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| Stone crushers are hazardous to environment and human health | | | Azhar Sohil
Stone crushing is an important industrial sector in the country engaged in producing crushed stone of various sizes depending upon the requirements which acts as raw material for various construction activities such as construction of roads, railways, sleepers, highways, bridges, buildings, hospitals shopping complexes and canals etc. This sector is estimated to be providing direct employment to over 50,000 people engaged in various activities such as mining, crushing plant, transportation of mixed stones and crushed products. Stone crushers are primarily small scale industries mostly owned and operated by less educated individuals and are scattered all over the country. This sector primarily being an unorganized sector and has only local level (district/region) associations. In the absence of any centralized national of state level association, the source to get a list of stone crushers in the state was identified as state pollution control board. Stone dust is a primary aerosol and it is released directly from the source. This primary aerosol has a detrimental effect on people and environment including flora and fauna. For example changed pH and productivity, formation of haze reducing visibility in the surrounding areas, destruction of habitat, damage of natural resources, like valuable vegetation and wild lives, promotion of spreading various diseases etc. Suspended particulate matter maybe effecting more people globally then any other pollutant on a continues basis. Many studies have shown that there is a significant association of SPM suspended particulate matter with a number of cardiovascular and respiratory health endpoints including mortality, hospital visits, respiratory illness, physiological changes in pulmonary function etc. The present situation of stone crushers in around Srinagar reflects the gloomy and lawlessness situation promoting the rapid growth of stone crusher industry though it seems a small investment project but from pollution point of view it is categorised as highly polluting industry by state pollution control board. It poses major threat to the adjacent villages and the workers. Mostly there unit work as organised sector without any legal compliance and social responsibilities, the village head people will collect money from the stone crusher management by warning them to close down the stone crushers, by keeping in view the warnings the management pays lump sum of amount to shut down their mouth hence the poor and illiterate people do not get any benefit, but loosing their health because of dust of stone and concrete. Hence government should and must take appropriate steps for rural people who are residing nearby villages. 2.Material and method
2.1..study area. Srinagar is one of the most important districts out of 20 districts of jammu and Kashmir massif occupies almost 300 kilometres of the northern plains of India. Srinagar is located in between two hills, the shankaacharya hill or takht. I. Suleiman hill and the hariparbat hill. The city got destroyed many times due to natural disasters. The city is located on the two sides of the river Jehlum. The total area of Srinagar is 114 square meters and it is located at an elevation of 5200 feet. The present study of district according to survey of India covering 200 square kilometres. Srinagar falls under humid and subtropical climate with two main seasons specially monsoon and dry. Mining and rock crushing are the major essential activities that provides the raw material for society as well. Srinagar is known as one of the important granite mining centres in the kashmir region. The study area include huge number of stone crushers each with an everyday crushing capacity around 35 tons operating very close to each other by the side of a quarry. The extent of the area is 2.4 kilometres square for quarrying and 1km2 for stone crushing operations. 3...Methodology for air quality monitoring... Respirable dust sampler RDS. APM 460 was used for collecting air sample for different locations of the study area. In the present study suspended particulate matter SPM respirable suspended particulate matter RSPM oxides of nitrogen Nox and oxides of sulphur sox have been by cpcb jk. The assessment of health effects caused by stone crusher workers and the local people in the nearby villages was collected with the help of a questionnaire. The total of (27+124) 151inhabitants in the age group of 15_45 years was randomly selected for health survey. The information was collected regarding the respiratory problems, eye irritation hearing loss, cough, headache, vision defects, wheezing, skin irritation, chest pain ailment problems and hair loss, blood pressure fatigue and other signs. 4..Health analysis.. Stone crushers causes severe air pollution problems in active mining and crushing sites, workers are persistently exposed to large concentration of dust gaseous pollutants, high level of noise and accidents which constantly pose a severe threat to workers life and communities in close proximity to operation. The data on various health effects obtained from the current survey among the stone crushing workers and the population inhabiting in and around crushing sites. The activities such as digging, blasting, unloading, crushing loading release dust particles of variable sizes into immediate atmosphere. The workers are encountered substantial exposure to dust and noise which may lead to manifestation of various occupational disease in long term. Most of this dust is made up of silica and workers are facing serious health problems. The most prevalent occupational disease among the mine and stone crusher workers in kashmir are respiratory, hearing, eye, skin, fever, silicosis, dyspnea, blood pressure problems and accidents. The dust released during mining and crushing activities not only affects humans but also plants and animals. The overall observation showed that the dust exposure caused serious health problems which accounts respiratory problems 79percent eye irritation 41percent hearing loss 50 percent cough 65 percent headache 58percent vision defects 52 percent wheezing 51 percent skin irritation 31 percent chest pain 29 percent ailment problems 15percent and hair loss 9 percent. The respiratory problems observed in present study were coughing, shortness of breath, chest pain, silicosis , asthma and bronchitis etc.
5.Management of dust emission. Emission from stone crushing are considered to be fugitive when the sources are not vented to a bag house or contained in an enclosure with a forced air vent or stack. Water sprinkling at dust discharge points wets the dust particles and auguments settling. The other control measures for reducing dust emission should include the following house keeping practices.
1..All stone crusher units should conform to the design developed and demonstrated by the national productivity of council India.
2..Covering open operations to prevent dust entrainment by the wind.
3..Construction of wind breaking walls.
4..To reduce the drop height of dusty material.
5..Regular cleaning and wetting of the ground within the premises.
6..Establishment of a green belt along along the periphery of the crushing area in roads to arrest the spread of particulate matter arising from the vehicular movement inside the area.
7..Construction of reinforce cement concrete road with the premisis.
8..Fine dust accumulated in the crushing area should be periodically removed and placed in dumps and covered with tax Pauline's cloth to arrest the spread of dust.
9 .. Conveyor chutes should be provided at the discharge points.
10..Fine powder should be collected at the ground level and disposed off immediately.
11..As an occupational Safety measure all the workers should be provided with approved dust masks to prevent dust from entering into respiratory system.
Conclusion. Having said that the dust generated from stone crushing activities contains a significant amount of the inhalable matter. The RSPM and SPM concentration at tow monitoring station exceeded the standard of 200_100 and 500_150 ug /m3 of industrial and residential area recommended by central pollution control board. RSPM and SPM concentration exceeded the CPCB standard at both sites. The health survey was done with the help of questionnaire of workers and local person. It is observed that people of this area and mostly the workers of stone crushers are suffering from eye irritation skin disease accute respiratory infections etc. |
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