ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION STATUS AS A RESULT OF LIMESTONE AND DOLOMITE MINING-

""',
Poll Res. 23 (3)-: 427-432 (2004)
Copyright @Enviromedia
Published in Pollution Research, 2004, Vol 23, Iss 3
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION STATUS AS A RESULT OF
LIMESTONE AND DOLOMITE MINING- A CASE STUDY
P.c MISHRA, H.B. SAHU AND R.K. PATEL
*P.G.Department of Chemistry, NIT, Rourkela, India
**Department of Mining Engg., NIT, Rourkela, India
ABSTRACT
Rapid industrial and developmental
activities have put the emphasis on opencast mining for
greater and economic recovery of minerals. But mining operations not only disrupt the natural
ecosystem in a significant way, but also bring about a number of health hazards and socioeconomic disturbances to the local people. In the present paper the air and water pollution aspects
of limestone and dolomite mines on the nearby locality has b~en investigated. It was observed that
the common parameters of air and water are within the prescribed limits. A number of people in
this area are affected by tuberculosis, which may be due to prolonged exposure to dust in mines.
INTRODUCTION
Mining is a vital industry for industrial
and
economic growth of any country. The development
of infrastructure and core sector is directly linked
with increased production of minerals, like coal for
power sector, iron ore for steel sector limestone for
cement for housing and infrastructure development.
With increased industrialization, urbanization and
other developmental activities; there is greater need
for increased production of minerals. The emphasis
therefore is now on surface mining which is
adopted for quick and economic extraction with
higher percentage
of recovery compared
to
underground mining. In fact bulk of the minerals
obtained in India now comes from opencast mines.
Some of the important minerals like limestone,
dolomite, iron ore, bauxite, granite, silica and
magnesite etc. are obtained exclusively by opencast
mining. Opencast mining is more damaging to the
~nvironment than underground mining. It starts
within a natural ecosystem and it not only disturbs
the existing ecosystems, but also generates an
artificial one, which has its own factors including
pollutants
and contaminants.
The important
environmental
problems that arise out of the
opencast mining operation are air, water and soil
pollution. Air pollution is brought about by the
suspended particulate matters generated from the
drilling, blasting, crushing and transportation
operations. The main problem of water pollution in
mining areas arises from the addition of fine dust,
oil and grease wastes and in some cases acidic
water and chemicals. In this paper various aspects
of air and water pollution a~d their effect on the
local habitat of a limestone and dolomite mine are
discussed.
Study Area
The small town of Biramitrapur is situated in the
Sundargarh district of Orissa, beside NH-23 and is
at a distance of about 35 KM. North of the Steel City
of Rourkela. In 19th century this mining town was
developed by British engaging the local people
through Bird's India Limited, Calcutta, which is
now called Bisra Stone Lime Company Limited
(BSL), Biramitrapur.
About the Mines
The deposit is complex type sedimentary deposit
and belongs to Biramitrapur stage of Gangpur series
of Indian Dharwar. It has a co-ordinate of N 22°15' E
Addrt!ss for Corresponding: Dr. RK. Patel, Lecturer, Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology,
Rourkela
- 769008,
Orissa E-mail:
rkpatel@nitr.ren.nic.in;
Phone:
0661-2476518-Ext-2301
(0) 0661-2472815
(R)
MISHRA ET AL
428
84°30'. The average dip of the limestone and
dolomite is 65° towards North. The general strike is
East-West and the strike length is 7.5 km. The
deposit occurs in the form of overlapping layers of
limestone and dolomite. The hangwall consists of
quartzite and the footwall of schists.
Stratigraphy
: Mica, Schists, Slates and Phyllites.
: Carbonaceous slates and Phyllites
: Limestones, Dolomites and cross
bedded Quartzites
Laingar stage
: Slates, Phyllitesand Schists
Raghunathpalli stage: Conglomerates, Quartzites, Slates
Ghoriajor stage
Kuarmunda stage
Biramitrapur stage
For convenience of mining, the deposit has been
divided into four mines, viz. Kaplas East, Kaplas
West, Gurpahar and Patpahar. There are very low
grade stones in between the limestone and dolomite
bands which means mining has to be carried out in
a selective manner. The estimated reserves of
~,
majority of the common people depend upon the
wells and ponds. It is noticed that many people in
the area suffer from gastroenteritis problem, which
may be due to higher concentration of Calcium and
Magnesium found in the drinking water. A number
of people in this area suffer from diseases like
Anemia, Asthma, Tuberculosis, Malaria, Jaundice
and a few people suffer from Cancer and other
diseases. However, tuberculosis is found most
commonly in this area. In fact cases of patients
having tuberculosis are reported every month.
