Evaluation of microbiological and chemical parameters during wastewater Sludge and Sawdust Co-composting

Environmental specialists classified sewage sludge as a hazardous waste because of high organic compounds and pathogenic microorganisms. Therefore sewage sludge should be stabilized before disposal. Composting is an effective and economical method to stabilize sewage sludge. The object of this study is determining the optimum conditions of co- composting of dewatered sewage sludge and sawdust. Pilot scale study was performed in Isfahan municipal wastewater treatment plant. To perform this study, the dewatered sewage sludge with humidity between 78-82 percent was mixed with sawdust. Turning over did once a week for aeration. Temperature was monitored at different depths daily. Other parameters such as N, C, organic matters, pH, heavy metals, total and fecal Coliform and Salmonella were determined three times a week. The results of this study showed that after about 15th days, temperature of the mixture reached up to 55\ub0C, and was stabled for fifteen days. Humidity, organic matter, organic carbon and C/N ratio of the mixture decreased during of the study, due to increasing the temperature. Also organic matter and humidity mainly decreased in thermophilic phase. The number of total and fecal coliforms and also Salmonella decreased to A class standards of U.S. EPA at the end of the operation. The result indicated that co-composting of sewage sludge with sawdust is a reliable and simple method to schedule, with high flexibility and low odor production. Organic compounds and pathogenic microorganisms reduced and EPA standards were met during this method. @ JASEM

The assessment and identify the impact of drought in rural Area (Feredounshar county)

The drought is one of the important natural hazards that have direct and indirect consequences, especially in rural areas Successive droughts caused a loss of Agriculture and empty villages that sent residents have migrated to the cities. The purpose of this study is to analyze and identify the most important consequences of the 1390-1394 drought on the lives of people in the city Fereydunshahr is Choqa village Choqa population included 375 residents of the village who were heads of households using Morgan table and Krejcie 230 samples were selected. Data were collected through a questionnaire that Cronbach alpha was calculated that more than 87percent. Statistics and data using different statistical methods such as factor analysis were analyzed. The results showed that the consequences of drought in the village of Choqa in economic factors (reduction Dramdnashy and horticultural crop production, rising prices of agricultural inputs and costs associated with the production, reduction of non-agricultural income, etc.), which is a 46/25 percent of the variance. As well as environmental and social factors to the values of 89/22 and 63/15 percent of the variance, were the next category. Field studies also show that crop production and crop cultivation declined significantly. The increased production costs, the rural and social status of the village also had a lot of negative changes

The effect of 46,000 hectare irrigation plan of Sistan plain on spatial-spatial changes of rural environmental sustainability

Introduction    Sistan region also has special environmental characteristics due to its location in arid and desert region. Low rainfall, high temperature and evaporation, poor vegetation, dependence of the region on the Helmand River water, intermittent reduction or cessation of the annual Helmand River water and the occurrence of droughts, the presence of alluvial soil with alternating layers of sand and clay and 120-day winds and the consequent occurrence of dust and the formation of quicksands, cause fragile and sensitive environmental conditions prevail in the region. In addition, in this region, after the closure of the border and the creation of a security wall at its periphery (which practically eliminated the concrete wall, the possibility of border crossings), water played the largest role in the economic, social and political development of the region. The reason for the increase in investment in the implementation of water control and diversion projects upstream (Afghanistan) and the restriction of water entering the Sistan plain, water should be considered as a very valuable commodity. Therefore, in the circumstances that the severity of water limitation in most villages of Sistan is a serious issue, paying attention to increasing water consumption efficiency and improving its productivity will be an inevitable necessity (Asghari Lafmajani and Naderianfar, 2012). According to studies, increasing water efficiency using pressurized and semi-pressurized systems from wells and reservoirs will increase from 20% to 90% and water transfer with piping system is more economically justified than water transmission system with It has open canals (Piri et al., 2014). The region is designed to increase the economic power of the villagers with the sustainability approach. The sustainability zone has been designed in 766 villages of Sistan in the form of 2137 groups of 20 hectares of water. An overview of scientific texts related to the subject of research shows that many researches have been done in relation to environmental issues and its effects; However, no research has been done on the impact of irrigation projects on environmental sustainability and there is a gap in studies in this field. Therefore, the present study, in the framework of a systemic approach, analyzes the spatial-spatial changes of the impact of the 46,000-hectare Sistan plain irrigation project on the environmental sustainability of rural areas of Hamoon city.Results and discussionThe statistical population of the study includes 159 villages of Hamoon city with a total population of 66,675 people and 19,133 households. To achieve the desired results, villages with a population of more than 20 households were identified and then among these villages, with the opinion of social and technical experts, 40 villages in which the irrigation network was implemented and operated (10 villages in each development area) with a total population of 10150 people. And 3477 households were surveyed as sample villages. The sample size of households living in villages was determined based on Cochran's formula of 346 households, which were finally distributed according to the number of households in the sample villages of the questionnaires.Conclusion                  The study of the distribution of the studied villages in terms of the level of environmental sustainability before the implementation of the project shows that the villages with poor stability are mainly far from the wells and in low water years when the inflow of Helmand River to the region is somewhat reduced. He finds that the agricultural activities of these villages are completely stopped. Meanwhile, with the implementation of the water transfer plan to the agricultural lands of the villagers, there have been positive changes in the environmental stability of almost 30% of the villages compared to the past

