Chitresh Saraswat

Hydrogeochemical Evolution and Appraisal of Groundwater Quality in Panna District, Central India

Intense agricultural and mining/industrial activities make groundwater quality vulnerable to contaminants. This study conducted in one of the mining areas of Panna district evaluated the factors influencing the groundwater hydrogeochemistry using water quality parameters and multi-isotopic approach considering the fact that groundwater is the only major source of drinking water. Forty-five water samples comprising both shallow and deep aquifers were collected and analyzed for major ions, δ18O, and δD. The geochemical data were used to characterize and classify water samples based on a multitude of ion plots and diagrams. The groundwater in the region is found to be contaminated with fluoride and nitrate. The sources for fluoride are mostly geogenic in nature. The alkaline nature of groundwater triggers replacement of the exchangeable fluoride from minerals like biotite/muscovite and results in its enrichment. In addition, it is contributed through leaching of fluorides from granitic rocks, abundantly present in the study area. The weathering of these fluoride-bearing minerals releases fluoride into the groundwater. On the other hand, nitrate enrichment is mainly attributed to leaching from untreated sewerage system and agricultural runoff containing nutrients from excess use of fertilizers. The stable isotopic composition for most of the collected samples was found to be near the local meteoric water line (LMWL), i.e., origin of ground water is meteoric in principle; however, the point away from the LMWL might favor exchange with rock minerals and evaporation processes. This study sets an important background for decision makers to take the suitable countermeasures from the public health perspective for sustainable water resources management.

Integrated urban water management scenario modeling for sustainable water governance in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

The goal of ensuring water availability and sustainable management of water for all by 2030 is one of the top priorities of the UN-SDGs. The fragile institutional capabilities induce the transitioning towards the sustainable urban water paradigm to accommodate the complexities and uncertainties. This research methodically draws sustainable water management strategies to achieve water security after a critical literature review, trends and policy analysis, and scenario modeling of the study area. First, research systematically illustrated the analysis of unmet water demand and coverage during the study period (2015–2030) and evaluated the impact of external factors such as population growth, living standard, and climate change on the current water system of the Kathmandu Valley. The results showed that future water demand is likely to reach 765 MLD by the year 2030 from the estimated current demand of 388.1 MLD. Also, external factors will increase the pressure on the current water supply–demand systems, and hence exacerbate the water stress but result showed the negligible impact of climate change during the study period. The research explored the significance of “Melamchi Water Supply Project (MWSP)” and found that the effective implementation of MWSP will decrease the unmet water demand by 56–66% in the valley. In the second part, comparative analysis of different management strategies under four future scenarios (optimistic, moderate I and II and business-as-usual) were carried out. The comparative analysis revealed that the proposed optimal management strategy (under optimistic scenario) would lead to achieving 100% of water demand coverage by year 2027.

Enhancing Resilience for Sustainable Development in Lake Baikal and Baikal Basin: Fresh Water Paradise

Ensuring the water availability with better quality and quantity for all through sustainable management of it by the year 2030 is one of the top priorities of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). With having proper knowledge about drivers causing water quality deterioration at right time will help policy makers to take right measures to retrieve the quality back to normal or at least stop further degradation. With the above theme, this work tries to give insight about the factors affecting water quality/quantity and strategy or action plan needed to overcome the challenges by enhancing community resilience for lake Baikal and Baikal basin. Main factors affecting water quality include anthropogenic activities well supported with lack of proper law enforcement, quality monitoring and climate variability.

Payment of Ecosystem Service to Alleviate Poverty from Kyrgyz Republic in Central Asia Considering Climate Change and Extreme Weather Condition

The major focus of payment of ecosystem services (PES) approach is that those who provide environmental services should be compensated for doing so and that those who receive the services should pay for their provision. This work tried to explore the potential of payment of ecosystem services under water related ecosystem service in the Krygyz Republic in central Asia to reduce poverty. Also it focussed on the kind of payment method which can be used for implementing PES. A very important aspect is to explore the policy research interface to make it a powerful tool. The site identified based on the pilot project by CAREC can be used as the building block to design further PES scheme in Krygyz Republic. The first and important finding in the report is that PES can become a helping hand to reduce poverty from Kyrgyz Republic with a mode of generating an extra income for poor but we cannot say it is very effective and completely capable of eradication of poverty from the country. The key findings are most dependent on the factors like interest among stakeholders for new tools to address water resource management, a very strong local organization which can do the mediation in implementing the site projects, broker the agreement between sellers and buyers and monitoring the project in further stage and various tensions between downstream and upstream water users. The local governing body needs to set up an institution established to bring together ecosystem service buyers and sellers (KAESBS - Krygyz association of ES buyer and seller). The important step is to design the mechanism so as not to exclude poor land users by keeping transaction costs as low as possible, and being creative in responses and strong local organizations such as community groups or NGOs participation plays a great role in designing and negotiation process.

Evaluation of aqueous geochemistry of fluoride enriched groundwater: A case study of the Patan district, Gujarat, Western India

Abstract High fluoride (F−) groundwater causes fluorosis which might at severe stages lead to deformation of bones, bilateral lameness. The concentration of F− ranged from 0.4 to 4.8 mg/L. This study suggests that high HCO3− and Na+ in alkaline medium along with water–rock interaction plays important role in enrichment of F− in groundwater. Na-HCO3 is the dominant water type followed by Ca-HCO3 suggesting dominance of Na+, Ca2+ and HCO3− ions in groundwater. Factor analysis of water quality parameters suggests that four principal components account for 74.66% of total variance in the dataset. Factor 1 shows higher positive loading for pH, HCO3− negative loading for F−, Ca2+, SO42− depicting ion-exchange and HCO3 dominant water type responsible for F enrichment in groundwater. Saturation index for selected minerals suggests that most of the samples are oversaturated with calcite and undersaturated with fluorite. Calcite precipitation leads to the removal of Ca2+ from solution thus allowing more fluorite to dissolve. These released Ca2+ ions combine with CO32− ions to further enhance the precipitation of CaCO3.

Potential application of remote sensing in monitoring ecosystem services of forests, mangroves and urban areas

Abstract The application of remote sensing (RS) techniques to monitor ecosystem services has increased in recent years. Nevertheless, the potential application of RS to monitor some of ecosystem services is still challenging. The paper reviews the applications of RS to monitor ecosystem services of forests, mangroves and urban areas. Satellite data provide substantial information about dynamics of environmental changes over time from local to global scale. These information are useful data sources for the people who are involved in the on-going evaluation and decision-making process to manage ecosystem. Many recent research papers on the topic were reviewed to find new applications and limitations of RS for monitoring ecosystem services. Advanced RS techniques have high potential to monitor ecosystem services with the advancement of sensors ranging from aerial photography to high and medium resolution optical RS and from hyperspectral RS to microwave RS.