Mines Water Management” Webex Platform 24Th September 2020
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Proceedings of Workshop on “Mines Water Management” Webex Platform 24th September 2020 National Water Mission Department of Water Resources, RD & GR Ministry of Jal Shakti Government of India Contents Welcome Address Shri Suneel Kumar Arora, Advisor (C&M), NWM, Ministry of Jal Shakti Keynote Address Shri G Asok Kumar, Additional Secretary & Mission Director, NWM, MoJS Session Address – I Shri Satendra Singh, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines, Government of India Session Address – II Shri Bhabani Prasad Pati, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Coal, Government of India Theme 1: Mines Water Management Shri Ajay Kumar Singh, GM (Environment) – Retd., Western Coal Fields Ltd Theme 2: Success Stories of Mines Water Utilization to Support Agriculture in Vidarbha Region, Maharashtra Shri Kaushik Chakravorti, GM - Environment, Western Coalfields Ltd. Theme 3: Past-Present-Future of Riverfronts in Industrial and Non-Industrial Regions of Indian Subcontinent: Implication for Water Security in 21st Century Dr Anshumali, Associate Professor, Indian School of Mines, IIT - Dhanbad Theme 4: IWRM Approach to Water Quality Management in Mining Areas Dr Girija K Bharat, Founder Director, Mu Gamma Consultants Pvt. Theme 5: Challenges in Managing Mine Water Dr S. Sreekesh, Associate Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University Theme 6: Integrated Mine Water Management Ms Sonal Bindal, Research Associate, NIDM, New Delhi Question & Answer Session Vote of Thanks Shri J P Singh, Deputy Secretary, NWM, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India Welcome Address Shri Suneel Kumar Arora, Advisor, National Water Mission Shri Suneel Kumar Arora delivered welcome address and talked about National Water Mission’s Goals. He also highlighted about National Water Mission’s “Sahi Fasal” campaign which was launched on 14th November, 2020 to nudge farmers in the water stressed areas to grow crops which are not water intensive; suited to the agro-climatic-hydro characteristics of the area; and are environmentally friendly but also use water very efficiently through precision irrigation techniques such micro irrigation system. National Water Mission has also launched a campaign “Catch the rain” with tag line “catch the rain, where it falls, when it falls” this year in order to nudge all stake-holders to create Rain Water Harvesting Structures (RWHS) suitable to the climatic conditions and sub-soil strata to store rain water as rains falling in the four/five months of monsoon are the only source of water for most parts of the country. There is need to conserve this water to (i) replenish the ground water, improve the water table and soil moisture; (ii) meet the water demand till the next rains after 8 months; & (iii) reduce flooding, particularly urban-flooding. This workshop on “Mines Water Management” is organized to aware the citizen about coal mines water management; use of discarded mines for water conservation and address the issues/challenges and opportunities of sustainable water management in coal mines. Keynote Address Shri G Asok Kumar, Additional Secretary & Mission Director, National Water Mission Shri G. Asok Kumar said the campaign “Catch the Rain” has been initiated as part of the “Har Kaam Desh K Naaam” initiative, and to nudge states and stakeholders to keep ready Rain Water Harvesting Structures before the onset of the monsoon. Under the aforesaid campaign, NWM is exploring new area i.e. mines water management and taking up this workshop. Demand side water management is neglected mostly, therefore, it is necessary to take care of demand side water management especially in agriculture. He highlighted the issue of no use of open-pit mining related to coal mines water management such as no use of open-pit mining for the storage of water but still there are various technical methods to ensure water conservation in coal mining regions. Coal mining directly impacts both the quality and quantity of water in their catchment area as it severely disturb the groundwater movement and also causes exploitation of groundwater. India extract more groundwater as compared to USA and China. Therefore, it is necessary now to conserve water through water harvesting structures and recharge of groundwater with maintenance of good water quality even in mining areas. Session – I Address Shri Satendra Singh, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Mines, Govt. of India Shri Satendra Singh pointed about the importance of water in coal mining operations and minerals processing. Since minerals ores are found within complex chemical compound such as silicates, oxides of mineral compounds. While processing of minerals, there is a limited set of chemicals used for extraction of ores that requires