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.
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