Professor Dr Reza Ziarati – C4FF in Support of CE-AQPC
Nicola Davidson – C4FF in support of CE-AQPC
Dust from quarry sites is a major source of air pollution, although the severity will depend on factors like the local microclimate conditions, the concentration of dust particles in the ambient air, the size of the dust particles and their chemistry, for example limestone quarries produce highly alkaline (and reactive) dusts, whereas coal mines produce acidic dust.
The air pollution is not only a nuisance (in terms of deposition on surfaces) and possible effects on health, in particular for those with respiratory problems but dust can also have physical effects on the surrounding plants, such as blocking and damaging their internal structures and abrasion of leaves and cuticles, as well as chemical effects which may affect long-term survival.
Other areas adversely impacted by Quarrying:
- Damage to Biodiversity – One of the biggest negative impacts of quarrying on the environment is the damage to biodiversity. Biodiversity essentially refers to the range of living species, including fish, insects, invertebrates, reptiles, birds, mammals, plants, fungi and even micro-organisms.
- Quarry Waste – Again, like many other man-made activities, quarrying involves the production of significant amounts of waste. Some types of quarries do not produce large amounts of permanent waste, such as sand and gravel quarries, whereas others will produce significant amounts of waste material such as clay and silt.
- Noise Pollution – Unfortunately, quarrying involves several activities that generate significant amounts of noise. It starts with the preparatory activities, such as establishing road or rail access, compound and even mineral processing facilities. Next is the process of exposing the mineral to be extracted and this is usually done by removing the top soil and other soft layers using a scraper, or hydraulic excavators and dump trucks. The excavation of the mineral itself will involve considerable noise, particularly is blasting methods are used. Following this, the use of powered machinery to transport the materials as well as possibly processing plants to crush and grade the minerals, all contribute even more noise to the environment.
- Transportation – Quarry product must be transported and the dust on the roads and the vehicle is significant and can and does have direct and indirect adverse impact to the well-being of those who come in contact with it.
Key Concerns:
Quarry dusts, like dusts in general, affect vegetation by both physical and chemical processes.
Physically, dust may cover the leaf surface and reduce the amount of light available for photosynthesis, or may occlude stomata. Occlusion may lead to increased resistance to gas exchange, or may prevent full stomatal closure, leading to water stress. Increased transpiration is a common response to dust exposure.
Chemically, quarry dusts may be relatively inert (from operations involving hard acidic rocks or some sandstones) or may be strongly alkaline (limestone). Alkaline quarry dusts may have detrimental chemical effects on leaf surfaces. Infestation by pests and pathogens is likely to be enhanced.
Indirect effects may be caused through the soil, especially for the deposition of alkaline quarry dust on acid soils, which can increase the pH and available calcium, leading to changes in vegetation and invertebrate community composition. For unmanaged ecosystems which have been acidified by atmospheric deposition of sulphuric and nitric acids, there may be local beneficial effects if the quarry dust is alkaline, or can supply limiting minerals (e.g. calcium or magnesium). The subject has been reviewed by Farmer (1993).
In another paper a notable negative impact of quarrying on the environment is also the damage to biodiversity, in which plants (vegetation cover) represent the main component of the ecosystem as they are playing a major role in maintaining the balance in the volume of oxygen and carbon dioxide through photosynthetic activities [6]. Such vegetation changes are the main concern of environmental botanists and ecologists in recent years who have advocated the careful and cautious approach to activities promoting such changes. The paper concludes that the deposition of dust resulted in the extinction of different types of trees and vegetation cover along with reduction in crop yields. Also, these activities affected water and soil which are vital resources for agriculture and thus exacerbating.
With regard to the importance of planning to reduce the impact of quarrying a paper has studied the effect of air pollution from quarry activities on agriculture and plant biodiversity in South-Eastern Nigeria. In this study it has be found that there are several quarry activities spread across South-eastern Nigeria contributing 8.7% GDP annually to the economy.
However, these industries are usually associated with air pollution. To assess the impact of quarry dust on plant biodiversity, PM2.5, PM10 and some meteorological parameters were measured using Aeroqual 500 series as well as taking a social survey. High amounts of particulate matters that exceeded the international standard were recorded at the four chosen quarry locations in Ebonyi State.
