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Effects of COVID-19 lockdown on water quality, microbial extracellular enzyme activity, and sediment-P release in the Ganga River, India

This study investigates possible improvement in water quality and ecosystem functions in the Ganga River as influenced by COVID-19 lockdown in India. A total of 132 samples were collected during summer-2020 low flow (coinciding COVID-19 lockdown) for water (sub-surface and sediment-water interface)...

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Autores principales: Singh, Madhulika, Pandey, Usha, Pandey, Jitendra
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9014407/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35435553
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20243-9
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author Singh, Madhulika
Pandey, Usha
Pandey, Jitendra
author_facet Singh, Madhulika
Pandey, Usha
Pandey, Jitendra
author_sort Singh, Madhulika
collection PubMed
description This study investigates possible improvement in water quality and ecosystem functions in the Ganga River as influenced by COVID-19 lockdown in India. A total of 132 samples were collected during summer-2020 low flow (coinciding COVID-19 lockdown) for water (sub-surface and sediment-water interface) and 132 samples separately for sediment (river bottom and land-water interface) considering 518-km main river stem including three-point sources (one releases urban sewage and the other two add metal-rich industrial effluents) and a pollution-impacted tributary. Parameters such as dissolved oxygen deficit and the concentrations of carbon, nutrients (N and P), and heavy metals were measured in water. Sediment P-release was measured in bottom sediment whereas extracellular enzymes (EE; alkaline phosphatase, FDAase, protease, and β-D-glucosidase) and CO(2) emission were measured at land-water interface to evaluate changes in water quality and ecosystem functions. The data comparisons were made with preceding year (2019) measurements. Sediment-P release and the concentrations of carbon, nutrients, and heavy metals declined significantly (p<0.05) in 2020 compared to those recorded in 2019. Unlike the preceding year, we did not observe benthic hypoxia (DO <2.0 mg L(−1)) in 2020 even at the most polluted site. The EE activities, which declined sharply in the year 2019, showed improvement during the 2020. The stability coefficient and correlative evidences also showed a large improvement in the water quality and functional variables. Positive changes in functional attributes indicated a transient recovery when human perturbations withdrawn. The study suggests that timing the ecosystem recovery windows, as observed here, may help taking management decision to design mitigation actions for rivers to recover from anthropogenic perturbations.
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spelling pubmed-90144072022-04-18 Effects of COVID-19 lockdown on water quality, microbial extracellular enzyme activity, and sediment-P release in the Ganga River, India Singh, Madhulika Pandey, Usha Pandey, Jitendra Environ Sci Pollut Res Int Research Article This study investigates possible improvement in water quality and ecosystem functions in the Ganga River as influenced by COVID-19 lockdown in India. A total of 132 samples were collected during summer-2020 low flow (coinciding COVID-19 lockdown) for water (sub-surface and sediment-water interface) and 132 samples separately for sediment (river bottom and land-water interface) considering 518-km main river stem including three-point sources (one releases urban sewage and the other two add metal-rich industrial effluents) and a pollution-impacted tributary. Parameters such as dissolved oxygen deficit and the concentrations of carbon, nutrients (N and P), and heavy metals were measured in water. Sediment P-release was measured in bottom sediment whereas extracellular enzymes (EE; alkaline phosphatase, FDAase, protease, and β-D-glucosidase) and CO(2) emission were measured at land-water interface to evaluate changes in water quality and ecosystem functions. The data comparisons were made with preceding year (2019) measurements. Sediment-P release and the concentrations of carbon, nutrients, and heavy metals declined significantly (p<0.05) in 2020 compared to those recorded in 2019. Unlike the preceding year, we did not observe benthic hypoxia (DO <2.0 mg L(−1)) in 2020 even at the most polluted site. The EE activities, which declined sharply in the year 2019, showed improvement during the 2020. The stability coefficient and correlative evidences also showed a large improvement in the water quality and functional variables. Positive changes in functional attributes indicated a transient recovery when human perturbations withdrawn. The study suggests that timing the ecosystem recovery windows, as observed here, may help taking management decision to design mitigation actions for rivers to recover from anthropogenic perturbations. Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2022-04-18 2022 /pmc/articles/PMC9014407/ /pubmed/35435553 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20243-9 Text en © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2022 This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
spellingShingle Research Article
Singh, Madhulika
Pandey, Usha
Pandey, Jitendra
Effects of COVID-19 lockdown on water quality, microbial extracellular enzyme activity, and sediment-P release in the Ganga River, India
title Effects of COVID-19 lockdown on water quality, microbial extracellular enzyme activity, and sediment-P release in the Ganga River, India
title_full Effects of COVID-19 lockdown on water quality, microbial extracellular enzyme activity, and sediment-P release in the Ganga River, India
title_fullStr Effects of COVID-19 lockdown on water quality, microbial extracellular enzyme activity, and sediment-P release in the Ganga River, India
title_full_unstemmed Effects of COVID-19 lockdown on water quality, microbial extracellular enzyme activity, and sediment-P release in the Ganga River, India
title_short Effects of COVID-19 lockdown on water quality, microbial extracellular enzyme activity, and sediment-P release in the Ganga River, India
title_sort effects of covid-19 lockdown on water quality, microbial extracellular enzyme activity, and sediment-p release in the ganga river, india
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9014407/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35435553
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-20243-9
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