International Journal of Environment and Climate Change

This study looked at the Assin Fosu Small Town Water Supply System in Ghana to verify whether the operation of the scheme is based on a comprehensive water safety plan and how the practice of water safety planning affects the quality of water delivered to the consumers. The study employed document reviews, structured observations, interviews and laboratory analysis of water samples. System design data files and an Operation and Management Contract document were reviewed along with in-depth interviews with key stakeholders of the water supply system. Structured observations were made to assess the management practices of the system managers. Three rounds of sampling of water were done at monthly intervals from 10 randomly selected public standpipes, 3 boreholes and 2 filtration units. Samples were analysed to assess their bacteriological safety and aesthetic (physical) quality (turbidity and colour). Upon detection of bacteriological contamination, the adequacy of disinfection was assessed by measuring the levels of residual chlorine. It was found that the recommended schedule for some key documented water

quality control and monitoring activities were not complied with.  Consequently, the quality of water delivered to consumers at several public standpipes failed to meet the WHO guidelines for drinking water. Forty percent (40%) of all samples were found with faecal contamination, with 60% and 50% exceeding the WHO’s guideline levels for turbidity and colour respectively. It is recommended that the Community Water and Sanitation Agency in Ghana intensifies on-going efforts at ensuring that small-scale water supply systems in the country are managed with comprehensive water safety plans to prevent microbial contamination which could pose significant health risks to the consumers.

An investigation was carried out to examine the properties of top soils between 0 and 15cm under both deforested and forested zones in Bowen University, Iwo, Nigeria. Top soil samples in the deforested zone was taken from the Main Gate area of the institution while that of the forested zone was taken from the forested area opposite staff quarters of the University. The soil samples were subjected to standard laboratory tests in the University central laboratory. The results showed that deforested soil has sandy, clay and silt contents of 72.4%, 9.2% and 18.4% respectively while forested soil has 65.2%, 10.8% and 24% in the same order. Also it was discovered that soil under deforestation has organic carbon, organic matter, pH, field capacity, moisture and electrical conductivity of 0.32%, 0.55%, 6.8, 0.72 g, 126.9 g and 230 µʃ/cm respectively while soil under forest has 0.45%, 0.77%, 7.1, 0.90 g, 0.72 g, 129.2 g and 275 µʃ/cm in the same order. The implications of this results is that removal of vegetation contributes to the release of carbon into the atmosphere which increases atmospheric heat, alkalinity of soil, loss of soil nutrients and also could pose limits to the survival of plant growth and also susceptibility of soil to surface wash. Thus, it is recommended that effort should be made to checkmate the removal of vegetation and if unavoidable, relevant policies should be put in place for edge development and its maintenance and also, reforestation steps as remedies to ensure sustainable environment.

Climate change and its variability are posing the major challenges influencing the performance of agriculture including annual and perennial horticulture crops. Reduction in production of fruits is likely to be caused by short growing period, which will have negative impact on growth and development particularly due to terminal heat stress and decreased water availability. Hence, crop-based adaptation strategies are needed keeping in view the nature of crop, its sensitivity level and the agro-ecological region. The present investigation was conducted for major sub temperate fruit crops such as apricot, peach and plum in Himachal Pradesh. The investigation was carried out at different altitudinal gradients in fruit growing pockets of Solan district the state. The study was conducted to work out the relationship of weather parameters with phenological stages of major fruit crops and assessment of their vulnerability to climate change under selected altitudinal gradients. The average maximum and minimum temperature showed an increase since last thirty years at all major fruit growing areas, whereas, annual rainfall revealed an erratic trend. The fruit growing areas at 1000-1200 m amsl of Solan district obtained highest score (0.56) and were most vulnerable for stone fruit crops production while those at 1400-1600 m above mean sea level (amsl) were least vulnerable amongst the selected altitudes. To cope with climatic changes farmers have adopted various adaptation and mitigation strategies such as improved water conservation techniques, varietal shifts and crop diversification with other fruits like kiwi, pomegranate and vegetables in the region.

