industrial jobs and urban area development have changed their condition from pristine to critical. To evaluate this problem, ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The lakes in the state of Minnesota (MN) have undergone accelerated changes with the passing of time, where cattle ranching, agriculture, the increase of industrial jobs and urban area development have changed their condition from pristine to critical. To evaluate this problem, secondary data obtained from the public domain of three lakes from a county used for a long period for agriculture and cattle (Carver County) and three lakes from a county where the land has been used more for housing and industrial economy (Hennepin County). The aim of the study was to use the information to evaluate the trophic status, and compare the results of the lakes of rural areas versus lakes in urban areas in order to create a possible mitigation plan to improve the condition of the area.METHODS: Trophic status was determined to evaluate the water quality of each lake. ANOVA analysis was employed to analyze the data set obtained from the public domain in the official webpage of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.FINDINGS: Data results for total phosphorus, Secchi Disk and Chlorophyll-a, showed that all lakes are under eutrophic-hypereutrophic status with Trophic State Index (TSI) results between 59 to 80. Hennepin County had two of the three lakes evaluated in hypereutrophic states when compared with Carver County lakes. Carver County has only one lake out of the three evaluated under hypereutrophic conditions. Statistical analysis showed that p <α. The results demonstrated that lakes near areas used mainly for urban/industrial purposes are more contaminated than lakes near areas used for agriculture/livestock.CONCLUSION: The restoration of wetlands that are near the lakes is proposed as a possible bioremediation method to improve water quality. Alternatively, an artificial wetland could be implemented in the lakes that do not have this natural system. Placing a Subsurface Flow System (SFS) artificial wetland in parallel trenches, which bypasses the lake and/or into the mouth of the river, would allow the sedimentation process to occur in these spaces. In addition, the use of Phosphor-Accumulator Organisms (PAO) and specialized aquatic plants, such as Hydrodictyon reticulatum, Elodea canadensis, Eichhornia crasspies, Eleocharis plantaginea, Pistia stratiotes and Hydrilla verticillate will trap contaminants and aid in their removal.
Sustainable urban infrastructure
N. Kumar; R. Tyagi
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:The COVID-19 pandemic has created a global health crisis that had a deep impact on the world and our everyday lives. The deadly virus i.e. SARS-CoV-2 has rapidly spread around the world, posing enormous health, social, economic, and environmental challenges to the entire human ...
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:The COVID-19 pandemic has created a global health crisis that had a deep impact on the world and our everyday lives. The deadly virus i.e. SARS-CoV-2 has rapidly spread around the world, posing enormous health, social, economic, and environmental challenges to the entire human population. Countries around the world have implemented complete or partial lockdown measures to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus. Corona lockdown has profound social implications and it has sparked fears of impending economic trouble and recession. Methods: However, this lockdown has also shown some positive effects on the natural environment due to the reduction of pollutant loading from vehicle emission, industries, and other sources. Based on a review of recent research in the relevant area, this paper assesses the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on air and water quality as well as on environmental noise. FINDINGS: A substantial reduction in the level of noxious NO2, particulate matter, and carbon emissions have been observed during the lockdown period, the lockdown also led to an appreciable drop in BOD (biological oxygen demand) and a significant increase in DO (dissolved oxygen) of different river water globally. In addition to this, the anthropogenic noise level has fallen by about one-third due to the COVID-19 lockdown. CONCLUSION: This study reveals that there is a substantial possibility for healing the environment from the detrimental effects of anthropogenic activities through partial or temporary lockdown measures.
Urban ecology and related environmental concerns
V. Mehdipour; M. Memarianfard; F. Homayounfar
Abstract
This research based on record and collected data from four stations at Eymir Lake, Turkey, which are monitored daily in seven months. Water quality monitoring using former methods are time-needed and expensive, while the application of gene expression programming is more understandable, rapid, and reliable ...
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This research based on record and collected data from four stations at Eymir Lake, Turkey, which are monitored daily in seven months. Water quality monitoring using former methods are time-needed and expensive, while the application of gene expression programming is more understandable, rapid, and reliable which is used in this article to provide a prediction for dissolved oxygen. The concentration of oxygen is one of the most important factors of water quality identification, which shows if water has proper ability for aquatic life, agriculture, sanitary and drink, or not. Therefore, the concentration of oxygen is one of the most important parameters, which cannot be calculated by mathematical analyses directly. Phosphor, nitrate, phosphate, dissolved nitrogen, water alkalinity, water temperature, dissolved chlorophyll, electrical conductivity, precipitation rate, wind velocity and environment temperature are parameters which used as correlated factors to better prediction of dissolved oxygen in this paper. In the best model determination coefficient and root mean square error values respectively, were found to be 0.8031 and 0.0937. Finally, the assessment of forecasted data showed that the proposed approach produces satisfactory results.
