Barapukuria coal mine water for power plant cooling
Sunday, 6 May 2012
Mushfiqur Rahman
People have been suffering from a serious crisis of drinking water in the villages adjacent to Barapukuria coal-fired power plant at Barapukuria under Parbatipur Upazila of Dinajpur district. As reported, hand tube wells and shallow tube wells cannot pump out water in the 21 villages of Parbatipur Upazila because of sharp drop of ground water table in the area. The authorities concerned are in the know of the problem. Parbatipur Upazila Public Health Department confirmed that the ground water table dropped significantly in the villages adjacent to the Barapukuria Coal Mining Company and the Barapukuia Power Plant. As a result, the shallow tube wells installed in the area has become non-functional. The Public Health Department says the situation will not improve until the ground water table is replenished in the rainy season.
The Managing Director of the Barapukuria Coal Mining Company says that the coal mine operation requires continuous pumping and discharge of 1,500 cubic meter of water every hour to keep the mine free from flooding. On the other hand, the Chief Engineer of the Barapukuria Power Plant says that the 250-MW coal-fired power plant at Barapukuria requires one thousand cusec water for cooling of the plants' boilers daily. The Power Plant authority operates 14 deep tube wells installed in the adjacent Sherpur village for withdrawal of the required water from the underground aquifer. The Chief Engineer adds that due to the continuous withdrawal of huge amount of water from the ground water system, the water table may fall. Naturally, the crisis becomes acute during the dry spells of the year when the precipitation rate is very low or absent.
Since the commencement of the commercial operation of the Barapukuria coal-fired power plant in 2006, the villagers of Barapukuria, Patigram, Patrapara, Boigram, Chouhati, Banshpukur, Kalupara, Moupukur, Balarampur, Zigagari, Isabpur, Dhulaudal, Purba Shukdebpur of Hamidpur Union, Purba-Sherpur, Paschim Sherpur, Bhabanipur, Ramraypur, Ramchandrapur of Habra Union of Parbatipur Upazila, Rambhadrapur, Dudhipukur villagers of Shibnagar Union of Phulbari Upazila started complaining about the shortage of water supply as their tube wells failed to pump water.
It may be mentioned that the Barapukuria Coal Mining Company started commercial operation from September 2005 with the target for the extraction of one million tonne of coal from the underground. The coal mining suffered a number of accidents including mine flooding. The coal mining company had to install a number of big pumps to continuously pump out the mine water. The mine will continue to operate the pumps to keep the underground mine free from flooding. Barapukuria coal mine is the sole supplier of coal required for the mine-mouth 250 MW power plant having two units of 125 MW plants each.
The requirement for pumping out water from the underground mine and also the volume of water to be pumped out were known to the officials concerned before the Barapukuria power plant was designed. The plants are situated side by side as interdependent units, and some of the common services are shared by the plants. Barapukuria Coal Mining Company, a subsidiary of the Petrobangla, and Barapukuria Coal-Fired Power Plant, a subsidiary of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), operate under the administrative jurisdiction of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.
The authorities of the Barapukuria Coal Mining Company have installed water treatment plants and the mine water pumped out from the deep underground usually undergoes treatment prior to discharge in the surface drains. Anyone visiting Barpukuria may see the huge amount of water flowing from the Barapukuria coal mine plant site to the adjacent paddy fields. The water discharged from the mine is treated but part of the industrial wastes, including coal dust, flows with the water to the fields.
As there are constraints of operational funds for the water treatment plant and due to poor monitoring the quality of the discharged industrial water is not maintained on a regular basis. However, if there was a client requiring water with specific quality, the Barapukuria Coal Mining Company could supply the water maintaining quality.
The mine-mouth power plant currently requires for cooling its boilers the same amount of water that Barapukuria Coal Mine discharges in the field.
If the authorities were caring about the value of the water resources and aware about the environmental impact of excessive ground water withdrawal, an arrangement could have been made earlier so that the water discharged from the Barapukuria Coal Mine operations could be diverted to the Barapukuria coal-fired power plants' cooling towers. That way, the requirement for installation of 14 deep tube wells for withdrawal of 1000 cusec water and supplying water to the power plant cooling stations could be minimised or eliminated. That way the painful sufferings of the villagers adjacent to the coal mine and coal-fired power plants could be reduced or removed.
One could guess the reasons for not taking initiatives for wise use of resources here. It is possibly because of the conventional thinking pattern prevailing in our project planning, especially in the public sector. There is also a lack of awareness among the project planners about the need of taking proactive measures for rational use of natural resources.
The Upazila Nirbahi Officer of Parbatipur told the media that government had taken initiatives for supplying drinking water for the project-affected people of Barapukuria Coal Mine and coal-fired power plant area. The initiatives include installation of he deep tube wells, construction of overhead tanks and water reticulation systems. The Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) has a plan to install a third unit of coal-fired power plant with 250 MW capacity within the premises of the existing Barapukuria power plant. The BPDB is said to be actively considering now to include the provision of utilising the discharged water from Barapukuria coal mine for cooling purposes of the proposed 250 MW (third unit) power plant at Barapukuria.
