Affiliations: Department of Mining Engineering, NIT Rourkela –
769008, India | Tata Steel Ltd., Noamundi – 833217, India | Department of Chemistry, NIT Rourkela – 769008,
India
Abstract: The commercial and economic successes of our country can be
attributed to the coal industry to a great extent. Coal continues to be the
primary energy source and to meet the energy and other requirements a number of
coal-based industries have been established. These industries have the
potential of generating and releasing large quantities of pollutants to the
environment. Among these, the release of various liquid effluents, which are
associated with coal during the carbonization, cleaning and combustion
processes are a major concern. The coal-based industries, such as by-product
coke-plants, coal washeries and thermal power plants release their liquid
effluents, which need urgent attention for the treatment, before they are
discharged into the fresh water streams. In the present work, water qualities
of three coal-based industries from Odisha viz. National Aluminium Company
(NALCO), Angul; Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP), Rourkela; and National Thermal
Power Corporation (NTPC), Talcher, have been evaluated. Nine stations were
selected for collecting water samples and were analyzed for nineteen
physico-chemical parameters as per standard procedure. A careful study of the
water quality results reveals that one water sample each from Nalco Ash Pond
and RSP, Rourkela were comparatively more polluted than the other water
samples.
Keywords: Thermal power plant, ash pond, water pollution