The correlation coefficient between the particulate matters with the meteorological parameters of the locations all show a strong relationship with temperature recording a stronger value of 0.981. Similarly, the coefficient of determination 0.962 shows that temperature has the highest meteorological percentage variation on PM2.5 and PM10. Furthermore, a notable negative impact of quarrying on plant biodiversity, habitat destruction and plant survival are also revealed based on respondents’ results where wide range of local plants were affected with vegetables been the most with respondent of 30%.
From the obtained results, it is highly recommended that there should be an establishment of dust control mechanism – by developing green belt around the quarrying using pollutant-tolerant trees in order to restrict spreading of dust and regulating the industry as a self-regulatory mechanism. To access the effect of quarry dust on agriculture and plant biodiversity, 400 structured questionnaires were distributed to local farmers.
The result obtained revealed different ranges of affected local farm crops due to quarry activities and the respondents show:
- – 26% for Yam
- – 15% for Cassava
- – 30% for Vegetables
- – 7% for Plantain
- – 27% for other crops
The result shows that vegetable was the most affected crop with 30% (Fig. 6). Concerning the effect on crop yield, majority of the respondents (93%) stated that crop yield decreases to about 30% annually (Fig. 7). Physiological mechanism behind these could be attributed to one or combination of the following factors; that dust might cover the leaves with white layer resulting to decrease in chlorophyll cells exposed to light thus, reducing the total photosynthesis activities ( Missanjo et al 2014: Raina et al, 2008); dust also reduces plant growth (number of leaves, leaves surface and size) therefore affecting photosynthesis, respiration and transpiration, (Prajapati and Tripathi 2008 ); Some release toxic compounds(fluoride, magnesium, zinc, lead, copper, sulphuric acid and hydrochloride acid) Page 6/14 that are damaging to vegetation (Iqbal and Shafig 2001b ).
Leaf trichomes (hair) are affected by dust thereby decreasing the natural defense mechanism against pest and diseases (Missanjo et al 2014b). In addition to the earlier mentioned effect, 80% and 70% respondents stated that effect of quarry activities had led to soil erosion and water contamination respectively with both contributing to decrease in crop yield (Fig. 7). The accumulation of these activities over the years might have resulted to change in soil properties such that soil in and around the quarry areas (0- 1km) may be found to be more of alkaline. Attributing it to the high concentration of hydroxyl, carbonate and bicarbonate present in mined materials as confirmed by Haritash et al 2007.
In a recent paper, Ibrahim ret al (2018) investigated the variation of air pollutants associated with the quarry activities prior to classified distance from quarry site.
Air pollutants were monitored with the use of instruments which are Rae System Multirae Lite Pumped (PGM-6208) to measure indoor air quality while TSI 8533 Dusttrack Drx Desktop Aerosol Monitor to measure outdoor air quality. Sampling was replicated two times. The locations of quarry are at Bandar Saujana Putra and Taman Kajang Perdana 2, Selangor. The objectives of this study was to investigate the impact of quarry mining by preparing the suitable Indoor Air Quality Index and to prepare preventive measure for residential that caused from quarry mining activities.
Both Qualitative and Quantitative approaches were implemented in this study, which employed case study and interview survey. Both quarries identified previously were the main case study. The Respondent’s interviews are from Local Authority and Quarry Management Staff while questionnaire surveys from selected residences. Measurement method used to measure the Particle Matter (PM2.5) for indoor and outdoor in selected resident’s area. However, this paper was primed to discuss the method used in this study. It does not only present the beneficial information for future research on methodologies employed but also it is anticipated the benefit to environment which can increased residents’ well-being in the vicinity of quarry sites.
Quarry activities at the four locations produced high amount of PM2.5 and PM10, far more than the recommended WHO Air Quality Index standard. The high amount of this dust resulted to decrease in local crop production such as vegetable, yam and cassava. Many plant species that are present in the locations are climax type, meaning a slight change in their environmental need due to quarry activity might result to complete loss or retardation of the plant. This is because such climax species are more specialize in their environmental needs and less adaptable. Correlation coefficient between the particulate matters and meteorological parameters shows a strong relationship with temperature recording the strongest value. Similarly, the coefficient of determination shows that temperature has strongest meteorological percentage influence on PM2.5 and PM10. The quarry activities also affected water and soil texture of the locations which are vital ingredient for agriculture thereby, aggregating the problems. However, further studies are needed to investigate the effect of quarry activities on the physiological mechanism of the plants and the physiochemical properties of soil and water. From the results obtained, the following are some of the recommendations that are feasible for quarry activities which are necessary for regular assessment of environmental impact that can mitigate the effect of the problems:
- To develop a green belt surrounding the quarry using pollutant- tolerant trees; especially with broad leaves in order to restrict spreading of the quarry dust through intercepting, filtering and absorbing pollutants.
