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The incessant growth in urbanization, and the population explosion associated with it, has resulted in an increased discharge in sewage disposal lagoons and has led to their overloading. This results in the improper functioning of these lagoons, which greatly affects the treatment of sludge and wastewater. The influents, which carry along with them a huge load of substance, referred to as socioeconomically generated sediments (SeGSs), substantially reduce the capacity of the lagoons and the retention time of the sewage water and sludge. This situation poses a major challenge to municipal engineers and town planners, and to overcome it, either periodic or once-per-lifetime desiltation of these lagoons is warranted. However, in present-day megacities, there are several concerns associated with the desiltation process, viz., selection of the most economical and efficient technique, the availability of dumping ground(s), and transportation of the SeGSs to these dumping grounds. This is where utilization of SeGSs as a manmade resource could be a good initiative towards sustainable development. However, this endeavor entails a holistic understanding of the SeGSs by conducting detailed investigations to characterize them based on their physical, chemical, morphological, and microbial attributes before postulating a strategy for their sustainable utilization. With this in view, extensive sampling of the SeGSs from sewage disposal lagoons located in the western part of India was conducted followed by their very comprehensive characterization. Details of the methodologies adopted for this exercise were presented in this manuscript, and recommendations were made to utilize SeGSs for sustainable development in the most efficient manner.

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Over the years, the field of geotechnical engineering focused on physical, chemical and mechanical aspects of the geomaterials. However, recent developments in environmental geotechnics have highlighted the impact of biological processes on geo-materials and their performance. Also, the present day geotechnical problems favour biological interventions to develop eco-friendly and sustainable technology. In view of this, the present study is a preliminary investigation on the impact of microbial loading on fine-grained soils. In addition, a protocol has been developed to establish ‘bio-geo interface’ between bacteria and the geo-material. However, long term studies are demanded in this direction for in-depth understanding of the mechanism for development of prospective application.

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