Details of the major diseases causing death of
patients are presented in Table 1.
" An attempt has been made to study the water
pollution aspects by taking samples from drainage
water from the mines and also the drinking water
from the residential areas. Similarly, air samples
Table 1. Report of major diseases
Biramitrapur area in 2001
Month
limestone and "olomite are 375 MT and 265 MT
respectively. Th'e composition of limestone and
dolomite in these quarries are as given below:
Composition
Diseases
causing death
January
Parameters
February
Lime Stone
(CaCO3)
(%)
CaO
MgO
SiOz
AlzO3
FezO3
Total alkali
Loss on ignition
46
4
5
1.4
0.9
0.4
40
Dolomite (CaCO3,
MgCO)
(%)
28-30
19-20
6-7
1.4
0.9
0.4
45
The limestone and dolomite mines of BSL are
situated adjacent to the Birmitrapur Municipality
area. The population of this Mining town is about
29742 on the basis of 2001 census report and is
divided into eleven wards. The area is tribal
dominated and most of the people are living below
the poverty line. The total area of the town is 34.46
sq. Km. After winning the minerals, a number of
working mines have been abandoned by the mining
companies, which are now the main source of
drinking water for the local people. Though the
municipality with the help of PWD has provided
only few drinking water pipeline connections, the
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
causing
death in
No. of people
Age
Anemia
TB
Asthma
TB
Malaria
Cancer
Anemia
Asthma
TB
Malaria
Cancer
Asthma
1
1
1
3
2
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
50
22
55
50,20,30
76,45
60
20
80
40
22
60
TB
Cancer
Asthma
TB
TB
Malaria
Jaundice
TB
2
1
1
2
2
1
1
2
35,40
52
45
42,35
26,26
20
34
TB
Anemia
Pneumonia
Jaundice
TB
Malaria
Cancer
Anemia
Jaundice
TB
1
2
1
1
3
1
2
1
1
3
50
50,34
7 days child
3
28,48,18
-
-
10
10
10,35,22
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION STATUS AS A RESULT OF LIMESTONE AND DOLOMITE
were also collected from two stations, i.e. one near
the residential area nearer to the mines and another
in the mining area.
The samples were then brought to the laboratory for
physico-chemical analysis.
Parameters like Turbidity, pH, Temperature,
Conductivity, Total Dissolved Solids were measured
at the sampling site using water analysis kit model
191E. All the multi-probes were calibrated together
using the same standard procedures. All the other
parameters were determined as per the standard
methods of analysis of water by APHA, AWWA,
WPCF (1985, 16th edition), Trivedi and Goel (1984),
Manivaskanam (1986) and NEERI (1986).
For the study of mines drainage water some
parameters
like oil and grease, Ammoniacal
MATERIALS AND METIIODS
Water samples were collected using 3 litre
polythene bottles with stopper. Each of the bottles
were washed with 2% Nitric acid and then rinsed
with distilled water. The bottles were then
preserved in a clean place. Prior to sampling, the
bottles were rinsed thoroughly with the water of the
source from which the samples were to be collected.
