Globally, the pandemic of COVID-19 has penetrated all spheres of human endeavors, and noteworthy is the tremendous increase in the volume of healthcare wastes generated in Nigeria. There has been an increase in medical waste materials produced as a result of the extensive use of both disposable personal protective equipment (PPE), such as face shields and nose and face masks, and highly infectious waste materials, such as contaminated syringes, needles, and soiled bandages from diagnosed positive cases. Despite the huge volume in waste generation, a standardized evaluation framework is currently lacking in the management of medical wastes in Nigeria. This study has developed a novel assessment framework for managing medical wastes, which is curated from the technical guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO). The applicability of the framework was examined on seven designated public and private-owned hospitals in Ota. The fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) approaches of multi-criteria decision analysis were utilized in modelling an evaluation framework for the objective of medical waste management. Carefully designed interview questionnaires, observations, and site visits were carried out to obtain data from healthcare professionals in Ota. Results show that waste segregation was practiced more decisively in private hospitals than public hospitals. Waste segregation is established as a key determinant in implementing an effective waste management system in any healthcare facility. The success of waste segregation in healthcare institutions is highly dependent on good hospital management, organizational policies, efficient budget planning for waste management, and the operational running cost. Disposal methods investigated were mostly open burning and incessant dumping for most public health care centers. Deficient waste management practices were observed in waste disposal, waste transportation, storage, and organizational policies. While the awareness and capacity building on occupational safety practices and environmental public health is widely known by health workers and waste handlers, compliance and enforcement are critical challenges. The validation of results using fuzzy TOPSIS and a sensitivity analysis shows a high degree of the consistency, stability, and robustness of the model. Findings from the present study can aid decision making, as this will benefit policy makers and key stakeholders in developing more comprehensive and effective medical waste management guidelines in Nigeria. In addition, future decision-making studies could augment the results from the current research by assessing the impact of the pandemic preparedness and response on medical waste management.

Plastic’s versatility is one reason why production or use has not decreased over the years. The production of plastic globally was 359 million metric tons as of 2018, and this number increased by 3.5% in 2019. Microplastics, which are tiny particles of various types and forms of plastic, can be found in cosmetics, fabrics, car parts, machinery, footwear,products packaging, polythene bags and so on. Over time, these particles, through the process of wear and tear of these various plastic products, indiscriminate disposal, runoffs, and erosion, find their way into water bodies from rivers and streams into larger water bodies like seas and oceans. These tiny non-biodegradable particles find their way into living organisms carrying along with them other harmful chemical contaminants. This study reviews the effects that microplastics found in marine environments have on public health in general. It covers the types and sources of microplastics and the various ways in which microplastics have affected human health and different aquatic species in the marine environment. The review showed all pointers of microplastics present in the environment to have negative impacts on the ecosystem. Certain research gaps are pointed out, like the integration of researchinto policies to help improve the environment and the standardization of dedicated procedures and methods of reporting microplastic pollution. Suggestions were made for possible solutions like the reduction of plastic use for product packaging, provision of biodegradable and eco-friendly materials as substitutes, and general public awareness on the harm of microplastic pollution in the immediate environement.

Bank erosion is an important source of sediment and phosphorus to inland fluvial systems and is generally responsible for more than half of the total watershed sediment export. Numerous studies have quantified bank erosion and the spatio-temporal variation of sediment flux in different watersheds. However, there is sparse research to date on the linkages between bank erosion/accretion and sediment export under different land uses, especially in rapidly evolving peri-urban watersheds. This research, therefore, integrated remote sensing techniques and repeated field survey of erosion pin plots to quantify bank erosion and sediment flux in the 80 km2 Nkisi River watershed (NRW), southeast Nigeria, over a three-year period. The impact of land use change on streambank erosion was evaluated by utilising remotely sensed Landsat datasets of 2003, 2010, 2016 and 2019. Geotechnical tests were used to characterise the lithologic properties of the banks, while the Bank Stability and Toe Erosion Model (BSTEM) was used to determine the stability of the banks under various hydrological conditions and mechanical properties of the riparian vegetation. Mean bank recession rates increased from 10.7 cm during the 2017–2018 monitoring period to 17.5 cm for the 2019–2020 monitoring period. The percentage of total watershed export ascribed to bank erosion in the three stream reaches varied from 6.6 to 44.9%. The high rates of bank erosion and accretion within the NRW were attributed to rapid changes in land use, which evolved from grassland and woodland to cropland, built-up and bare land. The BSTEM accurately predicted the high erosion rates of the streambanks and showed that riparian vegetation has a mechanical effect on bank stability. However, the mechanical effect diminishes as the depth to water table rises during high streamflow events.

Water quality evaluations of domestic wells are required to monitor its consumption suitability since its dependence is on an increasing rate in the study region. Therefore, the rationale for the study is to obtain the hydrogeochemical characteristics of water from domestic wells and their level of potability. In the current study, the hydrogeochemical footprints of twenty water samples obtained from deep wells located in residential buildings were analyzed for TDS, Turbidity, TSS, TH, Acidity, Alka, HCO3 −, CO3 2-, DO, NO2 −, NO3 −, SiO2, PO4 3-, SO4 2-, Br−, Cl−, F−, Ca2+, Fe2+, Mg2+, K+, Na+, EC and ranked using the entropy-based water quality index (EBWQI) to determine its drinking suitability.Water classification was achieved using hydrogeochemical facies and the ion exchange was obtained using biplots of important water quality parameters. The mean concentration of the water quality parameters mentioned above were 717.69, 46.11, 157.20, 224.81, 72.91, 64.06, 78.07, 0.01, 3.89, 0.89, 51.56, 16.50, 0.73, 32.87, 0.01, 174.41, 1.89, 58.91, 0.03, 19.41, 3.05, 72.82 mg/L and 1009.63 μS/cm, respectively. Benchmarking the results with the WHO 2017 standard, 10%, 85%, 10%, 45%, 20%, and 45% of the water samples surpassed the threshold for TDS, EC, DO, NO3 −, Cl−, and F−, respectively. The groundwater classification derived from the piper plot revealed 40% mixed type, 15% Na-Ca-Cl water type, 15% Na-Ca-Mg-Cl water type, 20% Ca-Na-Cl water type, and 10% Ca-Na-Mg-Cl water type, with Na and Cl dominating the hydrogeochemical facies. The geochemical activity governing the groundwater chemistry obtained from the plot of [Ca2+ + Mg2+] vs [HCO3 − + SO4 2−] showed silicate weathering and carbonate weathering in 5% and 95% of the water samples, respectively. Furthermore, the ion exchange activity based on [Na+ + K+ – Cl−] vs [(Ca2+ + Mg2+) – (HCO3 − + SO4 2–)], CAI-1 and CAI-2 plots supports reverse ion exchange. Generally, the chemical activities support rock-water and evaporation dominance within the sample location. The EBWQI ranking showed that 10% of the water samples are excellent, 20% are good, 40% are moderate, 10% are poor, and 20% of the water samples are abysmal for consumption. Therefore, the water situation in the study region requires adequate treatment strategies to foster healthy living for residents.