Florianópolis is a city bathed by the ocean for most of its limits, which makes it a vulnerable environment to the effects of sea level rise (SLR). Thus, estimating the economic impacts of SLR in Florianópolis for the year 2100 may serve as a basis for designing public policies. The SLR scenario in Florianópolis for the year 2100 was generated by using geoprocessing techniques. In order to design the urban growth, the CityCell model was used and the economic impacts were estimated with the Adaptive Regional Input-Output (ARIO) model. The area affected in Florianópolis by SLR comprised 13.4% of its territory. The modeling for the year 2100 showed that the city will have a small urban growth. The direct cost of SLR in 2100 is predicted to reach 13 billion reals and the total cost is estimated to be 63 billion reals in the same year.

The basic objectives of the study were to enquire in to the involvement of various types of costs, the returns per rupee invested and the benefit thereof in different agro-ecosystems in the state of Jammu and Kashmir in general and valley of Kashmir in particular, especially the sampled districts.  This study was based upon primary and secondary data. A multi-stage random sampling was utilised for collection of date from 432 respondents of four different agro-ecological zones. For major crops, the cost of cultivation were estimated by concept utilised by Commission on Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), Government of India. The results revealed that fruit crop agro-ecosystem is highly remunerative than field crop and crop agro-ecosystems, though the fruit crop involve huge of investment in terms of different costs. The livestock based agro-ecosystem is also dominant in some parts of the Kashmir region with declining trend. The results revealed that the gross returns of paddy and apple, livestock and cash crop were Rs. 23250, Rs. 321000, Rs. 108920 and 106915 respectively. This study had its applicability in the daily routine life of any household dwelling in the sampled agro-ecosystems. The study could be of utmost importance in selecting the crop in which the region/agro-ecosystem had specialisation or absolute advantage.

A study to assess the profile distribution of important soil attributes in Alfisols and Entisols of West Bengal was conducted during 2016-17. Purposefully selected random sampling was carried out to collect the soils from different locations of two study sites, viz., Kalinagar (25º27'33.9"N, 88º19'10.2"E) from Malda district and Durganagar (26º09'62.7"N, 89º53'51.7"E) from Cooch Behar district of West Bengal at 0-15, 15-30, 30-45 and 45-60 cm depths. Understanding of vertical distribution of soil fertility indicators like soil organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN) and other important properties in two different soil and climatic conditions will provide an insight regarding the behaviour of soil with the change in environmental conditions. Soil bulk density (BD), porosity, pH, SOC, TN, C:N ratio and texture were determined using standard laboratory procedures and computations. Obtained results were subjected to statistical analyses. Soils of Kalinagar sites were slightly acidic in nature while soils of Durganagar were neutral in nature. Kalinagar soils were silt clay loam in texture where Durganagar soils classified as loam to sandy loam. Soil BD values increased with depth in both Kalinagar (Alfisol) and Durganagar (Entisol). The porosity percentage progressively decreased with an increase in depth. Soils of Durganagar reported higher soil porosity at all the depths studied. An increase in soil pH with increasing depth was observed in both the sites. The mean total organic carbon (TOC) content recorded maximum in surface soil and its concentration decreased with the depth. Kalinagar soils observed 7.63% higher TOC (17.94 g kg^-1) content than Durganagar (16.57 g kg^-1) at surface depth (0-15 cm) and its accumulation at the lower depths was also maximum in former soil. Mean TN values were also found to decrease by increasing the depth. The accumulation of total nitrogen at the subsequent depths was relatively higher in Kalinagar than Durganagar. Increase in C:N ratio with increasing depth was noticed in Kalinagar site but the opposite trend was accorded in case of Durganagar. Accumulation of SOC and TN throughout the soil depth was found to be greater in Alfisol (Kalingar) due to higher clay and silt fractions as compared to Entisol (Durganagar). There was a significant positive relation of TOC with clay and silt (r = 0.285, p<0.05, r = 0.314, p<0.01, respectively) and of TN with clay and silt (r = 0.328, p<0.01, r = 0.262, p<0.05, respectively) irrespective of soil orders. Alfisols with high bulk density have a greater capacity to accumulate SOC and TN throughout the soil profile due to higher clay and silt fractions in comparison to Entisols with loose textural properties.