Soumya Kar; Rajiv Gupta
Abstract
Pandemics have threatened human civilization time and again. Currently, the whole world is dealing with COVID-19, a never seen situation in a hundred years, after the deadly Spanish Flu during 1918-1920. With no specific medicines or vaccines, the best way to keep infections under control is by maintaining ...
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Pandemics have threatened human civilization time and again. Currently, the whole world is dealing with COVID-19, a never seen situation in a hundred years, after the deadly Spanish Flu during 1918-1920. With no specific medicines or vaccines, the best way to keep infections under control is by maintaining personal hygiene and social distancing, as per WHO guidelines. Hygiene and sanitization are ensured with clean water, a highly stressed resource in today's times. In this perspective, we try to cover the immediate management of water resources and sanitation facilities in stalling the spread of the pandemic. Further, suggestions regarding robust water and sanitation infrastructure and management practices have been discussed that can be adopted by the administration and modified as per local requirements. This pandemic is no less than a disaster, though not natural, but ecological. Past epidemics are pointing towards an increase in the occurrence of a public health crisis of current magnitude and more. This calls for a paradigm shift towards development and preparedness.
Ajaya M. Ramachandra; Rajiv Gupta
Abstract
The Indian Construction industry, which contributes to 8-10% of the country's GDP, is suffering from an unprecedented crisis in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Indian Government is facing a strict trade-off between preventing and containing the spread of Coronavirus on the one hand and revitalizing ...
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The Indian Construction industry, which contributes to 8-10% of the country's GDP, is suffering from an unprecedented crisis in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Indian Government is facing a strict trade-off between preventing and containing the spread of Coronavirus on the one hand and revitalizing the economic activities which have come to complete halt/resumed partially depending on the zone to which an area depends on the other side. Impact of the lockdown on the industry, stimulus measures announced by the Indian Government, and some other actions recommended by Industry experts' for the revival of the Construction sector are discussed in this paper. The detailed specific guidelines to be adopted by the site personnel for safely resuming the site work are presented for the benefit of Industry practitioners. Experimental study results on the stability of SARS-CoV-2 virus on surfaces of different materials are presented. Also, the potential and suitability of Construction material and technology for overcoming the current challenges posed by the pandemic is discussed. The main objective of the paper is to understand the current precarious situation of the Construction industry and the strategies to overcome it for moving forward.
Rajiv Gupta
Abstract
Water is the quintessential element of life. In the arid zones like Rajasthan, India, rainfall is scanty and ground water table is too low to satisfy the needs of living beings. One of the water sources is harvesting rain. Though the rainwater does not have its own contaminants but when it touches the ...
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Water is the quintessential element of life. In the arid zones like Rajasthan, India, rainfall is scanty and ground water table is too low to satisfy the needs of living beings. One of the water sources is harvesting rain. Though the rainwater does not have its own contaminants but when it touches the surface, it gets contaminated (physically, chemically and biologically). The water thus harvested is used for drinking/ domestic purposes. Drinking water need to be freed from microbial/ disease. Literature indicates the usage of bacteria for self-healing concrete but no study indicates the use of bacteria, Bacillus Licheniformis (BL) or Bacillus Subtilis (BS), for the purification of water. These bacteria can survive high temperatures and can exist in spore form to resist harsh environments or in a vegetative state when conditions are good. In present study two bacteria BL and BS are tested. These bacteria feed on the organic contaminants present in water and produce harmless end products. Cultured bacteria are mixed in concrete to make slabs or sprayed on plain slabs with different combinations. The efficiency is analysed by testing the polluted water samples before and after passing through the slab. Results indicate that water is potable.
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