The three autonomous factors of public health concern are WASH, constituting water, sanitation, and hygiene. The availability of WASH facilities at schools is a little-researched aspect that might be a crucial enabler of academic success. The present study was carried out to evaluate the hygiene and sanitation practices like right-hand washing with soap (RHWWS), right tooth brushing twice a day (RTBTD), and open defecation (OD) free among the school children of Visakhapatnam of 6–11 years of age. About 110 schools were identified, which includes 56 urban, 21 semi-urban, and 33 rural schools in the Visakhapatnam district, from which 500 students were selected randomly. Only 31 (28%) schools were exposed to WASH-related involvements. In the studied schools, only 58% of them have adopted the WASH policy. The results relating to the hygiene practices among the selected schools were found to be significant but, overall, a bit low on criteria defined by the UN joint monitoring program in 2018. To our knowledge, this is the first study to use a cross-sectional trail to test the impact of school WASH facilities and practices among primary school children in Visakhapatnam. The results concluded that the proper sanitation and hygiene practices are required for school children.

Portable clean water consumption is the basic right of every individual. The major global concern is water pollution which can cause mortality. Change in physicochemical characteristics in drinking water is not only a pollution problem, but the presence of antibiotic-resistant microbes is also a significant issue. The study was carried out to assess the physicochemical and microbiological quality of the reservoir, municipality-supplied water, and bottled water. A total of 100 samples were collected from different income classes (higher, medium, and low) groups. The experiments were carried out based on the guidelines of APHA. In the present study, 40% of samples have been found to be contaminated with bacteria such as Escherichia coli, Vibrio cholerae, and Enterobacter aerogenes. Moreover, these bacteria also showed antibiotic resistance to certain drugs. The percentage of isolated bacterial strains was resistant to amoxicillin and ampicillin antibiotics. The statistical analysis of the Chi-square test states that there is a significant correlation between E. coli and other microbes (p ≤ 0.5). This study gives a piece of baseline information about the prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and focuses on the improvement of water from purification before reaching the consumer.

Drought has a significant impact on agricultural practices in arid and semi-arid regions, reducing the quality of soil and impairing crop productivity. Innovative strategies are required to improve soil health and utilize optimum resources to overcome this situation. Despite improvements in fertilizer technology, there remains an essential research gap in understanding the synergistic effects of nano-fertilizers and hydrogels in mitigating water scarcity and enhancing nutrient efficiency. The present study explored the ability of Nano DAP fertilizer and hydrogels to improve soil parameters and the productivity of Solanum lycopersicum L (tomato) under drought conditions of Ananthapuramu district of Andhra Pradesh for two consecutive years (2022-2024). Five amendment combinations were analyzed: a control, traditional DAP fertilizer, DAP with hydrogel, Nano DAP, and a combination of Nano DAP and hydrogel. Of all these treatments, Nano DAP with hydrogel has shown significant improvement (p<0.05), an enhanced water-holding capacity (78±0.85 & 79±1.22%), and a reduction in bulk density (1.18±0.051 & 1.15±0.03g/cc). Moreover, the treatment also improved the soil nitrogen by 199±15.92 & 220±29.1 kg/ha and organic carbon content (0.25±0.017 & 0.026±0.013%, p<0.05) respectively. The treatment also enhanced soil microbial activity, further improving micronutrient availability. The key findings display the potential of combining Nano DAP, hydrogel, and DAP with hydrogel as a sustainable approach to mitigate drought impacts, enhance soil properties, and improve agricultural productivity. The study emphasizes the need to further investigate nano-fertilizer and hydrogel technologies as scalable solutions for resilient and sustainable agriculture in drought-prone regions.