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Abstract Water companies and their consumers affected with leakages in water distribution system worldwide. This has attracted many practitioner’s attention as well as researchers over the past years. Selected study area suffers from water losses of about 10 to 15% which accounts to loss of about 9 to 9.75 million liters per month. The present study was under taken to understand, analyze and evaluate the losses and suggest preventive measures of wrapping and repair clamping for control of these losses. The assessment of water losses is done through comparative analysis of data using Microsoft Excel software. Population forecasting is done in context of assessing the amount of water lost that can be prevented in future decades, adjusting to increased water demand and losses. For better efficiency of the suggested methods, experimental analysis was carried out on a reduced scale model of a single stretched pipeline. Cost estimation of the preventive measures was done by obtaining information about the materials used by trading professionals.

India is an agro-based country and in the year 2020, about 1082 lakh hectares of agricultural land have been planted, in turn, consuming 3161 lakh tonnes of fertilizer annually. However, excessive fertilizer usage has a negative impact on the soil quality and is evident by the fact that the crop response ratio has decreased from 12.1 in the 1960s to 5.0 in the 2010s. Hence, organic compost can be used as an alternative to fertilizer, reducing its negative impact on soil quality. The present study is a part of a larger investigation and its scope is confined to the utilization of bio-composts for the growth of tomato crops. Additionally, a comparison of these bio-composts was carried out with commercial composts through assessment of yield and number of fruits. Seeds were sown on prepared land, germination was observed on the 7th day, and saplings were produced on the 30th day. The dosage of each compost was fixed at 60ml per plant and was applied on the 31st and 51st days of the study period. Commercial composts produced yields of 673 ± 32.01, 830 ± 32.19 and 1560 ± 77.62 g respectively, with 54 ± 4.16, 81 ± 11.50, and 104 ± 13.50 fruits. All the bio-composts outperformed control and commercial composts in terms of yield. With 140 ± 11.50 fruits, BC5 produced a maximum yield of 2938 ± 93.72 g, which is 723 % higher than the control. Hence, it is concluded that the use of bio-compost is more effective than commercial composts and provides a much higher yield. Further studies need to be conducted to evaluate the quality of yield obtained by various bioassay tests.

India is an agro-based country and in the year 2020, about 1082 lakh hectares of agricultural land have been planted, in turn, consuming 3161 lakh tonnes of fertilizer annually. However, excessive fertilizer usage has a negative impact on the soil quality and is evident by the fact that the crop response ratio has decreased from 12.1 in the 1960s to 5.0 in the 2010s. Hence, organic compost can be used as an alternative to fertilizer, reducing its negative impact on soil quality. The present study is a part of a larger investigation and its scope is confined to the utilization of bio-composts for the growth of tomato crops. Additionally, a comparison of these bio-composts was carried out with commercial composts through assessment of yield and number of fruits. Seeds were sown on prepared land, germination was observed on the 7th day, and saplings were produced on the 30th day. The dosage of each compost was fixed at 60ml per plant and was applied on the 31st and 51st days of the study period. Commercial composts produced yields of 673 ± 32.01, 830 ± 32.19 and 1560 ± 77.62 g respectively, with 54 ± 4.16, 81 ± 11.50, and 104 ± 13.50 fruits. All the bio-composts outperformed control and commercial composts in terms of yield. With 140 ± 11.50 fruits, BC5 produced a maximum yield of 2938 ± 93.72 g, which is 723 % higher than the control. Hence, it is concluded that the use of bio-compost is more effective than commercial composts and provides a much higher yield. Further studies need to be conducted to evaluate the quality of yield obtained by various bioassay tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pressmud is one of the most highly complex organic by-products generated from sugar industry. Due to its complex nature, disposal of the pressmud is difficult without affecting the surrounding environment. Pressmud has a high potential of converting itself into a good quality organic manure with proper management, through the aerobic composting process. This study is a part of major research work which focuses on recycling of nutrients and safe disposal of two of the most complex by-products: sugar pressmud and distillery spent wash through the aerobic composting process. The main objective of this study is to determine the effect of a commercially available microbial consortium on aerobic composting of pressmud. The selected microbial consortium includes four species of fungi: Phaenerochaete, Trichoderma Virdea, Aspergillus Niger, Pleurotus. These are capable of degrading complex organic matter with lignocellulosic characteristics. Five composting mixtures were prepared for this study, with four composting mixtures of individual species of fungus and the fifth composting mixture with all four fungi species. Aerobic composting was carried out in PVC reactors with 7 kg of pressmud as a base material, 1 % (w/w) of optimum dosage for microbial consortium and 5% (w/w) of digested cow dung. The study was carried in the pre-monsoon season over a period of 50 days. Aeration was provided with mixing of the contents at every three days interval, and also, water was added to maintain the moisture content in the optimum range. Representative samples were collected and analyzed for various physic-chemical parameters. Further, these results were compared with the standards prescribed by Fertilizer Control Order (FCO), Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, to assess the nutrient content of the prepared compost. The prepared compost from CM-V showed a pH of 7.62, EC of 3.67 dS/m, TOC of 17.64 %, TKN of 2.24 %, phosphorus of 4.93 %, potassium of 1.11 %, iron of 72.20 mg/kg and C/N ratio of 7.86. Hence, it can be concluded that CM-V has satisfactory overall nutrient content in most of the parameters. But further studies are to be conducted in a large scale to assess the evolution of heat during the composting process and its effects on duration of composting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The depletion of water resources, both surface and subsurface and deterioration of water quality made researchers and policy makers to think of the possible remedies to make water sources potable / wholesome. There is a need to address the problems of hardness and fluoride in subsurface water on priority basis. In this direction, bench scale studies were conducted to evaluate the performance of water softeners. Indepth studies were carried out at University B.D.T College of Engineering, Davangere, Karnataka, to assess the performance of bench scale softeners of D to H ratio 1:2, 1:3, 1:4 in removing hardness of varied concentrations from both synthetic and natural water samples. Studies revealed that irrespective of D to H ratio of softeners, the waters having hardness concentration up to 1000 mg/l can be treated to the same degree (81.68% and above). The findings of regeneration studies and cost economics are also summarized in this paper.