Abstract
Generation of baseline information about ambient air quality of any given region assumes significance, when the area is 1) an active mine site, 2) proposed to be mined out in future, and 3) industrialization in the area is in fast pace. Ambient air quality monitoring (with respect to SPM, RPM, SO2, NOx and CO) was carried out in and around two mining complexes in western parts of Kachchh district in Gujarat to generate baseline air quality status of the area. This area has two major mine complexes and various large scale industrial projects (thermal power plants, cement plants and several ports and jetties) are also in pipeline. Ambient air sampling was carried out in eight locations within five km radial distance from two major mine sites, i.e. Panandhro and Mata-na-Madh, with four locations for each mine site. Air Quality Indexing was done for all the locations, since it is a simplest way for the prediction of ambient air quality status of any region with respect to industrial, residential and rural areas. Of the eight locations studied the air quality for six locations fell under fairly clean (Light Air Pollution, AQI 25-50) category, while the rest (rural areas in the region), had relatively better air quality and fell under clean (Clean Air, AQI 10-25) category.
Highlights
In India mining is one of the core industries contributing to the economic development and has detrimental environmental impacts, though unavoidable to some extent
There are three active mining sites in Western parts of Kachchh, i.e. Matana-Madh, Panandhro and Jadva, of which Panandhro and Mata-na-Madh lignite mine belong to Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC) and Jadva limestone mine belongs to M/S Sanghi Cements Ltd
Since the present investigation was first of its kind of environmental assessment study for this region, the present concentrations of the air quality parameters were compared with reported values from elsewhere in India (Table 5 [11,12,13])
Summary
In India mining is one of the core industries contributing to the economic development and has detrimental environmental impacts, though unavoidable to some extent. The region is bestowed with several mineral resources, viz. Rich mineral resources of the region have opened up the possibilities for the expansion of mining activities, industrialization and rapid socio-economic development. There are three active mining sites in Western parts of Kachchh, i.e. Matana-Madh, Panandhro and Jadva, of which Panandhro and Mata-na-Madh lignite mine belong to Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation (GMDC) and Jadva limestone mine belongs to M/S Sanghi Cements Ltd. Kachchh has 44.6 percent of Gujarat state’s reserves of lignite [1]. The production of lignite mine is 5.5 MTPA [2]. There was 24.4% increase in annual lignite production at Mata-na-Madh mining complex (Personal communication with GMDC officials) due to diminishing limited mineable reserve at Panandhro site and to meet rising demands in domestic market
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