Prosun Bhattacharya

KTH Royal Institute of Technology | KTH · Department of Sustainable Development, Environmental Sciences and Engineering (SEED)

Existing strategies for improving global access to safe drinking water have met only limited success. We consider an unglamorous and often neglected dimension of drinking water infrastructure provision: cleaning. We randomly assigned caretakers of community wells to participate in a training workshop about how to clean wells. Thirteen to seventeen...

Groundwater is consumed by over 2 billion people globally, though it can be impacted by microbial and chemical contamination in both rural and (peri-)urban areas. This issue is particularly pertinent in regions like East Africa, where rapid urbanisation has strained local infrastructure, including water and sanitation systems. We use selected trace...

The present research, for the first time, attempts arsenic (As) pollution studies in the calcareous alluvium specific to a geological formation mainly localized to the distal part of the BurhiGandak River basin in Bihar, India. It focuses on arsenic occurrence, association, and mobilization in the groundwater system. Groundwater samples from twenty...

Evaluation of the tectonics-climate-anthropogenic stresses nexus on groundwater arsenic contamination in South Asia and South America

Comprehensive assessment of groundwater quality in mining-affected regions is crucial to sustainably manage water resources and protect public health and ecosystems. This study investigated the hydrogeochemical characteristics and water quality of 18 dug wells in the Korba basin, Chhattisgarh, India, an area heavily impacted by coal mining activiti...

Background Dengue virus (DENV) infection, spread by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, is a significant public health concern in tropical and subtropical regions. Among the four distinct serotypes of DENV (DENV-1 to DENV-4), DENV-2 is associated with the highest number of fatalities worldwide. However, there is no specific treatment available for dengue pat...

Background: Dengue virus (DENV) infection, spread by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, is a significant public health concern in tropical and subtropical regions. Among the four distinct serotypes of DENV (DENV-1 to DENV-4), DENV-2 is associated with the highest number of fatalities worldwide. However, there is no specific treatment available for dengue pa...

Salinity hinders the growth of many crops common in the diet, such as rice, wheat and maize when cultivated in coastal salinity areas. Given the limited availability of cultivable land and the increasing growth of the population, it is necessary to enhance productivity. In this paper, we present an innovative approach to adopting Halotolerant Plant...

Microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) have gained increasing attention in environmental research due to their ubiquitousness and potential impacts on natural environments and human health as per the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG-14 to address global threats where at least 12 SDGs, directly/indirectly impacts. Presen...

Reverse zoonosis reveals the process of transmission of a pathogen through the human-animal interface and the spillback of the zoonotic pathogen. In this article, we methodically demonstrate various aspects of reverse zoonosis, with a comprehensive discussion of SARS-CoV-2 and MPXV reverse zoonosis. First, different components of reverse zoonosis,...

Purpose of Review This study aims to review recent literature reporting wastewater-based surveillance (WBS) of the monkeypox virus (MPXV) with a major focus on sample collection, processing, and public health safety issues. Recent Findings Various studies revealed the presence of MPXV genetic markers in sewage, wastewater treatment plants, and dra...

medRxiv preprint 3 Highlights • Development of wastewater-based surveillance system based on on-site sanitation system for developing countries. • Association of different environmental parameters with the presence of SARS CoV-2 genetic material in wastewater. • Prediction of the viral concentration of sewage system using viral load and copy number...

Geogenic groundwater contaminants (GGCs) affect drinking-water availability and safety, with up to 60% of groundwater sources in some regions contaminated by more than recommended concentrations. As a result, an estimated 300-500 million people are at risk of severe health impacts and premature mortality. In this Review, we discuss the sources, occ...

Lake Victoria is the world's largest tropical lake and the third-largest water body, providing significant water resources for surrounding environments including the cultural, societal, and livelihood needs of people in its basin and along the White Nile. The aim of this study was to use decade-long time series of measured lake flow in the lake sys...

Most coal in India originates from the Korb basin (Chhattisgarh), where coal mines, thermal power, and aluminum plants operate. Groundwater in this region faces severe pollution due to land reclamation, leaching of coal-related contaminants, waste disposal , and industrial effluent seepage. This work presents results from monitoring groundwater pol...

