School Of Environment And Earth Sciences

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Author: search.filters.author.Mittal, SunilSubject: search.filters.subject.Heavy metals

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    Sustainable remediation of heavy metals
    (Elsevier, 2021-04-30T00:00:00) Kumar, Hemant; Sahoo, Prafulla Kumar; Mittal, Sunil
    Heavy metal contamination of soil and water bodies has been recognized as a potential threat to the entire biosphere, which accelerated after the industrial revolution and is presumed to be one of the major environmental challenges worldwide in the 21st century. The major health hazards associated with heavy metals include various types of cancers, organ damage, cardiovascular disease, nervous system disorders, etc. Several conventional techniques have been used for decades for the remediation of these noxious elements, but they have their own setbacks. The physical and chemical techniques are associated with high cost, intensive labor requirement, and ecologic destructive effect, which demand the search for alternative remediation techniques. Recently, biological remediation techniques, such as phytoremediation, bioremediation, biosorption, and microbial fuel cell-based techniques have come up as strong contenders and attracted more attention from researchers. Most of these techniques are considered as sustainable methods because of being cheaper, eco-friendly, and safer as compared with conventional methods. This chapter is an effort to provide an update on various remediation techniques and their advantages and disadvantages, with special focus on sustainable methods. This was carried out using the online database of Scopus, Web of Science, PupMed, Medline, ScienceDirect, Springer, Wiley Online Library, and Google Scholar, and all the available information from the past three decades were summarized and discussed. Also, effective sustainable technologies and their future prospects were highlighted. � 2021 Elsevier Inc.
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    Hydrochemical characteristics and human health risk assessment of groundwater in the Shivalik region of Sutlej basin, Punjab, India
    (Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2021-05-10T00:00:00) Mittal, Sunil; Sahoo, Prafulla Kumar; Sahoo, Sunil Kumar; Kumar, Ravishankar; Tiwari, Raghavendra Prasad
    Shivalik region is one of the agri-intensive regions in Punjab, India, wherein groundwater quality is a major human health concern. In this study, a total of 57 groundwater samples were collected from the Rupnagar district of this region (one sample per 36 km2) to evaluate its quality, the role of hydrogeochemical processes in its contamination, and further their potential human health hazards. The results indicate that the major water chemistry is governed by carbonate weathering followed by silicate weathering. The Fe, Mg, Mn, Se, and HCO3- concentrations exceeded the BIS drinking water standards in 86, 51, 11, 9, and 79% of the samples, respectively. Piper and Durov plots indicated the dominance of Ca-HCO3- water types, followed by Ca-Mg-Cl- and Ca-Cl-. Furthermore, multivariate analyses indicated the geogenic origin for Fe, Mg, Mn, Se, SO42-, and anthropogenic sources (agrochemicals, cement factories, and fly ash) for NO3-, Cu, and Cr. The estimated carcinogenic risk of As and Cr falls under the very low (10-6) to low (10-5) risks category. Furthermore, the cumulative risk of non-carcinogenic contaminants (F-, U, NO3-) (HI-0.93) is at an alarming level and also close to the boundary line of USEPA limits (HI-1). There is an urgent need to undertake suitable policy measures for sustainability of groundwater quality. � 2021, Saudi Society for Geosciences.