One of the numerous side effects of coal mining—depleting water table—has got a new ray of hope with the pat coming from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
The PMO in November last has handpicked the ozonification technology developed by Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFER) for waste water treatment that can quench the thirst of the residents of nearby townships and villages.
The technology, which unlike traditional method of water treatment, does not use chlorine for purifying abundant but unusable ground water available in mining areas. The project was developed under CSIR’s 11th five year plan titled as ‘Development of cost effective mine water reclamation technology for providing safe drinking water’, also the first of its kind in the country to convert mine water into potable.
“We have developed unique ozonification process for converting water reserves in mines into potable water. The untreated water is laden with suspended particulates, fluoride, arsenic and various other harmful pollutants dissolved into it that make it unfit for consumption or even for irrigation purposes. The technology has been selected by the PMO in November and it has instructed mine operators across the country including BCCl to adopt it for greater interest,” said Pradeep Kumar Singh, Director of the Dhanbad-based institute.
The institute under the project prepared quantifiable database of mine water discharges from Pootkee-Balihari coal mining area of Jharia coalfield and after developing it also set up a prototype.
“The process was validated through a prototype plant of 180 liter/hr capacity followed by design, installation and commissioning of a pilot plant of 4000 liter/hr capacity at Pootkee-Balihari project site in Jharia area. The plant can take care of suspended particulate matter, dissolved heavy metals, hardness and microbiological contaminants,” said Dr Siddharth Singh, Principal Scientist with CIMFER’s Environmental Management Group (EMG) that has worked on the project.
There are nine working mines of BCCl in the Jharia belt that altogether generate nearly 3.40 lakh gallon/minute of water. Nevertheless, less than even 10 per cent of the heavily polluted water is recycled and the rest is flown untreated into rivers, mainly into already gasping Damodar and its tributaries.
“The quantum of water going into rivers can meet substantial demand of locals, especially those residing in small townships nearby the mines. More often they struggle to meet their daily water requirement and we can help them into this besides, handling a huge environmental hazard effectively. The treated water is potable as well as can be used in farms,” added the Director.
In the meanwhile, BCCl has also agreed to adopt the technology and it is likely that Jharia area would see first commercial installation in the days to come. “Couple of days ago the BCCl has agreed to fund installation of large scale water purification plant. Our prototype can be upscaled and a purification plant of 50,000 liter/hr capacity can be installed,” said Abhay Kumar Singh, in-charge of EMG. Townships like Jharia, Kataras, Baghmara and Sindri would be immensely benefited through the plant.
CIMFER is of view that the technology is not just worthy for coal mines but can also be replicated into iron-ore, zinc, copper and stone mines with equally good effect.
