Water Literacy in the Southeast Asian Context: Are We There Yet?

Reduction of Malnutrition Related to Unsafe Water Consumption in Developing Countries: Potabilization of Surface Water and Traditional Well Water, with Plant Extracts

The consumption of unsafe water in rural areas is a real public health problem in developing countries. This situation mainly affects children under five years of age and causes several deaths and many cases of malnutrition every year. The objective of this study was to evaluate and optimize the capacity of four local plant extracts in the potabilization of unsafe water. Thus, Moringa oleifera and Boscia senegalensis seeds, or Aloe vera and Opuntia ficus-indica mucilages were prepared in a solution and applied during a jar test as biocoagulants and bioflocculants on three raw water samples of 82.3 NTU, 549.8 NTU and 796.9 NTU. After treatment results showed that 0.9 g/L of Moringa biocoagulant or 1 g/L of Boscia biocoagulant applied with 0.4 mL of Aloe vera bioflocculant or 0.6 mL of Opuntia ficus-indica bioflocculant reduced the turbidity of each water sample to values less than 5 NTU after only 15 min of decanting. Moreover, the sanitary quality of the water treated by these different extracts showed a perfect conformity of the physicochemical and microbiological parameters with the standards of acceptability in drinking water decreed by the World Health Organization. Thus, the application of these local plant extracts has made it possible to considerably improve the quality of unsafe water in record time. Their popularization could be an alternative in the fight against malnutrition related to the consumption of unsafe water, especially in rural areas.

Alshamari AKA, Alshammari EM, Ahmed A. O, Sherwani S, Ali Khan MW. Bioremediation potential of Pseudomonas fluorescens strain isolated from the Ha'il region of Saudi Arabia

Increased amounts of toxicants may cause sever health issues in humans as well as in aquatic life. Scientists are developing new technologies to combat these problems. Biological methods of detoxification are always beneficial for the environment. Pseudomonas fluorescens is known for its detoxification capacity. In this study Pseudomonas fluorescens stains were isolated from different locations of the Ha'il region, Saudia Arabia. The microbial strain AM-1 displayed resistance to heavy metals (Cr6+, Ni2+, Cd2+, Pb2+) and pesticides (BHC, 2,4-D, Mancozeb) at pollutant levels typical of highly contaminated areas. Additionally, AM-1 exhibited substantial detoxification potential, reducing toxicity by 40.67% for heavy metals and 47.4% for pesticides at 3x concentrations. These findings suggest that the AM-1 strain supports environmental remediation and pollution mitigation. Atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) results exhibited bioremediation efficiency for metals Cr6+, Ni2+, and Pb2+ using immobilized cells of P. fluorescens AM-1 isolate, estimated to be 60.57%, 68.4%, and 53.93% respectively. These findings show that AM-1 strain has a potential role in bioremediation of water pollutants and may have future implications in wastewater treatment.