DUST MITIGATION EMPLOYING A PROGRAM BASED APPROACH

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Of all the natural resources being taxed by the needs of the mining and oil & gas industries, possibly the most important is the expanding demand for water resources. As water becomes scarcer, and increasingly important, new technologies are needed to find innovative ways to preserve this precious resource. In Chile, for example, the mining industry is investing billions of dollars to build desalination plants and pipelines; bringing ocean water as far as 200 kilometers inland to meet demand and maintain operations. It is a wide-ranging crisis for that nation and a top priority for their government and economy. It has been reported that water managers in 40 states expect water shortages in some portion of their states in the next 10 years.1 In the U.S., as more and more communities continue to be built, greater requirements on the current water infrastructure is generated. Water demand is projected to increase by 55% globally between 2000 and 2050. The increase in demand will come mainly from manufacturing (+400%), electricity (+140%) and domestic use (+130%). In the face of these competing demands, there will be little scope for increasing water for irrigation.2 For 25 percent of people and operations that rely on water from aquifers, this source is being consumed at a rate that will create significant problems meeting the demand in as few as two generations.3 There are three major areas of water usage for dust control in mining and oil & gas industries: material handling (process), non-traffic areas (wind erosion), and traffic areas (roads and large surfaces). Each of these areas could have an article dedicated to dust mitigation solutions; however, the one area that all mine and oil & gas facilities have in common is the unpaved haul road and light vehicle access road. This article will focus on controlling dust on the drivable surface and will show that implementing a dust mitigation program will not only save water resources, but also can become a source for expense savings.