Analysis of Water Quality in Mines and Its Effect on Health

Abstract

Mining is the process of extraction of ore from the earth crusts and has an adverse impact on environment. As no industrialization is possible without mining, it cannot be stopped. The damages incurred due to mining on environment are high and steps are taken to bring all spheres (Lithosphere, Hydrosphere and Atmosphere) to normalcy. So an environmental study of all spheres becomes very much essential in mining. In this paper, study is confined to hydrosphere. As water is open source, it is more contaminated due to mining. Different mining operations have different impact on water bodies. The mining operations depend on the type of ore and the topology of the area. Hence, the detrimental effects of mining are different in scale on water bodies and the aquatic life associated with them. This paper deals with effect of mining of different ores and its effect on water bodies. Water samples from different mines (Coal Mine - Samaleshwari coal mine MCL, Iron Ore Mine - Kiriburu Iron Ore Mines, Limestone and Dolomite Mines - OCL, Rajgangpur and Chromite Mines - Tata Steel, Sukinda) are collected and experimentally investigated. The samples are analysed with a series of physical and chemical tests and various parameters like pH, chloride, total hardness, turbidity, salinity, nitrate, TDS, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, biological oxygen demand, metal contamination etc. are studied which decide the pollution level of water body. After the analysis of water samples, correlation between the ore types and water pollutants are found out.