Table
429
2.Physico-chemicalparameters of water samples
Parameters
Temperature
Drainage
water
300C
Tolerance
limit
-
Odour
U
-
pH
7.2
5.5-9.0
29
-
100
Nil
1.0
0.21
11.0
50
100
0.24
29
110
3.1
447
Nil
1.45
1.51
Dissolved PO41.58
Sulphide
0.89
NO3-- Nitrogen
Phenolic compounds Nil
Pestisides
5
30
250
10
500
0.2
2.0
5.0
2.0
10.0
1.0
Colour (Hazen)
Taste
Turbidity (NTU)
TSS
TDS
Total residual
Chlorine
Ammoniacal-N
Total Kjeldhal's
Nitrogen
Free Ammonia
BOD
COD
Oil and Grease
Hardness
Cyanide
Fluoride
Chlorides
Nil
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Mineral oil
-
Coliform
organisms (MP
N/1oo ml)
-
Sulphates
Township
Patpahar
Tube well
Tolerance limit (DW)*
Desirable
Permissible
300c
Nil
-
-
Nil
5
25
Normal
Normal
U
7.9
U
7
Agreeable
Nil
8
475
Nil
Nil
12
410
Nil
5
500
500
0.2
450
Nil
1.2
155
Nil
1.1
300
0.05
1.0
600
No relaxation
1.5
0.18
Nil
0.45
Nil
45
0.001
100
0.002
Absent
Absent
Absent
0.001
21
15
250
1000
400
0.03
300C
U
6.8-8.5
-
90
Not
traceable
66
Not
traceable
200
0.01
-
3
2
10.0
N.B. The units of all the chemical parameters except pH are in mg/L.
*U - unobjectionable, DW-drinking water
No
relaxation
10
500
2000
MISHRA ET AL
430
It may be observed from Table 2 that pH of water
is neutral to slightly alkaline in nature and it varies
from 7 to 7.9. Turbidity of the drinking water
sample are found to be nil. Similarly Residual
Chlorine is also found to be nil in all the samples
determined. The values of the parameters like Total
Suspended
Solids (TSS), oil and grease,
Ammoniacal nitrogen, Total Kjeldahl's nitrogen,
free Ammonia, BOD, COD, Dissolved Phosphates,
Sulphides of the mine drainage water are well
below the tolerance limit for industrial effluent
discharged. Similarly the values of the parameters
like Chlorides, TDS, Sulphates, Mineral oil and
Coliform organisms of the drinking water samples
of the residential areas are well below the tolerance
limit for drinking water. However, the value of the
parameters
like Cyanides, Fluorides, Nitrate
Nitrogen are well below the tolerance limit in both
drainage and the drinking water samples. The value
of Hardness is very high in the mines drainage and
township water and varies from 447 to 450 mg/L. It
exceeds the desirable limit (300 mg/L), but is within
the permissible limit (500 mg/L).
The survey of heavy metal content in the water is
of great concern because of its high potential toxicity
to the various biological forms. The results of heavy
metals analysis of all water samples along with their
tolerance limits are given in Table 3.
Metal ions and their complex exhibit a wide of
the toxicity to the organisms that ranges from sub
lethal to lethal depending upon the time of exposure
Nitrogen, Total Kjeldahl's Nitrogen, Free Ammonia,
BOD, Dissolved phosphates, Sulphides has been
determined. Similarly for the study of drinking
water of the residential areas parameters
like
Turbidity, Pesticides, Total Hardness, Calcium,
Magnesium, Chlorides, Total Dissolved Solids
(TDS), Sulphates, Conductivity, Mineral oil and
Coliform Organisms has been determined.
Similarly, monitoring of Ambient air quality
(AAQ) was undertaken by collecting air from each
sampling stations and the sampling was carried out
for a period of 24hr during each sampling. Samples
were analysed for S02 using West-Gaeke method for
air samples using Systronics spectrophotometer at a
wavelength of 560 nm. NO. samples were analysed
using
Jacob
Hoseiser
modified
method
spectrophotometer at 540 nm. For SPM, What man
GF / A filter paper was used in Hi-volume sampler
model no. 486.
The flow rate of air was maintained at 1.0 m3/
min. The Hi-volume sampler was calibrated at the
sampling site to avoid error due to shift.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The different physico-chemical parameters of the
collected samples were analyzed and these are
presented in Table 2 along with the tolerance limits
for mining drainage and water in residential areas
for drinking
[Schedule-VI
of Environment
(protection) Rules, 1986; IS : 10500, 1919].
