True cost of coal: coal mining industry and its associated environmental impacts on water resource development

Abstract

Coal is a strategic and essential resource that ensures quality of life, energy security and sustainable development. Being the cheapest source of energy, it is the second after oil that is used to generate 40% of the world's electricity. However, traditional and conventional coal fuel extraction can threaten human health bycontaminating air and water, harming land, and contributing to global warming. The environmental impacts associated with conventional methods of coal mining and consumption can affect all components of the environment, and these impacts may be beneficial or harmful, permanent or temporary, repairable or irreparable, and reversible or irreversible in nature. These effects require considering of changing the production and consumption of coalwithin a technological framework. Coal mining operationscan cause both quantitative and qualitative impacts on water systems in and around mining areas. This paper reviews the impacts of coal mining on water resource development. Land subsidence, disruption of hydrological channels, flooding, and contamination of water resources and depletion of water table are the major measurable impacts of mining activity on the hydrological environment.