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Human interventions and rapid changes in land use adversely affect the adequate distribution of water resources. A research study was conducted to quantify the gap between demand and supply for irrigation water in Multan, Pakistan, which may lead to sustainable water management. Two remotely sensed images (Landsat 8 OLI and Landsat 5 TM) were downloaded for the years 2010 and 2020, and supervised classification method was performed for the selected land use land cover (LULC) classes and basic framework. During the evaluation, the kappa coefficient was found in the ranges of 0.83-0.85, and overall accuracy was found to be more than 80% which indicated a substantial agreement between the classified maps and the ground truth data for both years and seasons. The LULC maps showed that urbanization has increased by 49% during the last decade (2010-2020). Reduction in planting areas for wheat (9%), cotton (24%), and orchards (46%) was observed. An increase in planting areas for rice (92%) and sugarcane (63%) was observed. The changing LULC pattern may be related to variation in water demand and supply for irrigation. The irrigation water demand has decreased by 370.2 Mm 3 from 2010 to 2020, due to the reduction in agricultural land and an increase in urbanization. Available irrigation water supply (canals/rainfall) was estimated as 2432 Mm 3 for the year 2020 which was 26% less than that of total irrigation water demand (3281 Mm 3 ). The findings also provide the database for sustainable water management and equitable distribution of water in the region., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Industrial revolution and rapid population growth are responsible for alteration of land into different settlements. These changes may lead to change in land use (LU) and land cover (LC). The LULC changes have impact on hydrological regimes including streams flow pattern and allocated irrigation water (water allocation through Warabandi system). The present study aimed to identify the LULC changes and settlement impact on allocated water using the unsupervised classification and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) of Landsat images for the years of 1990 to 2020 in Multan District. The accuracy assessment and Kappa coefficient were also investigated to evaluate quality of results derived from the classified images. The results show that the reduction in waterbody, spare, and dense vegetation was -7.6, -1.7, and -30.7%, respectively. The settlements, barren, and crop lands have increased to 25.2, 10.1, and 4.6%, respectively, from 1990 to 2020. The values of kappa coefficient (0.84-0.85) showed very good level of classification. In addition, the volume of water loss due to change of LULC from waterbody into settlements, barren land, crop land, spare, and dense vegetation was found approximately 472, 44, 133, 54, and 85 m 3 , respectively, in last 30 years. This volume of water is not reaching equitably to the farming community because of the LU and LC changes and urban settlements. The results indicated that remotely sensed image interpretation technique may be a useful for reallocation of water among farmers in an equitable and efficient way., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

The present research was conducted to assess the feasibility of biological treatment of a typical wastewater (WW) stream in Multan, Pakistan, using daily trends of WW characteristics and to design a wastewater treatment (WWT) system for that stream. The pH (5.8-6.2), temperature (24-30 °C), biological oxygen demand (BOD 5 : 128-265 mg/L), ultimate BOD (BOD u : 227-438 mg/L), BOD/total Kjeldahl nitrogen (BOD 5 /TKN:5.9-11.2), BOD u /BOD 5 (1.6-2.0), carbonaceous BOD u /nitrogenous BOD u (CBOD u /NBOD u :1.6-2.8) of the WW was found to support the biological WWT. The inclusion of NBOD also indicated the need for nitrification-denitrification. The linear regression analysis of volatile suspended solids (VSS) with total suspended solids (TSS) indicated the high content of organic solids, which also made the WW suitable for biological treatment. The BOD/COD (chemical oxygen demand) <0.8 indicated the requirement for biomass acclimation. The major process units of the WWT system developed included a primary clarifier, cascade aeration, trickling filter, adsorption filter and chlorination contact tank. During the validation of design procedures, considerable removal of TSS (91%), TDS (46%), BOD 5 (88%), COD (87%) was observed over the 15 week operational period of the secondary WWT system. The WWT system developed was appropriate as a sustainable WWT system that consumed less energy and had lower operational costs.

Objective: To determine the accuracy of BISAP score in finding out the frequency of severity and mortality in patients with acute pancreatitis by comparing it with Ranson's score., Study Design: Crosse-sectional study., Place and Duration of Study: Department of Surgery, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, Islamabad, from April to December 2010., Methodology: Atotal of 80 patients who presented in emergency with acute pancreatitis were included by consecutive non probability sampling technique. Cases of acute pancreatitis were classified as mild or severe based on the organ failure criteria and/or local complications according to the Atlanta Symposium. All patients were scored according to both Ranson's score and BISAP score., Results: Out of 80 patients, 35 (44%) were males and 45 (56%) were females. The mean age was 46.89 ± 15.75 years. Twenty five patients (31.25%) were classified as severe acute pancreatitis and 3 patients (3.75%) had evidence of pancreatic necrosis on CT scan. The duration of hospital stay was 1 - 54 days with a mean of 13.12 ± 12.83 days and mortality rate was 5%. The number of patients with a BISAP score of ≥ 3 was 15 and Ranson's score ≥ 3 was 25. The observed incidence of severe disease stratified by the BISAP score has (p < 0.001) and by Ranson's score has (p < 0.001). In regards to mortality, patients having BISAP score ≥ 3 has p=0.003, while patients having Ranson's score ≥ 3 has p=0.002, both are statistically significant., Conclusion: The newly proposed BISAP score is a simple and accurate tool for severity stratification and is equally effective in finding out frequency of severity and in turns mortality in patients with acute pancreatitis as Ranson's score.

Arsenic concentrations above acceptable standards for drinking water have been detected in many countries and this should therefore is a global issue. The presence of arsenic in subsurface aquifers and drinking water systems is a potentially serious human health hazard. The current population growth in Pakistan and other developing countries will have direct bearing on the water sector for meeting the domestic, industrial and agricultural needs. Pakistan is about to exhaust its available water resources and is on the verge of becoming a water deficit country. Water pollution is a serious menace in Pakistan, as almost 70% of its surface waters as well as its groundwater reserves have contaminated by biological, organic and inorganic pollutants. In some areas of Pakistan, a number of shallow aquifers and tube wells are contaminated with arsenic at levels which are above the recommended USEPA arsenic level of 10 ppb (10 microg L(-1)). Adverse health effects including human mortality from drinking water are well documented and can be attributed to arsenic contamination. The present paper reviews appropriate and low cost methods for the elimination of arsenic from drinking waters. It is recommended that a combination of low cost chemical treatment like ion exchange, filtration and adsorption along with bioremediation may be useful option for arsenic removal from drinking water.