Fluoride is essential for the human body and a global groundwater contaminant (the recommended WHO limit is 1.5 mg/L). The mobilization and genesis of fluoride depend on fluoride-bearing rocks (e.g., fluorite, fluor-apatite, biotite, etc.) that are a part of the natural geogenic process, which later contaminate the groundwater. More specifically, t...

Fluoride (F−) contamination in groundwater is a major challenge in many developing countries like Ghana. It is commonly observed that the heterogeneous nature of the geology plays a pivotal role in governing the fluoride mobilization in groundwater. Therefore, this study employed a multi-approach involving hydrogeochemistry and multivariate statist...

A paucity of robust water quality information limits the optimisation of safe and sustainable drinking water supplies in some parts of East Africa including in Uganda, although geogenic contamination (e.g. fluoride) of some groundwater sources has been previously reported [1, 2]. Here we bring together traditional monitoring, community science and...

Congo red (CR) dye is a synthetic azo dye expansively used in the textile industry, is discharged to aquatic environments, and is toxic to humans and aquatic flora. The performance of cationic amino-modified banana leaves (CMBL) for CR dye sequestration was evaluated first time in this study. The surface modification of CMBL was analyzed using Scan...

In recent years, microplastics (MPs), an emerging pollutant in groundwater, have raised public health concerns due to their long persistence and potential ecotoxicity. This review focuses on discussing the occurrence, fate, and transport of MPs in groundwater, along with their sampling, detection, size range, types, and potential sources and pathwa...

The largest monkeypox virus (MPXV) outbreak of the 21st century occurred in 2022, which caused epidemics in many countries. According to WHO, physical contact with infected persons, contaminated surfaces, or affected animals might be a source of this virus transmission. A febrile sickness including few symptoms found in MPX disease. Skin rash, lesi...

Septage refers to the semi-liquid waste material that accumulates in septic tanks and other onsite sanitation systems. It is composed of a complex mixture of human excreta, wastewater, and various solid particles. Septage is a potential source of water pollution owing to presence of high organic content, significant pathogen concentrations, and a r...

Arsenic (As) is a poisonous metalloid and recognized as a Group I human carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Arsenic often exists in groundwater and surface water, oceanic and inland deposits, rocks, soils, and biota at variable concentrations. Over the last few decades, As contamination has been augmented noticeabl...

Fluoride (F¯) contamination in groundwater is a major challenge in many developing countries like Ghana. It is commonly observed that the heterogeneous nature of the geology plays a pivotal role in governing the fluoride mobilization in groundwater. Therefore, this study employed a multi-approach involving hydrogeochemistry and multivariate statist...

Background Surgical site infections (SSIs) pose a global challenge, impacting patients and healthcare expenditures. This second-order meta-analysis endeavors to assess the efficacy of antibiotic sutures in averting SSIs by amalgamating data from various meta-studies. Materials and Methods This research adhered to the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. The qu...

Biochar, a promising carbon-rich and carbon-negative material, can control water pollution, harness the synergy of sustainable development goals, and achieve circular economy. This study examined the performance feasibility of treating fluoride-contaminated surface and groundwater using raw and modified biochar synthesized from agricultural waste r...

Global groundwater is frequently discovered to have high arsenic (As) concentrations, which is critically endangered and potentially toxic to aquatic organisms and humans. This work investigates As(V) adsorption using raw nanobiochar (RnBC) and activated magnetic nanobiochar (AMnBC), which are synthesized via pre-treating rice straw biomass with Zn...

The human health risk associated with the ingestion of arsenic (As) contaminated groundwater as drinking water has been highlighted as the “largest mass-poisoning in human history”. Recently, secondary As exposure pathways have been identified through food and cattle products. Broad-based epidemiological estimation of the populations at risk is onl...

Application of greener pretreatment technology using robust ligninolytic bacteria for short duration to deconstruct rice straw and enhance bioethanol production is currently lacking. The objective of this study is to characterize three bacterial strains isolated from the milieux of cow rumen and forest soil and explore their capabilities of breakin...