Mesopotamia Environmental Journal

The current study conducted to assess the Euphrates river (mid Euphrates) for drinking purpose adoption of water quality Index-Canadian model-as an effective means to identify the water validity of various purpose, as has been selected four sites and samples were collected from these locations for the period between May 2013 to April 2014 and its conducted some physical and chemical tests, which included: pH, turbidity, electrical conductivity, total alkalinity, dissolved oxygen, Biochemical oxygen demand, calcium, magnesium, chloride, total hardness, sodium, nitrates, nitrites, sulfates, boron, total coliform, lead, copper, zinc, cadmium, manganese and chromium. As used Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to determine the greatest physical, chemical and biological factors that influence in the Index and causing the deviation of it from normal values. The result of PCA confirmed that physical, chemical and biological variables have different effect in all sites of study area on the Index values whose ranges between71.83-36.4 that indicates Euphrates in the study area has the Fair-Poor quality.

Abundance and ecological indices were evaluated for the terrestrial mammals at East Hammar marsh. Sixteen species were recognized and 236 individuals were recorded during the period from May 2012 to May 2013. The most abundant species were Canis aureus followed by Herpestes javanicus. C. aureus consider as the only resident species and scored the highest dominance value ( 23%).The highest Species diversity by Shannon and Wiener and Simpson indices were in October (1.72 and 0.79), the lowest value were in September,( 0.93 and 0.55 ) respectively. The highest richness values by Margalef and Menhinick indices were in August( 2.17 and 1.89), the lowest values were in September (0.66 and 0.67 ) respectively. The highest values of similarity by Jaccard and Sørensen indices were between March – April (85.71% and 83.3%), the lowest values were between June – July and July – August 20% and 33.3% respectively. Four monthly groups appeared to match with cold ,spring ,warm and hot season. Strong correlation existed between H. javanicus,C. aureus and Hemichinus auritus with moderate temperature at spring season.

The present study was carried out to assess the concentrations of some heavy metals in waters, sediments and mullet fish from al-Hammar marsh southern Iraq, which is potentially polluted from industrial, domestic and sewage effluents during the period between September 2010 to August 2011. Concentrations of six heavy metals (copper, cadmium, lead, nickel, magnesium and cobalt were determined on temporal basis in gills, muscles , ovaries, intestine and skin of Palaniza abu species using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The order of heavy metal concentrations in fish tissues was arranged as follows: intestine > gills > skin > gonads > muscles. The order of heavy metals concentrations in fish tissues on descending trend were found to be Fe > Ni > Cu > Co > Mn > Cd. The heavy metal concentrations in the edible parts of mullet fish were within the acceptable level for human health. The order of heavy metal accumulation in waters was arranged from higher to lower as follow Ni > Fe > Cd > Cu> Co> Mn. However, in sediment was in the rank follow Fe > Mn > Cu > Cd > Co>Ni. The transfer factors of all metals to the fish tissues from water were larger than those from sediments. This led to the conclusion that fish bioaccumulation with these metals came from the water.

The prime aim of this study was to analyze the effects of mine waste dumps on plants namely J.curcasandG. hirsutum, applied to phytoremediation process on waste dumps of magnesite and bauxitemines. The waste dumps of the mines contain impermissible limits of heavy metals Cd (2070 & 1060) and-1Pb (443 & 742.6 mg/kg ), it’s followed by Zn (1141 & 827.5) and Cr (69.96 & 553.7 in magnesite andbauxite mine respectively). The phytochemical and macro biomolecule analysis showed deviation among the plants in chlorophyll, protein and carbohydrate content. These plants possess fine phytoremediation potentiality on both mine soil. A random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique was exhibited to detect genotoxin-induced DNA damage of plants from heavy metal contaminated soil (mines) during phytoremediation. The changes in DNA profiles included variation in band intensity, presence or absence of certain bands and even appearance of new bands in RAPD profiles with universal 20 operon 10-base pair primers (OPA serious), with 60% – 70% GC content and they showed significant changes happened in plants applied for phytoremediation process on mine waste. The dendrogram reports are clearly reported the DNA variation in the plants (mutation). The results showed that RAPD analysis could be a useful tool for detection of genotoxic effects of heavy metal (Cd) toxicity on plants from mine soil.

Phytoplankton is the key factor of primary production in streams and other lotic systems. This study focused on phytoplankton in bani- Hassan stream in Karabala province. Five sites were selected along the stream where monthly sampling was carried for 12 months. The physicochemical parameters were studied in addition to diversity, spatial and temporal variation of phytoplankton and biological diversity indices. A total of 136 taxa of phytoplankton were identified which belonged to 65 genera . Where 65, 34, 17, 3 and 1 taxa belonged to Baciallriophyceae, Charophyceae, Cyanophyceae, Dinophyceae and both Euglenophyceae and Cryptophyceae, respectively. Temporal and spatial variations in total number of 3 phytoplankton were noticed in this study. Highest total number was (2.42 cell x 10 /l) recorded at site 2 in 3 May 2013 and the lowest was (0.18 cell x 10 /l) recorded at site 4 in January 2013. Cyclotell, Aulacoseria, Cocconeis, Cymatoplerura, Nitzschia, Cymbella and Oscillatoria were all recorded over study time.

