Impact on Environment by Mining Essay

whole overviewRainforests be the biggest source of oxygen, wood and medicines on this earth. Amazon rainforest is known for on the wholeuvial gold deposits. Gold is found both in river channels and at the banks of the river later floods (floodplains). Hydraulic excavation techniques atomic number 18 utilize for mining gold. The regularity involves blasting at the banks of the river. This has caused irreversible damage to trees, birds and animals. While separating the sediment and mercury from the gold-yielding gravel deposits, small-scale miners who atomic number 18 less equipped than industrial miners, may ignore waive of some mercury into the river. This mercury enters the food twine through aquatic animals and their predators. Highly poisonous compound cyanide is alike used to separate gold from sediment and shudder. In spite of all precautionary measures, it sometimes escapes into the surrounding environment. Those who eat fish are at greater risk of ingesting su ch toxins.Read moreBad effect of Festivals on EnvironmentEffect on LandDeforestation mining requires considerable areas of grime to be cleared so that the earth could be dug into by the miners. For this reason, huge-mouthed-scale deforestation is required to be carried pop in the areas where mining has to be done. at any rate clearing the mining area, position in the adjoining areas in like manner needs to be cut in order to construct roads and residential facilities for the mine workers. The human community brings along with it other activities that harm the environment. For example, various activities at coal mines release dust and gas into the air. Thus, mining is one of the major causes of deforestation and pollution. breathing out of Biodiversity The forests that are cleared for mining purposes are home to a large number of organisms. Indiscriminate clearing of the forests leads to loss of habitat of a large number of animals. This puts the survival of a large numbe r of animal species at stake. The cutting down of trees in itself is a big threat to a number of plants, trees, birds and animals growing in the forests. Pollution Despite measures being interpreted to release the chemical waste into the nigh rivers through pipes, a large amount of chemicals still leak out onto the land. This changes the chemical composition of the land. Besidesthis, since the chemicals are poisonous, they make the crud unsuitable for plants to grow. Also, the organisms that live in the soil find the polluted environment hostile for their survival.Effect on wet systemPollution Chemicals like mercury, cyanide, sulfuric acid, arsenic and methyl mercury are used in various stages of mining. Most of the chemicals are released into nearby wet bodies, and are responsible for pee pollution. In spite of tailings (pipes) being used to dispose these chemicals into the water bodies, possibilities of leakage are always there. When the leaked chemicals slowly get through t hrough the layers of the earth, they reach the groundwater and pollute it. Surface run-off of just soil and rock debris, although non-toxic, can be harmful for vegetation of the surrounding areas. Loss of aquatic Life Release of toxic chemicals into the water is obviously harmful for the industrial plant and fauna of the water bodies. Besides the pollution, mining processes require water from nearby water sources. For example, water is used to wash impurities from the coal. The result is that the water message of the river or lake from which water is being used gets reduced. Organisms in these water bodies do not have enough water for their survival.River dredging is a method adopt in case of gold mining. In this method, gravel and colly is suctioned from a particular area of the river. After the gold fragments are filtered out, the remaining mud and gravel is released back into the river, although, at a location different from where they had been taken. This disrupts the inwro ught flow of the river that may cause fish and other organisms to die. Previously inhumed coat sulfides are exposed during mining activities. When they come in ghost with the atmospheric oxygen, they get converted into strong sulfuric acid and metal oxides. Such compounds get mixed up in the local waterways and back up local rivers with heavy metals.Spread of DiseasesSometimes the liquid waste that is generated after the metals or minerals have been extracted is disposed in a mining pit. As the pit gets filled up by the mine tailings, they become a stagnant pool of water. This becomes thebreeding ground for water-borne diseases causing insects and organisms like mosquitoes to flourish.Examples of the environmental Impact of dig1. Environmental Impact of Mining In GuyanaIn 1995, in Guyana, more than four billion liters of waste water that contained cyanide, slipped into a tri just nowary of the Essequibo when the tailings dam, which was filled with cyanide waste, collapsed. All t he fish in the river died, plant and animal life was completely destroyed, and floodplain soils were heavily poisoned, making the land useless for floriculture. The main source of inebriation water for the local pot was also polluted. This was a major set-back for the eco-tourism industry on the river. When trees are cut (forest clearing for the construction of roads and mines, wood for the immigrated the great unwashed, workers, etc.) and water sources are contaminated, animal populations migrate or die. Moreover, hunters are hired to feed the people working at the mining sites.2. Mining in GoaIllegal mining in Goa is being projected as a bigger filch than Bellary. While revenue losses from illegal mining has been estimated at approximately Rs 3,000 crore, the loss by way of damage to the environment and loss of dungeon has not been estimated. Take the instance of Caurem village in Quepem taluka in southward Goa. It has 2,000 families whose farms have been destroyed by illeg al mines operating in the area. The congest from mining has entered the fields which now resemble a large quagmire. Tukaram Velip, a resident says that the perennial stream that irrigated the village fields is polluted and agriculture has been completely destroyed. People are left with no means of earning their living, he says.Most of the mines in the evidence are concentrated in four talukasBicholim in north Goa, and Sattari, Sanguem and Quepem talukas in south Goa. Activists say that an estimated 100,000 people living in the villages in these four talukas are affected. Besides loss of livelihood, they are also suffering from the adverse effects of air noise and waterpollution.Mining has caused irreversible damage to forests, agriculture, fisheries and water aquifers, says Abhijit Prabhudesai, member of Goyencha Xetkarancho Ekvott (GXE), a non-profit in Margaon city. He says the judicature has allowed mining even in forest areas despite the nominal head of wildlife. The mining has also affected the Salaulim dam on the Salaulim river in Sangeum taluka, which supplies imbibing water to half the states population, besides providing water for irrigation and to industries. Over 20 mines are operating in the vicinity of the dam. Heavy choke has settled in the dam reservoir because of mining.An official in the state water resources department admits that mining has damaged the states water resources and says the department is now reassessing the life span of the Salaulim dam. The dam was commissioned in the 1970s with an expected life span of 100 years. A analyze conducted by The Energy Resources Institute (TERI) in 1994 showed excess iron and atomic number 25 levels in the Salaulim reservoir water. This was when mining was at a much scorn scale as compared to present level of mining. We have repeatedly asked the government to conduct a study on water availability and quality, but nothing has been done till date, says Prabhudesai.3. Environmental Impacts Of Mining On Bundelkhand neck of the woodsIn the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh, mining has had a huge negative encroachment on the environment. A Study was done to quantitatively evaluate the completion of the impact and the results were disappointing. The desirable limit of Fe is 0.3 mg/l and supreme permissible limit is 1.0 mg/l as per Indian standards. If water content more than these limit gives brackish color and bitter or metallic taste, therefore may not be use for drinking purposes. Concentrations of Cu in GW and SW samples varies from 0.029 to 0.088 mg/l and 0.039 to 0.062 in all the three seasons indicates that samples have more than permissible limit of Cu (