Nature Environment and Pollution Technology

Gopal Chandra Ghosh ¹, Sayka Jahan ¹, Basabi Chakraborty ¹, Asma Akter ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Environmental Science and Technology, Jessore University of Science and Technology, Jessore 7408, BD

Abstract

The coastal region of Bangladesh has been identified as the most climate induced, hazard-prone, hard-toreach area in Bangladesh. The conventional drinking water sources (rivers, ponds, groundwater) in the coastal area have become contaminated recently due to saltwater intrusion from the rising sea levels and frequent natural disaster. Household rainwater harvesting could be an alternative measure for reducing impact of climate change on water supplies because of the availability of rainwater. This study is to explore the potential of household rainwater harvesting for drinking purposes in the coastal area of Bangladesh. Rainwater harvesting is found technically feasible on the basis of rainfall pattern, household roof constructing material, and roof size. The annual rainfall of over 1900mm with inter annual variability of 0.18, makes the rainwater harvesting ideal in the coastal areas. Harvested rainwater can satisfy household monthly drinking water demand from March to October. The excess rainwater stored in September and October is sufficient to meet the demand in the dry months (November to February) provided there is adequate storage facility. The quality of stored rainwater was satisfactory from chemical parameters perspective and additional treatment is recommended for the harvested rainwater due to frequent detection of microbial contamination.

Keywords

Rainwater Harvesting, Drinking Water Supply, Climate Change, Coastal Area.

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Sayka Jahan ¹, Shammi Munni ¹, Gopal Chandra Ghosh ¹

Affiliations
1 Department of Environmental Science and Technology, Jessore University of Science and Technology, Jessore 7408, BD

Abstract

The study reports the level of traffic-induced noise pollution in the major schools, colleges and hospitals of the Jessore city of Bangladesh. The noise levels have been measured at 14 locations of the city from 7am to 7pm in the working days. The findings also indicated that traffic noise levels depend on distance from roadside and diurnal variation. Motorized traffic is the main source of noise pollution in this city. The study found that the most noise-polluted institution in the city was Mentor International School with measured L_eq of 80.37 dB and the least noise polluted institution in the city was Ad-din hospital with measured L_eq of 64.09 dB. The L₁₀ levels in all the institutions were higher than 75.62 dB and L₉₀ level was higher than 58.51 dB and there is a strong positive correlation between L₁₀ and L₉₀ level. Findings also indicate that in all of the institutions the TNI level was higher than 96.94 dB and the NC level was higher than 22.2 dB and also there is a strong positive relationship between TNI and NC. When the NC level increases then the TNI level also increases. It has been observed that at all the locations, the level of noise remains far above the acceptable limit for all the time.

Keywords

Noise, L₁₀, L₉₀ Level, Traffic Noise, Annoyance Responses Noise, Climate (NC), Traffic Noise Index (TNI).

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