Drought Monitoring in Chaharmahl-Bakhtiyari Province in Iran

Abstract The monitoring of drought is the most important factor in water resources management. This study focuses on evaluation of the drought characteristics such as intensity, frequency and duration drought using Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) in different time scales such as: SPI1, SPI3 months, during 1980-2012. The results show that selection of different time scales can be based on management goals and kind of drought. The results of the drought occurrence frequency showed that, with increase of length of time scales, drought duration will increase and maximum frequency was at the normal level and there is no particular procedure in different time scales. Furthermore, Drought patterns maps showed that the northern and central parts of study area had experienced these recent droughts more than other places, and these place have potential to destroy the lands. So, by identification of sensitivity regions can be take appropriate management to prevent damage resulting of drought

Analysis of Resilience of Sistan Rural Communities Against Environmental Hazards

Natural hazards such as flooding, earthquakes, droughts, etc., in geographic areas, especially rural areas, in most cases cause plenty of irreparable damage and seriously impede the sustainable development of human societies. The purpose of this study is  to measure and analyze the resilience of rural communities against environmental hazards and effective factors on it in rural areas of Sistan. The research method is applied-developmental and descriptive-analytical with a quantitative survey approach. The statistical population of this study was 373 people (from villages over 50 households) by using Cochran formula 189 people were selected by stratified random sampling in proportion to the size of the population. At first, using the library method, indicators and factors affecting rural resilience of the Sistan area were identified and then the information was collected by questionnaire and field operations. Findings were analyzed by  SPSS software and show that amount of β indicates that the Managerial factors, institutional factors, Economic factors and physical factors that were equal to 0.079., 0.075., 0.122 and 0.024 respectively with a significant level of 0.331, 0.327, 0.886 and 0.743, greater than 0.05, (0.05<P); do not predict the resilience of the villagers in the Sistan region and only social factors can predict or in other words effect on resilience of rural residents of Sistan

Spatial and Temporal Assessment of Water Quality Changes in North, Northwest and Southwest Rivers of Iran, Involving Multivariate Statistical Techniques and GIS

Surface water, especially rivers, is one of the most important water resources that play an important role in supplying water for various activities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the temporal and spatial variability of water quality parameters in three different basins, in terms of land use, at 50 hydrometric stations in 9 rivers in the period 1992-2015 by using multivariate and GIS statistical methods. In this study, factor analysis based on 10 qualitative parameters was performed to determine the most important parameters affecting the surface water quality of the study area. The results of Principal component analysis showed that the North, Northwest and Southwest basins have two significant main components with 82.38%, 79.86% and 81.60% of the total variance, respectively. Cluster analysis of hydrometric stations located in northwestern and southwestern regions was divided into two clusters and north into three clusters. In the cluster analysis, some stations in Aji Chay, Atrak and Zayanderood rivers had different water quality characteristics than other stations. These stations are located downstream of the rivers. Based on the pattern of mean water quality parameters in GIS and land use map, station 2 had the lowest values for most parameters