Nowadays, a spotlight on the direct manipulation of water from the geothermal fields is laid for manifold applications. This manuscript discusses the utilization of water produced from geothermal wells for irrigation and industrial purposes. In order to identify the suitability of the water for the above mentioned uses, various hydrochemical parameters were evaluated. Samples were collected from three geothermal well sites from Unai village, a prominent geothermal field situated in Navsari district, Gujarat, India. The hydrochemistry of the samples collected from hot spring (depth 30–45 m) was studied and samples were examined by calculating different parameters. The complete study was done individually for both industrial and irrigational uses of geothermal water. The mean surface temperature of the water is 55 °C and average pH of the sample studied is 8.12. The key Water Quality Indices (WQI) such as Langelier Saturation Index (LSI), Ryznar Stability Index (RSI), Puckorius Scaling Index (PSI) and Larson-Skold Index (LS) were examined for industrial utilization and the key indices like Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR), Sodium Percentage (SP), Kelly Ratio (KR) Residual Sodium Carbonate (RSC) and Permeability Index (PI) were examined for irrigational utilization of geothermal water. LSI and RSI values show that carbonate and bicarbonate concentration is in the desirable range, however, LS (15.09, 13.54) is very high which indicates higher Cl- content. High value of indices such as SAR, KR, and SP points out the increased concentration of Na+ in the water sample. The results of this study would help the end users to identify the necessary water-treatments before utilizing the water for industrial and irrigation purposes in the study area.

Legal framework is very crucial to protect the vital resources, to provide rights to public and administration, to support national policy and to bring technological intervention to ensure equitable distribution, fair management, and effective decision making. In Bangladesh, groundwater is not directly priced (other than pumping costs), perhaps such issue is not surprising that users do not meter the volumes of water usage. Beside the industry, agricultural sector is by far the biggest groundwater consumer of this country, contributing significant amount of annual meter drop in the groundwater table to the annual decline of groundwater table. Additionally, the groundwater resources are severely affected by, pollution, encroachment and overexploitation. National Water Policy (1999) and Bangladesh Water Act (2013) are considered as country's pivotal legal framework but both of these lag behind to provide effective guidelines on permission, extraction limit, monitoring, protection of quality, water harvesting procedure, and recharge mechanism. Existing institutions suffer from consistent crisis, politics, corruption, absence of public participation and coordination of other institutions, mismanagement, and empirical assessment. This study evaluates the existing water related policies and functions of multidimensional institutions, and discusses the key challenges of effective groundwater management. The present paper also provides an overview of established practices around the world to cope with the common challenges.

Hydrochemical investigations of groundwater and surface water were carried out to better understand the spatial distribution of As, major ions and trace elements. The study was carried out to evaluate the sources of dissolved species and elucidate the processes that govern the evolution of natural water in the Lower Katari Basin. The study area is close to the Titicaca Lake (Cohana Bay) formed by sediments of the Quaternary system, deposited in the fluvio-glacial to fluvio-lacustrine environment and geologic formations of the Devonian and Neogene system of volcanic origin. The study area has several environmental problems mainly caused by contaminants such as heavy metals, nutrients, and bacteria. These problems are linked to the urban and industrial wastes, natural geologic conditions, and mining activities carried out upstream of the Katari Basin, where rivers discharge into the Cohana Bay. A total of 37 water samples were collected during wet season, 31 groundwater samples including drinking water wells and six surface water samples. The hierarchical cluster analysis and principal component analysis were applied to hydrochemical data. Results show high salinity in groundwater related to the evaporation causing serious problems for the groundwater quality and rendering it unsuitable for drinking. Dissolved As concentration ranges from 0.7 to 89.7 μg/L; the principal source of As could be the alteration of volcanic rocks, more than 48% of the shallow groundwater samples exceeded the WHO guideline value for As and more than 22% for NO3 -. Groundwater has neutral to slightly alkaline pH, and moderately oxidizing character. The groundwater chemistry reveals considerable variability, ranging from Na-SO4,Cl type through mixed Na-HCO3 type and Ca,Na-HCO3,Cl type. The distribution of trace elements shows a large range of concentrations. Speciation of As indicates that the predominant oxidation state is As (V). The geochemical modelling indicates that As could be associated with iron oxides and hydroxides which are probably the most important mineral phases for the As adsorption. The spatial distribution and the variation of dissolved As concentration in groundwater is governed by the variability in geological characteristics of the region that raises a significant concern about drinking water quality.

This study aimed to evaluate the potential of handpump tubewell platform color as a low-cost, quick and convenient screening tool for As and Mn in drinking water tubewells. For this study, groundwater samples and corresponding tubewell platform pictures were collected from 272 shallow tubewells in Matlab Upazila of South-Eastern Bangladesh. The result shows that arsenic concentration within the surveyed (n = 272) tubewells, 99% (n = 269) exceeded the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline value of 10 µg/L, and 98% (n = 267) exceeded the Bangladesh drinking water standards (BDWS) of 50 µg/L. In relation to the platform color concept, within 233 (total 272) red colored platform tubewells, 230 (99%) exceeded the WHO guideline value of 10 µg/L, and 229 (98%) tubewells exceeded BDWS of 50 µg/L. This result shows a strong correlation between the development of red color stain on tubewell platform and As concentrations in the corresponding tubewell water. This study suggests that red-colored platform can be used for primary identification of tubewells with an elevated level of As and thus could prioritize sustainable As mitigation management in developing countries where water comes from reductive shallow aquifers. This study did not confirm the potential for Mn screening, as red discoloration by Fe oxides was found to mask the black discoloration of Mn oxides. It is recommended to further investigate this screening tool in regions with a higher well-to-well variability of As contaminations, as in the presented study As was found >10ug/L in 99% of the tubewells.

