Status of Electronic Waste Management in India

Electronics waste is becoming a major global issue. Huge accumulation of e-waste and its recycling through primitive means for extraction of precious metals are a real concern in the developing countries due to the presence of hazardous materials in e-waste. The major portion of e-waste generated domestically as well as illegally imported is recycled in a crude manner leading to pollution of the environment. Current practices of e-waste management in India encounters many challenges like the difficulty in inventorization, ineffective regulations, pathetic and unsafe conditions of informal recycling, poor awareness of consumers, and reluctance on part of stakeholders to address the issues. As a result, toxic materials enter waste stream with no special precautions to avoid the known adverse impacts on the environment and human health. Resources are wasted when economically valuable materials are dumped. This chapter highlights the hazards caused due to improper handling of e-wastes and also describes some appropriate measures to be adopted for its management and safe disposal.

Pesticidal Pollution

The development and application of pesticides has contributed in a long way in making the “Green Revolution” possible. These newer pesticides have synergetic effect over the control of pests that otherwise have negative impact on the quality and quantity of food. The toxicity, persistence, and environmental pathway are some important criteria that determine the impacts on ecology and environment. The generalization of the impact of pesticides on different organisms is difficult as these are of broad spectrum chemical nature. However, the major problem that arises due to widespread use of pesticides is the contamination of water by pesticide runoff. The chemically contaminated water in turn leads to the much aggravated problems of bio-concentration and bio-magnification of these chemicals. While the bio-concentration describes the transfer of a chemical from surrounding into the tissue/body of organism, the bio-magnification is related to the increased concentration of such a chemical along a food chain.

Wastewater Pollution From the Industries

Water is one of the most precious natural resources of the earth, without which the living beings cannot survive. Water is important for the sustenance of human civilization. Man uses water for many purposes like drinking, cleaning, washing, bathing, heating, rearing cattle, and farming. Mankind, for the bettering of themselves and society, advanced towards industries and industrial products. But this progress towards industrialization not only utilizes huge amounts of fresh water, but returns water to the environment with pollutants, which changes its natural quality. Thus, mankind is heading towards misery, instead of comfort. Effective measures need to be taken to prevent, minimize, and control water pollution before it becomes too late.

Preparation and Application of Biochars for Organic and Microbial Control in Wastewater Treatment Regimes

Biochars have been extensively applied in soil remediation, carbon sequestration, and in climate change mitigation. However, in recent years, there has been a significant increase in biochar research in water treatment due to their stupendous adsorptive properties for various contaminants. This is attributed to their large surface areas, pore structures, chemical compositions, and low capital costs involved making them suitable candidates for replacing activated carbons. This chapter discusses the preparation methods and properties of biochars and their removal efficacy for organic contaminants and microbial control. Factors affecting adsorption and the mechanisms of adsorption of organic pollutants on biochars are also concisely discussed. Biochars present environmentally benign and low-cost adsorbents for removal of both organic pollutants and microbial control for wastewater purification systems.

Sources of Groundwater Pollution

In many regions in the world, groundwater represents an important source of fresh water. It is now established that several contaminants enter groundwater from a number of sources and pathways. These sources are both natural and anthropogenic. Contamination of groundwater resources by a variety of anthropogenic pollutants from both point and nonpoint sources represents a key global environmental problem. The most frequently identified contaminant sources are industrial manufacturing, agricultural activities, municipal landfills, and wastes. Frequently detected contaminants included nitrates, volatile organic compounds, arsenic, and fluorides. Other contaminant species include solvents, fuel hydrocarbons, heavy metals, pesticides, disinfectants, detergents, and radionuclides. In this chapter, the main sources and pathways for contaminants in groundwater are reviewed. It identifies challenges that need to be met to minimize risk to drinking water and ecosystems. Particular attention is paid to the occurrence of known and potential endocrine disrupting substances in groundwater.

Industrial Wastewater Pollution and Advanced Treatment Techniques

Industry creates more pressure on water resources by wastewater discharge than the quantity used in production. The wastewater produced by industries may be either excessively acidic or alkaline or may contain high or low concentrations of colored matter, organic or toxic materials, and possibly pathogenic bacteria. It is necessary to pre-treat the wastes prior to release to the sewer or a full treatment is necessary when this is discharged directly to surface or ground waters and it must be within the effluent standard limits provided by the environmental protection organizations. The management and control of liquid wastes in the industry as well as the selection of the different possible treatments for the wastewater prior to its discharge to the sewer system was studied. These would protect the environment and also benefits from the waste materials can be gained. Opportunities for introducing pollution prevention measures for different types of pollutants produced by different industries are discussed in this chapter.

Potential Applications of Nanomaterials in Wastewater Treatment

High-quality water is one of the most important challenges around the world. Conventional techniques of wastewater treatment need to be developed. Therefore, finding sustainable, environmentally friendly, and efficient treatment techniques is required. In this regard, due to the extraordinary potential of nanotechnology resulted from nanoscale size characteristics, recently nanomaterials have been the subject of novel research and development worldwide. In this chapter, the authors review recent development of the direct applications of nanomaterial as an adsorbent in adsorption systems for integrating nanoparticles into conventional treatment technologies for wastewater treatment, especially a wide range of candidate nanomaterials and its properties. In addition, advantages and limitations as compared to existing processes are discussed.

Environmental Recycling System (ERS)

A lot of solid waste is generated in every country of the world. Among various disposal methods used for management of solid waste, open dumping is mostly used in many countries, especially developing countries. Due to open dumping, the environment becomes polluted. It also creates aesthetic problems at the site. Industrial and agricultural wastes are simple to handle being of specific characteristics. This chapter describes in detail the composition of municipal solid waste, various problems arising due to solid waste, approaches used for solid waste management, and environmental recycling system (ERS). ERS, its components, and methods for segregation of waste have also been discussed in detail in this chapter.

Occurrence and Fate of Selected Heavy Metals in a Conventional Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plant in Kisumu City, Kenya

The objective of this work was to investigate the occurrence and fate of five heavy metals in water, sludge, and sediments from a conventional municipal wastewater treatment facility in Kisumu City, Kenya. The effluent quality was compared with the effluent quality parameters stipulated by the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) to assess the efficiency of the plant and potential effect of the discharged effluent on the recipient river. The levels of the heavy metals recorded in the sludge samples were significantly higher than those in the corresponding water samples. The order of the metal percentage removal efficiency (%R) from the treatment plant was Mg>Cu>Mn>Fe>Zn. It is concluded that the plant is a point source for Zn loading into the recipient waters which poses potential risk to end users downstream. The heavy metal-laden sludge was within permissible limits for utilization in agricultural lands.

Water Pollutants and Their Removal Techniques

A developing number of contaminants are entering into water supplies from industrialization and human actions. On account of pharmaceuticals, individual care items, hormones, pesticides, and other substance intensifies that are discharged into the water supply, rising contaminations distinguished in water may have contrary effects to human wellbeing and aquatic environments. In perspective of the previously mentioned issues, late consideration has been centered on the improvement of more effective, low cost, vigorous strategies for wastewater treatment, without additionally focusing on nature or endangering human wellbeing by the treatment itself. The treatment methodologies include primary, secondary, and tertiary treatment using chemical and biological processes. Various strategies, for example, electrochemical, ion exchange, chemical precipitation, coagulation, membrane separation, adsorption, dialysis, flotation, and biological methods have been utilized for the expulsion of harmful contaminations from water and wastewater.