Dr Mushfiqur Rahman is a Mining Engineer. He writes on energy and environment issues. mushfiq41@yahoo.com
People have been suffering from a serious crisis of drinking water in the villages adjacent to Barapukuria coal-fired power plant at Barapukuria under Parbatipur Upazila of Dinajpur district. As reported, hand tube wells and shallow tube wells cannot pump out water in the 21 villages of Parbatipur Upazila because of sharp drop of ground water table in the area. The authorities concerned are in the know of the problem. Parbatipur Upazila Public Health Department confirmed that the ground water table dropped significantly in the villages adjacent to the Barapukuria Coal Mining Company and the Barapukuia Power Plant. As a result, the shallow tube wells installed in the area has become non-functional. The Public Health Department says the situation will not improve until the ground water table is replenished in the rainy season.
The Managing Director of the Barapukuria Coal Mining Company says that the coal mine operation requires continuous pumping and discharge of 1,500 cubic meter of water every hour to keep the mine free from flooding. On the other hand, the Chief Engineer of the Barapukuria Power Plant says that the 250-MW coal-fired power plant at Barapukuria requires one thousand cusec water for cooling of the plants' boilers daily. The Power Plant authority operates 14 deep tube wells installed in the adjacent Sherpur village for withdrawal of the required water from the underground aquifer. The Chief Engineer adds that due to the continuous withdrawal of huge amount of water from the ground water system, the water table may fall. Naturally, the crisis becomes acute during the dry spells of the year when the precipitation rate is very low or absent.
Since the commencement of the commercial operation of the Barapukuria coal-fired power plant in 2006, the villagers of Barapukuria, Patigram, Patrapara, Boigram, Chouhati, Banshpukur, Kalupara, Moupukur, Balarampur, Zigagari, Isabpur, Dhulaudal, Purba Shukdebpur of Hamidpur Union, Purba-Sherpur, Paschim Sherpur, Bhabanipur, Ramraypur, Ramchandrapur of Habra Union of Parbatipur Upazila, Rambhadrapur, Dudhipukur villagers of Shibnagar Union of Phulbari Upazila started complaining about the shortage of water supply as their tube wells failed to pump water.
It may be mentioned that the Barapukuria Coal Mining Company started commercial operation from September 2005 with the target for the extraction of one million tonne of coal from the underground. The coal mining suffered a number of accidents including mine flooding. The coal mining company had to install a number of big pumps to continuously pump out the mine water. The mine will continue to operate the pumps to keep the underground mine free from flooding. Barapukuria coal mine is the sole supplier of coal required for the mine-mouth 250 MW power plant having two units of 125 MW plants each.
The requirement for pumping out water from the underground mine and also the volume of water to be pumped out were known to the officials concerned before the Barapukuria power plant was designed. The plants are situated side by side as interdependent units, and some of the common services are shared by the plants. Barapukuria Coal Mining Company, a subsidiary of the Petrobangla, and Barapukuria Coal-Fired Power Plant, a subsidiary of the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), operate under the administrative jurisdiction of the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources.
The authorities of the Barapukuria Coal Mining Company have installed water treatment plants and the mine water pumped out from the deep underground usually undergoes treatment prior to discharge in the surface drains. Anyone visiting Barpukuria may see the huge amount of water flowing from the Barapukuria coal mine plant site to the adjacent paddy fields. The water discharged from the mine is treated but part of the industrial wastes, including coal dust, flows with the water to the fields.
As there are constraints of operational funds for the water treatment plant and due to poor monitoring the quality of the discharged industrial water is not maintained on a regular basis. However, if there was a client requiring water with specific quality, the Barapukuria Coal Mining Company could supply the water maintaining quality.
The mine-mouth power plant currently requires for cooling its boilers the same amount of water that Barapukuria Coal Mine discharges in the field.
If the authorities were caring about the value of the water resources and aware about the environmental impact of excessive ground water withdrawal, an arrangement could have been made earlier so that the water discharged from the Barapukuria Coal Mine operations could be diverted to the Barapukuria coal-fired power plants' cooling towers. That way, the requirement for installation of 14 deep tube wells for withdrawal of 1000 cusec water and supplying water to the power plant cooling stations could be minimised or eliminated. That way the painful sufferings of the villagers adjacent to the coal mine and coal-fired power plants could be reduced or removed.
One could guess the reasons for not taking initiatives for wise use of resources here. It is possibly because of the conventional thinking pattern prevailing in our project planning, especially in the public sector. There is also a lack of awareness among the project planners about the need of taking proactive measures for rational use of natural resources.
The Upazila Nirbahi Officer of Parbatipur told the media that government had taken initiatives for supplying drinking water for the project-affected people of Barapukuria Coal Mine and coal-fired power plant area. The initiatives include installation of he deep tube wells, construction of overhead tanks and water reticulation systems. The Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) has a plan to install a third unit of coal-fired power plant with 250 MW capacity within the premises of the existing Barapukuria power plant. The BPDB is said to be actively considering now to include the provision of utilising the discharged water from Barapukuria coal mine for cooling purposes of the proposed 250 MW (third unit) power plant at Barapukuria.
Dr Mushfiqur Rahman is a Mining Engineer. He writes on energy and environment issues. mushfiq41@yahoo.com