Co-development of an integrated assessment framework to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of selected nature-based water treatment technologies in Sri Lanka,The Philippines,and Vietnam

Water quality is a critical challenge in Asia in the context of growing industrialization, urbanization, and climate change. Nature-based solutions (NbS) could play an important role in reducing urban water pollution, while generating multiple co-benefits that could make cities more liveable and resilient. In this regard, a number of pilot and demonstration projects have been set up to explore their potential across cities in Asia. Their effectiveness and impacts, however, have not been adequately documented, thus how they can be sustained, replicated and up-scaled remain poorly understood. This study aims to contribute to addressing this challenge by co-developing an integrated assessment framework and employing it to understand how existing evaluations of NbS in the region can be improved. It focuses specifically on a set of nature-based solutions that have been employed for water treatment across six cities in Southeast Asia (two in each Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Vietnam), namely, floating wetlands, constructed wetlands and maturation ponds. The study also suggests specific methodologies for capturing a set of core indicators considered relevant for assessing the effectiveness and capturing the multi-faceted impacts of the examined NbS.     

Ca2+ and SO42− interactions with dissolved organic matter: Implications of groundwater quality for CKDu incidence in Sri Lanka

It has recently been proposed that recalcitrant dissolved organic carbon(DOC) in groundwater plays a potent etiological role in the peculiar distribution of chronic kidney disease of unknown etiology(CKDu).This study aims to elucidate the interactions of Ca~(2+)and SO_4~(2-)with a model organic fraction of humic acid(SHA) to determine the possible relationship of CKDu incidence with the DOC in drinking water.XPS and FT-IR methods respectively determined the surface functional groups and chemical composition of protonated dissolved organic carbon(HDOC) in a CKDu high-risk zone(HR) of Sri Lanka and in SHA.Higher surface C composition(87.9%) and lower O(11.4%) were observed for HDOC from the HR region than for SHA(C: 73.8%, O: 24.7%).Aromatic C with less Ocontaining functional groups was observed in HDOC.The IR band at 1170 cm~(-1) confirms the formation of organic sulfonate(C–SO_3~-) on SHA.A band at 1213 cm~(-1) due to organic sulfonate in HDOC from the CKDu HR region was also identified.The IR band at 866 cm~(-1) evidenced the formation of CaCO_3 on SHA above pH 7.4.XPS data confirmed the presence of sulfur oxidation states corresponding to SO_3~(2-)and SO_4~(2-)at 168.9 eV and 170.1 eV binding energies,respectively.The binding energies at 347 eV and 351 eV for Ca 2p_(3/2) and Ca 2p_(1/2) eV,respectively, confirmed the bidentate complexation of Ca~(2+)with COO-and sulfonate groups on SHA.The organic sulfonate formed is postulated as a uremic toxicant.