Impact of Mining on Water Regime in Jharia Coalfield India, its Management

摘要

Water is life, Much of the current concerns with respect to environment is focussed on water because of its importance in maintaining human health and health of ecosystem. In some regions mining becomes an unavoidable activity which tends to disturb this natural resource, both qualitatively and quantitatively. Mining below water-table invites water flowing into the excavation site from the surrounding strata (mainly aquifer). This requires continuous pumping out of ground water from the excavation site to facilitate mining. This results regional lowering of water table creating water scarcity and supply of contaminated (by materials released from strata) water from the pumping sites at mines as-well-as other wells in the region. The matter has been thoroughly studied in a premier coalfield in India, the Jharia coalfield. Study related to 24 sample locations in this field has been conducted in pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons of 2001 to identify the major water resource problems in the region, to know the extent of the problems in space and time and the respective causes.