Environmental Assessment Studies of Lime Kilns at Maihar (M. P.)

Abstract

Environmental Assessment {EA)  describes the  whole  process by which  information about  the  environmental effects  of  a  project  is  collected  and  assessed.    In  a  developing  country  like  India  an  "environmentally compatible development" has  to be evolved for which  Environmental Impact Assessment is the only  answer. EIA of a development project  provides the  necessary management guidelines and  in deciding the  corrective measures to be adopted in managing  the  environmental system.  Lime  is a natural  material,  which  is collected from  nature  as limestone since  time immemorial  all  over the world.  But  the usual  process of extraction in the lime kilns has also caused  concerned on account of its  potentiality of polluting  the environment particularly air, water and soil. In present investigation an attempt has been  made  to assess the environmental impacts of lime kilns at Maihar (MP)  Battelle  Environmental Evaluation System  (BEES}  has  been  applied  in the  present  assessment study. The   addition   of  environmental impact   unit  values   of all   the   four   sections   (Categories)  i.e.   Ecology, Environmental  Pollution, Aesthetics and Human  interest provide  with  a over all negative values  as - 476.6  and 36 positive values.  In case of no industry situation the  EIU values  might have a total  of 150. This indicates that due to lime kilns and on going mining and expansion  work  and  also  other related activities approximately 56.07 % of  the  over all  environmental quality  is negatively affected  or likely  to  be affected while  only  3.6%  of  the benefits could  be sought  in improving living standard.