Dr. BANDITA DEO IMPACT OF OPEN CAST COAL MINING ON WATER ENVIRONMENT-A CASE STUDY AT SOUTH BOLANDA COLLIERY, TALCHER, ORISSA

Bandita Deo
2017 July-Sept   unpublished
Mining operations contribute to water pollution through the discharge of mine waste into streams or water bodies and by leaching toxic substances from dumps to the water bodies. The mining activities affect agriculture and flora and fauna of the surrounding area. To study the impact of coal mining operation South Bolanda coal mine is taken for the example. In this study an attempt has been made to cover various sources of water pollution in South Bolanda open cast coal mine and the measurement
more » ... f pH and elemental status to assess the water quality degradation collected from in and around the mining area. Introduction Since mining activities are observed almost in every country all over the world to exploit natural, mineral and coal resources, environmental degradation caused due to mining is a global problem [8]. The dumping and digging process not only destroy the natural landscape but disturb the total ecosystem of the area. The adjoining river systems, land and air receive contaminants/pollutants during these mining operations. The intensive efforts for increasing annual coal production can cause serious deterioration and degradation in the quality of soil, water and air environment in particular [4, 5, 6, 7]. The mining activities affect the hydrology of the area in many ways. Mining operations contribute towards water pollution through the discharge of mine water into streams or water bodies and by adding toxic substances into water bodies. Chemical speciation of elements is important to bioavailability. Many studies examined the distribution of elements in coal ash basin waters [9]. The water contains elements leached from the coal ash may be insufficient concentrations to be toxic to biota. A large influence of coal mine activities on the chemical composition of the surface water and sediments was studied by Campaner et al., 2014 [3]. Acid mine drainage from the oxidation of sufides, mainly pyrite and also characterised by low pH and high concentration of SO 4 2- ,
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