DANGER ZONE - Acid mine drainage threatens wetlands
Bahadurjeet Singh [email protected]
RUPNAGAR:

The acid mine drainage at Guru Gobind Singh Super Thermal Plant, Rupnagar, has posed a serious threat to the fragile ecology of the Rupnagar international wetlands.

It is being caused by haphazard and mindless dumping of coal mill reject and reject stones in a low-lying waterlogged area in the south western corner of the plant and has become a major source of pollution for the Sutlej.

The plant authorities allegedly dump these waste products in this large chunk of land, which lies at the foot of the ash dykes. The area is completely waterlogged as the water from ash dykes seeps and when this seeping water comes into contact with iron sulphides contained in the coal mill reject and reject stones, sulphuric acid is formed. This acid gets stored in the low-lying area, ultimately finding its way into the Sutlej through a drain and a part of it gets seeped into the ground water.

The effluents from these dumps degrade the water quality in the wetland in terms of lowering the PH of the water in the surrounding water streams and in increasing the level of total dissolved solids and some heavy metals.

The acid mine drainage takes place in coal mines and is a major cause of ecological disaster, unless measures are taken at the time of inception of coal mining projects to deal with waste products. But the alleged lack of concern on part of the thermal plant authorities has endangered the flora and fauna of the wetland.
Environmental activists, who have spotted this brazen destruction of natural habitat in a clandestine manner, are peeved at the role of the Punjab Pollution Control Board as well as the Punjab State Council of Science and Technology, the bodies responsible for taking regulatory and advisory measures to save the environment from such catastrophic destructions. Environmentalist Jaspreet Singh expressed concern over the adverse effect of acid mine drainage and demanded immediate remedial measures. He also urged environmentalist Balbir Singh Seechewal to intervene.

However, thermal plant officials seemed unaware of the problem of acid mine drainage. Deputy chief engineer (mechanical maintenance-2) Darshan Singh Ladhar said the coal mill reject was being stored in a dry place and not in a waterlogged area; therefore, there was no question of any acid mine drainage. He said the reject coal was never dumped permanently and was further sold off to outside parties.