Impacts of stone mining and crushing on environmental health in Dwarka river basin

Abstract

The present work intends to explore the impact of stone mine and crushing on environmental components in the Middle catchment of Dwarka river basin of Eastern India. Stone dust produced from the crusher units (∼10–11 tons/day) is not only injurious for human health but also other valuable components of the environment like air, water, soil and forest qualities. In consequences of this, temperature is raised by 1–1.5 °C, concentration of particulate matter (PM 10) is reached to >180 mg/m³ in the lower atmosphere, degradation of vegetation health, qualitative degradation of soil (high alkalinity, low organic carbon) and deterioration of water quality (high chemical oxygen demand, biochemical oxygen demand, low dissolved oxygen), 15%–60% loss of agriculture productivity, loss of fish productivity, noise emission beyond extreme permissible limit (>85 dbA) are identified. River bed encrusting, capturing river channel, quality deterioration of river water is also very evident.

Keywords:

• Stone crushing and mining
• LST
• PM 10
• water quality
• soil health
• vegetation quality

Acknowledgements

We would like to extend to USGS for providing Landsat imageries. We also extremely thankful to Susanta Mahato, Sk Ziaul, Swapan Talukadar, Tamal Kanti Saha and Sandipta Debanshi for their assistance during our research work. The authors are also grateful to anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions.

Disclosure statement

The authors whose names are listed declare that they have NO conflict of interest regarding the order of authorship and any other matter of this research paper. They also declare that no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest (such as honoraria; educational grants; participation in speakers’ bureaus; membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest; and expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements), or non-financial interest (such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs) in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.