Abstract
Coal mining and ancillary activities have the potential to cause water pollution characterized by acid mine drainage, acid mine leachates, extreme pH conditions and heavy metal contaminations. In the present work, 33 water samples in premonsoon and 34 water samples in monsoon were collected from the surface water bodies of Ib Valley coalfield, India for hydrogeochemical analysis. In premonsoon, pH, TSS, Turbidity, DO, BOD, COD, Magnesium, Cadmium, Selenium, Nickel, Aluminum and in monsoon, pH, TSS, Turbidity, DO, BOD, COD, Iron, Cadmium, Selenium, Nickel and Aluminum were nonconforming to the permissible limit set by the Bureau of Indian Standards, World Health Organisation and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India. The average BOD/COD ratio of less than 0.6 in both seasons indicated Ib valley coalfield water was not fairly biodegradable. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that significant seasonal variation (p < 0.05) was observed in the hydro-chemical parameters viz. TSS, turbidity, redox potential, acidity, total hardness, bicarbonate alkalinity, chloride, sulfate, nitrate, sodium, calcium, magnesium, iron, cadmium, chromium and magnesium during the entire sampling period. Whereas, no significant seasonal variation (p > 0.05) was observed in pH, EC, TDS, DO, BOD, residual chlorine, COD, oil and grease, fluoride, potassium, zinc, copper, selenium, nickel, aluminum, boron, silica, temperature, salinity, cyanide and phenol. Water Quality Index revealed that 39.39% and 35.29% samples belong to poor water quality category in premonsoon and monsoon, respectively. As per Heavy Metal Pollution Index, Degree of Contamination (Cd) and Heavy metal evaluation index, medium degree of pollution were exhibited by 51.52%, 30.30% and 45.45% samples in premonsoon and 20.59%, 35.29% and 26.47% samples in monsoon. Whereas, 5.88%, 2.94% and 5.88% samples were having high degree of pollution in monsoon and 15.15% samples caused high degree of pollution with respect to Cd in premonsoon. However, EC, Na%, PI, SAR and RSC values suggested that the water can be used for irrigation. Water type of the region had been found to be Ca–Mg–Cl–SO4 by Piper diagram.
Highlights
Coal continues to be one of the major sources of non-renewable energy
This research aims to assess the seasonal variations in concentrations of various water quality parameters in mines sumps, treatment plants, river and ponds to ascertain the suitability of water for drinking and irrigation
The results are subjected to One-Way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Correlation Analysis and Principal Component Analysis
Summary
Coal continues to be one of the major sources of non-renewable energy. To meet the increased demand for industrial sectors such as steel, power, cement there is a continuous increase in coal production in our country, and there is greater stress on opencast mines to achieve the target. Coal mining is carried out broadly by two methods, viz. Opencast mining technique is the preferred method and contributed to 91.22% of India’s total coal production in 2013–2014 (Provisional Coal Statistics 2013–2014). The total production of coal for 2016–2017 was estimated at 724.71MT (Ministry of Coal 2016–2017). With increase in depth of mine, the workings in many opencast
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