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Lysin of bacteriophages isolated from a particular ecosystem could be inducted as a bio-controlling tool against the inhabiting pathogenic bacterial strains. Our study aims at both experimental and computational characterization of the identical lysin gene product inherent in the genomes of two novel Myoviridae bacteriophages, Escherichia Phage C600M2 (GenBank accession number OK040807, Protein ID: UCJ01465) and Escherichia Phage CL1 (GenBank Genome accession number OK040806.1, Protein ID: UCJ01321) isolated from wastewater collected from the main water treatment plant in Qatar. The lysin protein, evinced to be a globular N-acetyl-muramidase with intrinsic "cd00737: endolysin_autolysin" domain, was further expressed and purified to be experimentally validated by turbidimetric assay for its utility as an anti-bacterial agent. Comprehensive computational analysis revealed that the scrutinized lysin protein shared 85–98% sequence identity with 61 bacteriophages, all native to wastewater allied environments. Despite varied Host Recognition Components encoded in their genomes, the similitude of lysins, suggests its apparent significance in host–pathogen interactions endemic to wastewater environment. The present study substantiates the identical lysin from Escherichia Phage C600M2 and Escherichia Phage CL1 as propitious "enzybiotic", a hybrid term to describe enzymes analogous to anti-biotics to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria by in silico analysis and subsequent experimental validation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wastewater management is not limited to the technology used to collect and treat wastewater. It begins with the early planning phase of building a society and includes considerations of how that society will grow. Therefore, history, culture, religion, and socioeconomy are important components to include in any relevant and integrated studies of wastewater management and reuse. Engineering, health, chemistry, biology, food production, cultural heritage, and the needs of people of all ages should be considered together when making management decisions regarding issues so intimately tied with humanity as water and sanitation. Other escalating challenges such as poverty, food, and water scarcity, migration and instability, flooding and catastrophes, diseases and mortality, etc. should also be considered as part of wastewater management and reuse planning. Emerging contaminants could be associated with the urbanization, modernization, and industrialization of several countries. Several arid countries have developed water security strategies where wastewater reuse is a major component. The existing wastewater treatment technologies in these countries are, in most cases, unable to remove such contaminants which may affect irrigation waters, industrial products, groundwater, etc. People would have to accept that the food on their tables could be irrigated with treated wastewater that they generated a few months ago, even if very advanced technologies were used to treat it. The purpose of this review is to highlight multidisciplinary areas of research on wastewater and to propose applicable and affordable mechanisms by which we may consider wastewater as a legitimate resource. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Management of water resources is a very challenging issue, particularly in regions of the world where water is almost absent. In the Gulf Region, this issue is especially complex due to harsh-arid environments and increasing anthropogenic input of pollutants from the energy industry. The emergence of nations rich in oil and gas, such as Qatar, but poor in water resources requires new and dynamic systems and plans for managing limited water resources in times of extreme growth, such plans are discussed in this paper. The State of Qatar's average annual evaporation rate is 30 times more than precipitation and the country depends on desalinated water to meet 99 % of its municipal water needs. Additionally, increasing population growth coupled with tremendous urbanization and industrialization add more stress to the existing renewable water resources, and newly produced water, namely desalted seawater and treated wastewater. Absence of water tariff and a water pricing system along with a lack of conservation awareness places Qatar as one of the highest water consuming countries in the world. Municipal water consumption per capita per day reached 500 L/ca.d for the year 2013. Dumping of sea to build new cities and construct towers makes the area very susceptible to salt water instruction, a phenomenon that does not only affect the groundwater aquifer system but also the construction materials and building deformations. Currently, Qatar uses the most advanced technologies for treating wastewater; however, the pure treated wastewater is not considered a viable water resource and is not used in areas of critical water demand such as agriculture and landscaping. Social, religious, and local marketing views limit the current use of treated wastewater. Integrated water and wastewater management strategies are absent and the national players of the two sectors -water and wastewater-are different. Current plans for integrated water resources management (IWRM) cannot answer the basic questions, what to manage and in which scale; is it the brackish and unused groundwater or the desalinated water from the existing technologies, the supply or the demand or all? This paper tries to highlight some facts related to Qatar's water situation as an arid Gulf State and introduces potential ideas for IWRM. The critical aspects of IWRM discussed herein are relevant to a number of nations in the global community