heavy amount of energy and water. Therefore, it is very important to manage minerals process and mining effectively so that water use efficiency can be improved by reduction in water consumption and lessen waste water generation. He told that the Ministry of Mines has already released regulatory framework guidelines amended in 2015 for performing sustainable mining process with efficient water usage in mining sector. Star rating provision is available for mines to promote sustainable utilization of natural resources which includes carbon emission as well as water resources utilization. Initially, the various mineral mining processes are wet benefaction process but now a days, dry benefaction process is promoted for mineral extraction process to reduce water consumption. If we are initiating wet benefaction process, we adopted closed loop cycle where water is recycled and reused to improve specific water consumption. In context to the closure of mines process, we have adopted for progressive closure plan comprises of intensive plantation, rehabilitation, restoration of water bodies and strategies opted for improvement of land and air quality. Session – II Address Shri Bhabani Prasad Pati, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Coal, Govt. of India Shri Bhabani Prasad Pati informed that the Ministry of Coal has a separate sustainable development cell to look after coal mines water utilization and management. He discussed about the basics of coal mines such as types of coal mines: open-cast coal mine and underground coal mine. The source of water for open-cast coal mine is surface water and for underground coal mine is underground water especially from aquifers. Major issues lies with coal mining is high value of water quality parameters such as high Total Dissolved Solids and pH. This coal mine water can be used directly for industrial purpose. For example, coal companies use coal mine water for dust separation, plantation, firefighting and washing of vessels, etc. Even Municipal Corporation utilize coal mines water for water supply purpose 1 after providing proper treatment. One of the innovative usage of coal mine water is water parks and other recreation activities. Fishery culture is also done by utilizing coal mines water in nearby areas of coal mines. There are various other ways available to utilize mine water especially in domestic sector as well as commercial sector. Presentation 1: Mines Water Management By Shri Ajay Kumar Singh, GM (Environment) – Retd. , Western Coal Fields Ltd & Expert (SCILR) Shri Ajay Kumar Singh had spoken about coal mining scenario in India. Lease area coverage (except fuel, atomic and minor minerals) in India is about 0.14% of India‘s total geographical area of 328 million hectare. India has about 3,100 mines out of which 550 (fuel), 560 (mineral) and 1970 metal mines available in different States of India. Small scale mining sector contribute nearly 6% of entire cost of mineral production. Mining Industry directly employed around 23 lac people across India. In recent years, discussion were held on bad mining practices that caused environmental degradation as well as social concern. Mining waters include surface water, ground water, mine waste waters & contact water which cause serious adverse impact on water regime & environment. Water availability & its protection, conservation & gainful use is one major challenge in mining industry. Mine Water Management is a continuous process that needs to be developed, regularly updated & implemented throughout mine life cycle. This system includes water balance modelling as well as water quality & quantity monitoring. Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act 1957 empowers Government of India to frame rules for conservation & sustainable development of mines & protection of environment by preventing & controlling pollution due to prospecting & mining operation. Mining impacts are caused due to negligence, bad mining practices & noncompliance of regulatory mining, processing & associated activities. Adverse potential mining impacts on water & environment are avoidable & manageable. With Government of India progressive initiatives and reforms, mining industry has potential to create more employment and highest production of minerals without compromising the environment. Water governance through policy, regulatory, permitting, monitoring, evaluation, corrective measures & compliances is needed for sustainable mines water management. Even, Enforceable and practical regulatory standards will lead to corporate accountability & ecological accountability in coal mining sector. 2 Presentation 2: Success Stories of Mines Water Utilization to Support Agriculture in Vidarbha Region, Maharashtra By Shri Kaushik Chakravorti, GM (Environment), Western Coal Fields Ltd. Shri Kaushik Chakravorti highlighted about mines water management best practices