Briefing Paper:GOVTS' FLYASH BRICKS & ROAD CONSTRUCTION NOTIFICATIONS HARMFUL & UNSCIENTIFIC
Gopal Krishna
BRIEFING PAPER
FEB, 2020
GOVTS' NOTIFICATIONS & PROPOSAL FOR MANDATORY TOXIC FLY ASH BRICKS AND ROAD CONSTRUCTION UNSCIENTIFIC, HARMFUL TO HEALTH
Central Government and State governments' notifications and proposal regarding a policy making the use of fly ash-based bricks in the construction of all government buildings mandatory will have adverse public health and environmental health consequenecs. Fly ash refers to the hazardous waste generated by coal based thermal power plants. Fly ash is a cocktail of unhealthy and hazardous elements like silica, mercury, iron oxides, calcium, aluminum, magnesium, arsenic and cadmium. It poses serious environment and health hazards. Coal flyash is the residue of coal combustion in coal fired power generations. When coal is totally burnt, the constituents of coal viz., principally the oxides of silica and alumina convert into flyash.
Some of heavy metals that are present in flyash are phytotoxic, others are toxic to fish and aquatic organisms. The environmental contamination due to leaching of heavy metals are: phytotoxicity, contamination of soils, and vegetation, ground and surface water pollution.
Such an approach would be as unscientifc. Flyash is hazardous to environment. It will make the houses toxic for all their occupants, residents and visitors.
The fact is that fly ash is an industrial waste generated from thermal power plants. As an outcome of Fly Ash Mission, a Technology Project in Mission Mode of Government of India and a joint activity of Department of Science & Technology (DST), Ministry of Power (MOP) and Ministry of Environment & Forests, with Department of Science & Technology as the nodal agency[1], this industrial waste is being promoted for brick making and other uses. It has been admitted the fly ash “may pose environmental challenges”.[i] In a related development, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) revised norms for fly ash usage and disposal by granting permission to use it for agriculture. The ministry has also made it mandatory for power plants to give fly ash free of cost to users within 300 km radius.[2] The environmental challnges emerge because coal ash contains heavy metals including arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium and selenium, as well as aluminum, antimony, barium, beryllium, boron, chlorine, cobalt, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, thallium, vanadium, and zinc. If eaten, drunk or inhaled, these toxicants can cause cancer and nervous system impacts such as cognitive deficits, developmental delays and behavioral problems. They can also cause heart damage, lung disease, respiratory distress, kidney disease, reproductive problems, gastrointestinal illness, birth defects, and impaired bone growth in children.[3] Ash recycling poses health risks, especially where the ash is exposed to water: for example when sprinkled as cinders on snowy roads, spread as agricultural fertilizer. These uses risk leaching into ground water or surface water and harming soil health.[ii] Even as the need for research and investigation on the “Fate of heavy metals in soil-water-plant system by fly ash addition”is being underlined[iii], Pradhan Mantri Gramya Sadak Yojana of Ministry of Rural Development recommends use of fly ash in road construction.[iv] Fly-ash is classed as hazardous waste, and has to be disposed of to landfill. There is concern that, because of its dust-like nature, less than extremely stringent handling could disperse dioxins and other pollutants. In his memorandum submitted to UK Parliament’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee on Waste Strategy for England, Prof. J C Dearden[4] wrote, “there is an indication that some fly-ash could be used in construction. This is in our view irresponsible.” The use of fly ash in construction is likely to have adverse impact on soil and water heath.
In the light of the above mentioned facts, it can be inferred that flyash bricks are cause of alarm for the public health of present and future generations and their habitat. Myopic public institutions including tribunals seem to have been misled by vested interests who are blinded by their naked lust for profit at any human and environmental cost.
In the face of gnawing inter-generationational and intra-generational public health and environmental health concerns, there is a compelling logic to undertake life-cycle assessment and cost-benefit analysis of the flyash before proividing policy support to it. The regulatory relaxations for fly ash disposal and its masqerading as fly ash brikhs has has resulted in normalisation and naturalisation of severe environmental and public health damage. Central Government and State governments should review and abandon their Flyash related Notifications and proposals.
For Details: Gopal Krishna, ToxicsWatch,
Mb:9818089660, E-mail-kri...@gmail.com, Web: www.toxicswatch.org
[1] It now commissioned during 1994 and is named as "Fly Ash Utilization Programme" since 2002.
[2] This has been done through amendment dated 25 January, 2016 in notification on fly ash dated September 14, 1999. This notification has been amended seven times so far. The manufactuers are supposed to use fly ash for manufacture of the cement as per the specifications of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). As a consequence all the construction agencies engaged in construction of roads within a radius of 300 kilometers from a coal or lignite based thermal power plant have to use fly ash in accordance with the guidelines or specifications issued by the Indian Road Congress. There are claims being made that fly ash from thermal power plants have increased yield of some crops. India’s switch to super critical technologies for thermal power, the quantum of fly ash generated would increase manifold.
[3] USEPA examined documented cases of coal ash disposal “in which danger to human health or the environment has been proved”. It has formally identified 70 of these damage cases where coal ash poison has contaminated drinking water, wetlands, creeks, or rivers. Earth Justice and the Environmental Integrity Project have also documented an additional 31 cases shown to have caused contamination.
[4] He is Emeritus Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at Liverpool John Moores University. He served on European Commission working party in connection with the recent REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals) legislation
[i] Department of Science and Technology, (http://www.dst.gov.in/fly-ash-unit-1)
[ii] Coal Ash: Hazardous to Human Health, Physicians for Social Responsibility, (http://www.psr.org/assets/pdfs/coal-ash-hazardous-to-human-health.pdf)
[iii] (2001), S K Sharma et al, Flyash Incorporation Effect on Soil Health and Yield of Maize and Rice, Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research, Vol. 60, pp 580-585, July
[iv] (2004), Scheme and Guidelines, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, November 2 (http://www.pmgsy.nic.in/pmg31.asp)