The Hindu : Other States / Orissa News : Mining will affect climate pattern: expert

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 12, 2007
ePaper

Other States

Other States - Orissa

Mining will affect climate pattern: expert

Staff Reporter

Loss of top soil in bauxite areas will have catastrophic consequences

The ore soils have better water retention capacity
Orissa has 65 percent of country’s bauxite reserve

BHUBANESWAR: Mining of bauxite ores in hill ranges of Orissa would adversely affect climate pattern and lead to drying up of water sources, said a renowned scientist of Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS) here on Wednesday.

Making a presentation on ‘Geo-hydrological aspects of bauxite mountains of Orissa’, R. Ajay Kumar Verma, project leader of CESS’ environment division, said the soil laterlite, which capped bauxite ore, had comparatively better water retention capacity than other soils. Deposits of bauxite ore is generally situated in the high hill ranges and characterised plateaus, Dr. Verma said

Bauxite mining involved excavation, drilling, blasting, operation of heavy machines, transportation, crushing , debris dumping and storage of explosives and all these would have adverse impact on environment, he said. The mining would result in modification of landscape, land erosion, change of water regime and ground water depletion, Dr. Verma said.

Terming that the soil took 500 years for formation, the scientist warned that if the topsoil was lost, it would prove to be irreversible loss. "Infiltration rate of rain water into laterlite soil varies from 10 mm per hour to 470 mm per hour which was high among other soils. Moreover, permeability rate in this kind of soil is between 0.30 mm and 1.1 mm per day, which is lower than other soil varieties," he said.

Low permeability

The low permeability was the main reason that water got recharged through some channels like streams even in summer season, the scientist said adding that this was the reason that streams originating from hill ranges having bauxite deposit were perennial. Existence of water source made most of these hill ranges rich in vegetation that influenced local weather and rainfall, the CESS scientist said.

Orissa possess 65 per cent of country’s bauxite ore reserve while the mineral is found in Kalahandi, Rayagada and Koraput districts. Besides public sector Nalco, private companies such as Vedanta Resource Plc, Utkal Alumina Industries Limited and Hindalco have proposed bauxite mining and to set up alumina refinery units in the State.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Other States