Traditional biomass burning is a threatening air pollutant causing public health concern mostly seen in developing countries. Long-range transport of pollutant tremendously enhances this threatening on air pollution. To evaluate the air pollution, particulate matter (PM) samples (PM2.5) were collected from Male Declaration air quality monitoring station (MDAQMS) at Shyamnagar under Shatkhira district from December 01, 2012 to March 07, 2013 using Air Metrics MiniVol sampler. The samples were analyzed for particulate matter (PM2.5) mass and black carbon (BC) concentrations. The observed average PM2.5 concentration during December, February and March were 92.4, 94.3 and 63.4 μg/m3, respectively whereas the BC concentrations in PM2.5 were 20.1, 18.1 and 13.1 μg/m3, respectively. The average BC concentration in PM2.5 is almost same in December and February but lower in March. It was observed that concentration of PM and BC was higher with lower value of relative humidity and wind speed. The average BC/PM2.5 ration during December, February and March were 0.22, 0.19 and 0.21, respectively. The largest contribution of fine particulate matter and BC is the cooking (Indoor) and agricultural biomass burning. Other sources are traditional brick kilns, motor vehicles, human haulers emission and long-range transport.

Shatt Arab River is characterized by its large number of lateral branches. Some of these branches extend into the center of Basra province, Southern of Iraq. These branches include; Saraji, Khora, Ashar, Khandek, Robat, Jubyla, and Shatt Al Turk. The extension of these branches into the center of Basra province transforms them to locations for the disposal of sanitary sewage and solid waste. This causes their pollution and high lights the necessity of evaluating their water quality. The aim of this study is to assess the present status of water quality in main branches of Shatt Al Arab River using Canadian Water Quality Index. The assessment considers the water quality for three uses; domestic, recreation, and aquatic life support. To achieve this aim, water samples were taken from the considered branches during high and low tide times. The samples were tested for determining the values of ten quality parameters; dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, turbidity, total dissolved solids, pH, ammonia, total coliform bacteria, fecal coliform bacteria, nitrate, lead, and sulfate. The obtained values of Canadian Water Quality Index for the main branches of Shatt Al Arab River vary over the ranges (13.3-25.8), (19.3-32.1), and (13.0-27.8) for domestic, recreation, and aquatic life support uses. These results indicated that the water quality in main branches of Shatt Al Arab River is poor and their water cannot be used for domestic, recreation, or aquatic life support.

The association of cockroaches with various pathogens is well documented and this study assessed the role of cockroaches as potential vectors of food-borne bacterial pathogens in Hosur, Tamilnadu, India. A total of 160 adult cockroaches, captured aseptically from four hospitals and two restaurants, were identified as Blattela germanica. Culturing external surface wash and gut homogenates by pooling cockroaches in batches of ten resulted in the isolation of 12 Salmonella spp., two Shigella flexneri, two Escherichia coli, 17 Staphylococcus aureus, and 25 Bacillus cereus. The analysis of isolates for antimicrobial susceptibility demonstrated that most of the isolates, belonging to the various genera, developed multiple drug resistance to up to 12 antimicrobials. To evaluate survival in and shedding of pathogens by B. germanica, Salmonella Group B, S. flexneri and S. aureus were separately fed to B. germanica at a level of 106 cfu/g of contaminated food. Cultural examination of faecal pellets from B. germanica showed that Salmonella and Staphylococcus aureus could be excreted for 35 and 14 days, respectively. Shigella flexneri was not shed by cockroaches during the experiment. The results indicated that B. germanica is a possible reservoir and potential vector of some food-borne pathogens and may spread multiple drug resistance in hospitals and food catering establishments.

in this paper, study the effect of inserting inclined plates at angles (30 , 45 and 60 ) at flow rate(0.5-2) l/min anddetention time (200-50) min, with and without using an alum on the improvement of the turbidity removal efficiency( R) in an up flow settling tank compared without inclined plates, have been investigated by (PDS Sedimentation tank) for treating water from a water solution polluted by kaolinitic clay at initial concentration (360 mg/l ).The results indicate that the plates installed at the basin increased sediment turbidity removal efficiency to (87%) at angle 30° when flow rate equal to (0.5) l/min, detention time (200 min) with using alum and (70%) without using alum, compared without inclined plates, turbidity removal efficiency to (59%) when flow rate equal to (0.5) l/min detention time (200 min) with using alum and (41%) without using alum.