Water, Air, and Soil Pollution

At present, due to rapid urbanization and increasing anthropogenic activities, the occurrence of microplastics (MPs) in riverine fishes is becoming an emerging area of food safety concern worldwide. This study was conducted to determine the abundance of MPs in three riverine fish species (Amblypharyngodon mola, Puntius ticto, and Mystustengara) collected from six major rivers of Chhattisgarh, India. The Nile Red staining method was used for the identification and quantification of MPs in fish samples. Out of 140 fish samples examined, 87.9% of the fishes had ingested MPs. The abundance of MPs per gram of fish and per fish was 3.25 ± 2.58 and 14.9 ± 8.12, respectively. Most of the MPs identified were of fragment type and with their size ranging between 20and 300 μm. The demersal fishes had higher levels of MP contamination as compared to surface feeder fishes. Fish samples collected from Mahanadi River in Janjgir-Champa district showed the highest abundance of MPs both in terms of MPs per gram (5.93 ± 3.29) and per fish (22.7 ± 6.59), and this could be attributed to the high level of human activity with municipal waste dumping in the area. The results further suggest the possibility of human ingestion of MPs through the consumption of riverine fishes in this region. This study shows the abundance of MPs in riverine fishes which raises health concerns for the fish consumers and further research is required to assess the overall extent of the impact of MPs on the environment and human health.

This study was carried out to evaluate acid depositions and to understand their effect. Wet precipitation has been collected at twenty-four sites in Korea for one year of 1999. The ion concentrations such as H+, Na+, K+, Mg2+, NH4 +, Ca2+, Cl−, NO3 − and SO4 2− were chemically analyzed and determined. Precipitation had wide range of pH(3.5∼8.5), and volume-weighted average was 5.2. The contribution amounts of Cl−, SO4 2− and NO3 − in anion were shown to be 54%, 32%, and 14%, respectively and those of Na+ and NH4 + in cation were 32% and 25%. The ratios of Cl− and Mg2+ to Na+ in precipitation were similar to those of seawater, which imply that great amount of Cl− and Mg2+ in precipitation could be originated from seawater. The concentration of H+ is little related with SO4 2−, NO3 − and Cl− ions, whereas nss−SO4 2− and NO3 − are highly correlated with NH4 +, which could suggest that great amount of SO4 2− and NO3 − exist in the form of ammonium associated salt. The annual wet deposition amounts (g m−2year−1) of SO4 2−, NO3 −, Cl−, H+, NH4 +, Na+, K+, Ca2+ and Mg2+ were estimated as 0.88∼4.89, 0.49∼4.37, 0.30∼9.80, 0.001∼0.031, 0.06∼2.15, 0.27∼4.27, 0.10∼3.81, 0.23∼1.59 and 0.03∼0.63.

Chemical time trends for precipitation, throughfall, and soilwater (1986–1992), and groundwater (1980–1993) at Birkenes, southern Norway, are compared to gain insights into possible causes for the recent increase in groundwater acidification there. Precipitation and throughfall trends do not show evidence for an increase in anthropogenic acids (e.g. sulphate), but seasalt deposition (e.g. chloride) has been marginally greater in 1990–1992 than in most previous years on record. Soilwater composition partly indicates increasing acidification in recent years (pH, Al and ANC), but hardness and sulphate content are decreasing. Soilwater ANC became negative in 1989, revealing a lasting deficit in its potential to buffer acidity. Groundwater shows clear signs of intensifying acidification (pH, Al, ANC, hardness and sulphate), and this may result partly from climatic conditions (mild winters, ‘seasalt episodes’) and partly from the deterioration of an acid buffering system within the soil cover. Acidification via sulphate deposition certainly is not a direct cause. The declining hardness of soilwater suggests that the ion-exchange buffer in the soil may have ceased to function properly. The necessity for obtaining long-term time-series of water chemistry is underscored by this study.

To investigate the effect of ozone on two clones of white clover (Trifolium repens L. cv. Regal), differing in their sensitivity to ozone (O3), plants were cultivated during the vegetation periods 1997 (59 rain days; AOT40 from 20 May–7 Oktober: 5630 ppb.hr) and 1998 (81 rain days, AOT40 from 5 May–22 September: 4180 ppb.hr) accordingto the experimental protocol (UN/ECE, 1997, 1998a) of the International Cooperative Programme on Effects of Air Pollution on Natural Vegetation and Crops (ICP-Vegetation).Ozone episode related foliar injury was most pronounced in 1997. Protein content (only determined in 1998) decreased significantly (p ≤ 0.001) in S-clone leaves only, after an O3 episode of less than two weeks, but no effects on biomass and chlorophyll content were found. This gives rise to the question, whether the biomass ratio between the clones or chlorophyll content are appropriate parameters to determine O3 induced effects during cool and rainy summer seasons and whether other measurements of plant reaction (e.g. protein content of leaves) should be done in addition for a better description of O3 injury. Beyond that, the influence of factors modifying plant reaction to O3 (Level II) should be further elucidated.