Pollution hotspots and potential impacts on land use in the Mohmand Marble Zone, Pakistan

Abstract

Marble Processing Plants (MPP) are included in the list of environmentally unfriendly units since they generate a large amount of waste as sawdust, marble debris, and sludge. The produced waste causes environmental problems for the flora and fauna both aquatic and terrestrial environments. This paper is based on a geospatial survey modeling, where pollution hotspots are identified through geospatial proximity analysis. Substance Flow Analysis (SFA) quantitatively examines the material inputs and outputs of MPP products. The integration of the quantitative assessment and geospatial survey presents a conclusive model of the MPPs in proximity to different land-use classes including agriculture, water bodies, settlement, and barren land. Due to the presence of massive marble reserves in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, the area is passing through a worst ecological implication phase. The marble-processing plants generate huge quantity of waste as marble stone in irregular pieces and slurry. More than 150 marble-processing plants in the study area are contributing to such environmental damages in different forms. Currently, no proper management system exists to handle this discharged/dumped marble waste. The study describes the pollution hotspots and their potential impacts on different segments of the environment. This approach can be used worldwide in environmental monitoring and planning, as a decision support tool.