The Dutch drinking water sector is actively investigating methods to reduce arsenic (As) to < 1 mu g/L in drinking water supply. We investigated (1) the effectiveness of sequential permanganate (MnO4-)-ferric (Fe(III)) dosing during aeration-rapid sand filtration to achieve < 1 mu g/L As (2) the influence of MnO4--Fe(III) dosing on preestablished removal patterns of As(III), Fe(II), Mn(II) and NH4+ in rapid sand filters and (3) the influence of MnO4--Fe(III) dosing on the settling and molecular-scale structural properties of the filter backwash solids. We report that MnO4--Fe(III) dosing is an effective technique to improve arsenite [As(III)] removal at groundwater treatment plants. At a typical aeration-rapid sand filtration facility in the Netherlands effluent As concentrations of < 1 mu g/L were achieved with 1.2 mg/L MnO4--and 1.8 mg/L Fe(III). The optimized combination of MnO4-and Fe(III) doses did not affect the removal efficiency of Fe(II), Mn(II) and NH4+ in rapid sand filters, however, the removal patterns of Fe(II) and Mn(II) in rapid sand filter were altered, as well as the settling behaviour of backwash solids. The characterization of backwash solids by Fe K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that the changed settling velocity of backwash solids with MnO4-Fe(III) in place was not due to changes in the molecular-scale structure of Fe-precipitates that constitute the major portion of the backwash solids.

Development, monitoring and management of drinking water resources, especially groundwater, are essential for sustainable water extraction. The present study aimed to explore suitable locations and depths for installing tubewells for safe drinking water. Tala upazila of Satkhira district, in the coastal area of Bangladesh, was selected as the study area. Groundwater samples were collected from 632 shallow tubewells (STW) and deep tubewells (DTW). In-situ measurements were done for seven important water quality parameters, such as arsenic (As), iron (Fe), electrical conductivity (EC), temperature (T), Total Coliform-TC, E. coli and Faecal Coliform (FC). Weighted arithmetic water quality index (WQI) was used to calculate the suitability of drinking water collected from tubewells. Experimental value based maps for each parameter were prepared and safe aquifer sites were identified using WQI and geo-statistical as well as geo-spatial analysis. Range of As, Fe and EC were found to be 0–500 µg/L, 0–18 mg/L and 165–8715 µS/cm, respectively and for STW, 88%, 99% and 100% and for DTW, 64%, 71% and 100% exceeded WHO drinking water standards. Comparatively high proportion of STW (TC-41%, E. coli−24% and FC-49%) contained coliform bacteria than DTW (TC-23%, E. coli−15% and FC-28%). Only small proportional areas, such as 24 km2 for As, 27 km2 for Fe, 113 km2 for TC, 132 km2 for E. coli and 102 km2 for FC were found safe in DTW. Multiple patches of safe aquifer were identified at greater depths in the northern, north-central, central and south-western part of the study area. According to WQI, overall 39 km2 area (12% of total area) was explored as suitable sites for installing tubewells where good to excellent quality water could be found in greater depth aquifers. The findings will help policy makers, practitioners and local communities to find out the suitable locations and depths for installation of tubewells in the study area for extracting safe drinking water.

The occurrence of radon (222Rn) in environment (groundwater and indoor air) from geogenic sources is receiving an growing attention due to its adverse impact on human health worldwide including Jordan. Highlighting the current status of radon in Jordan, the present study of radon concentrations in ground waters in the Amman-Zarqa basin (AZB) was investigated. Groundwater samples were collected from fifteen wells located in three main areas of Ras Al-Ain, Al-Rsaifeh and Al-Hashemite. Radon concentration was measure using Liquid scintillation counting (LSC) Tri- Carb 3110 with discriminator and the highest values for radon concentration in water were observed in Al-Rsaifeh area and ranged from 4.52 up to 30.70 Bq/l with an average of 11.22 Bq/l, which were attributed to the decay of naturally distributed uranium in phosphate rock from Al-Rsaifeh mines. In Ras Al-Ain area, the radon concentration were noted ranged from 0.6 to 5.55 Bq/l with an average of 2.82 Bq/l, and also in Al-Hashemite area were ranged from 0.77 to 5.37 Bq/l with an average of 4.04 Bq/l. The overall average concentration of tested samples was 5.77 Bq/l and found within the acceptable international levels. Ground water samples of Ras Al-Ain area showed good quality as was tested of low salinity. It recorded the lowest average radon concentration of 2.82 Bq/l. Also, Radon indoor and building materials was reviewed. In conclusion, this study presented an urged need for developing national regulations and standards as well as awareness program concerning the radon status in Jordan.Elsevier B.V.

Diversity changes can be evaluated at various spatial scales, and the relationship between changes in diversity at the local, landscape and regional scales is not evident. The overall patterns of functional and beta diversity of bird assemblages were evaluated along a five-stage urbanization gradient, censused over the months of January to April in the years 2010-2013, in and around Amravati city, Deccan Plateau, Central India. We expected the abundance of large and predatory species to decline along the gradient, and urbanization to homogenize species richness at the landscape level. Overall, 112,829 birds belonging to 89 species were identified in the region, and species richness decreased from the rural forest (73 species) to more urbanized areas (lowest at the centre of Amravaty city with 29 species). Along the urbanization gradient, bird assemblages contained more small species, and the share of frugivorous and omnivorous species also increased, while that of insectivorous species decreased. Diversity partitioning indicated that of the overall pattern, local (alpha) diversity accounted for 50.1% of the total (gamma) diversity, and urbanization stages another 36.2%; the contribution of within-stage, local diversity was rather small (2.7%), indicating fairly homogeneous assemblages.