Microplastic contamination in water and sediments of Mahanadi River, India: An assessment of ecological risk along rural-urban area.

Worldwide, environmental concerns about MPs pollution have increased. Microplastic contamination that pollutes the ocean is mostly caused by terrestrial transfer from close proximity locations. A study of MPs pollution near coastal locations becomes necessary to address the MPs transit, fate, and mitigation. In the current study MPs pollution in the surface water and sediment of the Mahanadi River estuary was assessed during Pre-MS and MS. The size, shape, and colour of the MPs were determined using a stereomicroscope, and the MPs polymer composition was identified by Attenuated Total Reflection-Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy. The mean concentration of MPs that were potentially discovered in water was 16.6 ± 5.2 and sediments 197.3 ± 5.4 during Pre-MS. In the MS observed mean abundance of MPs was 15.1 ± 5.4 in water and 164.6 ± 76.9 in sediments. The highest abundant size was smaller than 1 mm; the most prevalent shape were fibers followed by film and fragments; black and white was a prominent colour in water and sediments respectively. Polyesters (PEs), polyethylene (PE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polypropylene (PP), polyamide (PA), Polystyrene (PS), and Polycarbonates (PC) were found in the analysis of the chemical composition of MPs in water and sediments samples. The calculated PLI value shows pollution load at category I, with polymer hazard levels at categories III, IV, and V, indicating very high risk. The current research results show that river inflows and fishing-related actions are probably the main causes of MPs pollution.

The Health Risk and Source Assessment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the Soil of Industrial Cities in India.

Industrial areas play an important role in the urban ecosystem. Industrial site environmental quality is linked to human health. Soil samples from two different cities in India, Jamshedpur and Amravati, were collected and analyzed to assess the sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in industrial areas and their potential health risks. The total concentration of 16 PAHs in JSR (Jamshedpur) varied from 1662.90 to 10,879.20 ng/g, whereas the concentration ranged from 1456.22 to 5403.45 ng/g in the soil of AMT (Amravati). The PAHs in the samples were dominated by four-ring PAHs, followed by five-ring PAHs, and a small percentage of two-ring PAHs. The ILCR (incremental lifetime cancer risk) of the soil of Amravati was lower compared to that of Jamshedpur. The risk due to PAH exposure for children and adults was reported to be in the order of ingestion > dermal contact > inhalation while for adolescents it was dermal contact > ingestion > inhalation in Jamshedpur. In contrast, in the soil of Amravati, the PAH exposure path risk for children and adolescents were the same and showed the following order: dermal contact > ingestion > inhalation while for the adulthood age group, the order was ingestion > dermal contact > inhalation. The diagnostic ratio approach was used to assess the sources of PAHs in various environmental media. The PAH sources were mainly dominated by coal and petroleum/oil combustion. As both the study areas belong to industrial sites, the significant sources were industrial emissions, followed by traffic emissions, coal combustion for domestic livelihood, as well as due to the geographical location of the sampling sites. The results of this investigation provide novel information for contamination evaluation and human health risk assessment in PAH-contaminated sites in India.