Table 3. Heavy metals in the water samples (mg/L)
Tolerance
Metals
Drainage
Township
limit
water
Arsenic
Mercury
Lead
Cadmium
Chromium
Calcium
Magnesium
Total Chromium
Copper
Zinc
Selenium
Nickel
Iron
Vanadium
Manganese
Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
0.2
0.01
0.1
2
80
60
0.015
0.016
Nil
Nil
Nil
0.52
Nil
Nil
2.0
3.0
5.0
0.05
3.0
3.0
0.2
1.0
Patpahar
tube well
Tolerance limit
Desirable
Permissible
Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
90
56
Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
45
10
0.05
0.001
0.05
0.01
0.05
75
30
Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
Nil
0.05
5.0
0.01
-
0.3
Nil
-
0.24
Nil
-
0.3
0.1
No
No
No
No
No
relaxation
relaxation
relaxation
relaxation
relaxation
200
100
-
1.5
15.0
No relaxation
-
0.1
0.3
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION STATUS AS A RESULT OF LIMESTONE AND DOLOMITE
and the prevailing conditions in the ambient water
(Goel, 1997). Some metals such as Copper, Zinc, and
Iron are essential for biological system while Lead,
Cadmium, Chromium, Nickel, Arsenic, Selenium
and Mercury are highly toxic even in low
concentration. Copper is widely distributed and is
an essential metal required by all living organism, in
the enzyme systems, but at higher concentration it
works essentially as a pollutant.
Metals like
Arsenic, Mercury Lead, Cadmium, Chromium,
Copper, Zinc, Selenium, Nickel and Manganese are
absent in all the water samples analysed. In all the
samples Iron is found in very small traces and is
well below the prescribed limit. For drainage water
and Township water, Calcium and Magnesium
exceeds the prescribed limit i.e. 75 and 50 mg/L
respectively. However, for tubewell water these
metals are well below the prescribed limit. Total
Chromium is well below the prescribed limit in
drainage water sample i.e. 0.015 mg/L.
The ambient air quality (AAQ) data with respect
to the th1ee parameters are presented in Table 4 and
the ambient air quality standards
of Central
Pollution Control Board (CPCB) are given in Table 5.
It was observed from table 4 that the average of
suspended particulate matter of both the sampling
points are within the permissible limit for the
residential areas, i.e. 140 (~g/m3 (24 hr average,
Table 5). The average for sulphur dioxide and oxides
of Nitrogen concentration are within the permissible
limits i.e. 60 (~g/m3 and 60 ~g/m3 respectively (24
hr average, Table 5).
Table 4.Average value of SPM,502 and NOx
Sampling
SPM
stations
(!J.g/m3)
Residential area 115.7
Mining area
135.8
502
(!J.g/m3)
3.80
4.50
Table 5. Ambient air quality standards
Pollution Control Board (CPCB)
Sampling
stations
Industrial
Residential
Sensitive area
SPM
(!J.g/m3)
500
300
200
140
100
70
(8 hr)
(24 hr)
(8 hr)
(24 hr)
(8 hr)
(24 hr)
502
(!J.g/m3)
120
80
80
60
30
20
(8 hr)
(24 hr)
(8 hr)
(24 hr)
(8 hr)
(24 hr)
NO
(!J.g/~3)
2.60
2.70
of Central
NO x
(!J.g/m3)
120
90
80
60
30
20
(8 hr)
(24 hr)
(8 hr)
(24 hr)
(8 hr)
(24 hr)
431
CONCLUSION
It may be observed from the above study that most
of the pollutants are below the prescribed limit. The
cases of patients having tuberculosis every month
may be because of the exposure of the patients to
dust for long periods of time, though the air
pollutants are within the limit. Since the life of the
mines is very long, the mining authority should
plan and implement comprehensive environmental
protection measures. A major problem in these areas
is the non-planning of the dumping site in the initial
stages of the mining. The waste materials should be
stored in planning dumping sites, or else they can
be dumped in the mined out areas. Dust masks
should be provided to all the persons engaged in
operations like drilling, mineral crushing etc. which
produce large quantities of dust. Water should be
sprinkled with water sprinklers on the haul roads
and crushing sites at regular intervals to minimize
the emission of dust. The dust from these sites
should also be removed at regular intervals. The
drainage water should be diverted away from the
populated area and biological analysis as well as
regular monitoring of drainage water should be
done by sophisticated instruments. The mining
authority should think of developing a green belt all
around the mining area.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The Authors are thankful to Prof. S.K. Sarangi,
Director, NIT, Rourkela for his permission to publish
the paper. The authors are also thankful to Prof.
K.M. Purohit, Professor and head; and Prof. B.
Pradhan, Dept. of Chemistry, N.I.T., Rourkela for
their encouragement and suggestions.
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