- Formation of a code of conduct for the industry as a self-regulatory mechanism
- Specialize training for owners of the quarries, crop farmers and community chiefs living in the affected areas on mitigations to these dust problems.
In another investigation it has been stated that quarry activity in a limestone quarry includes explosions, quarrying and passage of heavy duty-vehicles.
These processes typically cause high rates particulate matter (PM) emissions. Therefore, quarries located in populated areas, may be an important cause of exposure to particulate air pollution. In order to quantify this phenomenon, it is important to have a good understanding of the effects of quarries on ambient concentrations of PM.
This study aimed to characterize the particle emission and dispersion, caused by a limestone quarry, located about 500 meters from a populated area in central Israel. Since wind speed and direction has a great effect on the particle emission and dispersion, these two parameters were measured half-hourly measurements of solar radiation, ambient temperature and precipitation. Based on the results of the wind measurements, PM sensors were located at the expected hotspots. For control measurements, some sensors were located upwind, and next to the closest main road. The wind measurements were kept going during the PM measuring period as well. Spatiotemporal patterns of the measured PM fit well with our prior knowledge of local sources and their interactions with the meteorological parameters that were measured simultaneously. It seems that the population exposure to PM depend heavily on the meteorological conditions and the geographic distance from the main sources, as well as the activity of these sources.
Conclusion:
There is unrivalled and undisputable information about the harmful impact of the main culprit viz., PM2.5, resulting from quarry operations on human health. There is also sufficient information about the adverse impact of quarry on vegetation and plants.
The first aim is to ascertain if the quarry is absolutely necessary and if so, questions needs to be asked regarding the adverse impacts, including the level and type of pollutants and their impact on local population and agriculture. One thing that is often ignored is the deposit of pollutants on the local roads and the transportation which while may not seem an important issue, it is of considerable importance to study what role they play in harm they do to human and plant health.
There are also a range of mitigating issues which need to be considered if the quarry proposal is to be allowed to materialise. This includes air flow modelling and an action plan to minimise the impact of resulting additional air pollutants.
The key is air quality measurements with actual and reliable sensors before and after the quarry is in place to ensure pollutant levels do not exceed and if so, action is taken to remedy the situation. A Quality assurance and control system is needed to correspond what is planned and what actually take place. Furthermore, areas for improvement and areas for concern should clearly be reviewed on regular basis.
Sources:
Sustainable Build – Eco Friendly Building – https://sustainablebuild.co.uk/
Tahseen Sayara 1, Yamen Hamdan 2, Rezq Basheer-Salimia 3, Impact of Air Pollution from Quarrying and Stone Cutting Industries on Agriculture and Plant Biodiversity Resources and Environment, p-ISSN: 2163-2618 e-ISSN: 2163-2634, 2016; 6(6): 122-126, http://article.sapub.org/10.5923.j.re.20160606.04.html.
Anand, P.B., 2006, Waste management in Madras revisited. Environ. Urbanization, 11: 161-176.
Wang, A., 2007, Principle of Environmental Impact Assessment Best Practice.” International Association for Impact Assessment, Environ. Prot. China: The role of law, 120-128.
Effect of air pollution from quarry activities on agriculture and plant biodiversity in South-Eastern Nigeria Imoh Dominic Ekpa, University of Calabar, David Gbenga Laniyan Ebonyi State University, Cletus Nzan Agbor, University of Calabar, Ubong Camilus, Ben University of Calabar, Joseph Etim Okon Akwa, Ibom State University – https://assets.researchsquare.com/files/rs-1819483/v1/3c2f071d-6db7-4a7f-a0b0-d6436ad09fa8.pdf?c=1658537053
W H W Ibrahim et al 2018, Air quality assessment on human well-being in the vicinity of quarry site, IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci. 117 012010
Dana Drahler and Barak Fishbain, (2108) Studying the Effects of a Limestone Quarry on the Nearby Population’s Exposure to PM, The International Society for Environmental Epidemiology (ISEE) , 2018
https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/abs/10.1289/isesisee.2018.P01.1370