dealing with issues of extreme water insecurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A pot experiment was conducted in order to study the relationships of soil pollution indices to maize ( Zea mays L.) growth characteristics and soil and plant heavy metal content, as well as the metal plant uptake. A completely randomized block design was used, including 11 treatments in three replications. The treatments applied were control (freshwater), four levels of inorganic NPK fertilizer combined with treated municipal wastewater and freshwater and three sludge levels (5, 25 and 50 %, respectively) in the presence of treated wastewater and freshwater, respectively. The mean effect of the applied sludge levels independent of the presence of the freshwater or wastewater contributed to the accumulation of heavy metals Cr, Cu, Zn and Mn in soil and in leaves. The soil pollution indices, i.e., pollution load index (PLI), elemental pollution index (EPI), total concentration factor and heavy metal load, showed that the soil had been polluted with heavy metals to a great extent. The application of sludge treatment affected positively the maize plant height, leaf number and the indices PLI and EPI. All pollution indices studied were positively related to plant leaf number and plant height, as well to heavy metal soil content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geography, population growth, and politics combine to make the Gaza Strip a worst-case scenario for water resource planners. Potable water sources are shrinking while at the same time, the proportion of potable water used for irrigation is increasing. To assess whether water from wastewater treatment plants could be safely used for irrigation, this study collected 51 treated wastewater, 51 sludge, 44 soil, 30 alfalfa, and 24 oranges and lemon samples and analyzed the samples for major and trace elements. Both Inductively Coupled Plasma - Optical Emission Spectroscopy (ICP/OES) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) were used for the determination of Ag, Al, As, B, Ba, Br, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, P, Pb, Rb, Se, Sr, Zn, Zr, Th, and U in digested and solid samples, respectively. Treated wastewater characteristics showed a very good agreement with the guidelines of many developed countries. Moreover, none of the tested parameters in soil showed concentrations exceeding their corresponding background values. For alfalfa, both ICP/OES and XRF showed Zn concentrations in leaves (36-42 mg/kg, respectively) higher than in root (19-31 mg/kg, respectively). The Cu showed also the same trend as Zn. No significant variation was observed between the concentrations of Cr and Mn in plant parts; concentrations of Co and Pb were two times higher in roots than in leaves and stems. The findings confirm that treated wastewater is safe to use for irrigation in Gaza. Collecting and reclaiming this water can contribute to wise use of each drop of water available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive monitoring program was conducted for the sludge of Gaza between 2001 and 2006. All 32 tested parameters except zinc and adsorbable organic halogens were within the allowable values for sludge to be applied in agriculture. Average concentrations of zinc (Zn) in the sludge from the Gaza Strip for the 4 years 2002–2005 reached 2,000 mg/kg which represents a major limiting factor for sludge application in agriculture. This study aimed to measure levels of Zn in the wastewater and sludge in December 2006 and to identify the sources and the build up of Zn in the sludge in Gaza. Cd, Cr and Pb were also assessed for their relationship to sources and buildup of Zn. The results showed that there is no significant fluctuation in the concentration of Cd, Cr and Pb in the different stages of wastewater treatment. Zn, however, is concentrated inside the treatment plant by processes of precipitation and/or absorption, particularly in the aerobic facilities. Although the plant receives wastewater with Zn concentrations of only 9 μg/l, this concentration increased 18-fold inside the aerobic lagoon of the treatment plant, before dropping to an average of 14 μg/l in the effluent wastewater. The sludge from the first sedimentation pond showed a Zn concentration of 567 mg/kg and increased in the effluent polishing pond to 1,643 mg/kg. The Zn concentration in 3-month-old sludge averaged 592 mg/kg. There was no correlation between the Zn concentrations in the sludge and the wastewater at the same location. However, there was a strong correlation between Zn and Pb in the sludge. The electroplating and galvanization industries are the major Zn producing industries in Gaza, with an average Zn of 2,995 and 1,557 μg/l, respectively in their effluent wastewater. These values do not represent a significant Zn pollution load to the treatment plant because these industries are limited in size and number, and their effluents are diluted before entering the treatment plant. Industrial activity decreased in 2006 to less than 70% of that in the previous four years. Consequently, the average concentrations of Zn in selected industrial effluents decreased from 1,500 for 2002–2005 to 400 μg/l in December 2006. Sludge from these industries showed 1,300 mg/kg Zn for 2002–2005 and only 400 mg/kg in 2006. Moreover, the Zn in the influent wastewater discharged to the treatment plant decreased from 65 to 9 μg/l for the same period. Exposure of sludge to the sun for few months reduces the Zn concentration. One reason is probably leaching. This simple procedure may solve the problem of sludge application in agriculture. This will be especially important if industrial production returns to its former level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]