Executive Summary : | Nagpur is the most emerging city in India where electricity demand and production have increased drastically within a decade. Nagpur fulfills its electricity need from two major thermal power plants situated in Koradi and Khaperkheda. Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited (MahaGenco) operates these thermal power plants since 1974 (Koradi) and 1989 (Khaperkheda). The power generating capacity of the Koradi and Khaperkheda plants is 2400 MW and 1340 MW respectively. The Koradi-based thermal power plant singly consumes 16000 to 17000 tonnes of coal in one day. The majority of coal required for these plants is extracted from Gondegaon mines and Odisha-based mines. During the burning of powdered coal in the boiler, it produces a large amount of ash as a by-product. The fine particles of ash (fly ash) mobilize along with hot flue gases pneumatically and larger particle of the ash falls to the bottom of the furnace. This fly ash and bottom ash are mixed with water forms slurry and transported to large ash ponds constructed nearby the region of the thermal power plant. The contaminants from fly ash percolate into the ground and pollute water sources. The population of the nearby villages depends only on tubewell and ground well water for drinking purposes. As per the latest news, the villages located near the power plant like Panjara, Mhasala, Kawatha, Waregaon, Khairy, Bina, Bidbina, etc are facing water contamination problems. As the people living in the area are poor and illiterate, they are not aware of the consequences of drinking contaminated water. The ultimate aim of the project is to study the relative contribution of contamination in all the water sources nearby to these villages and provide fruitful suggestions to improve the quality of water in the study area. Based on the type of contaminants, suitable nanomaterials will be prepared and will be studied for their effectiveness on the water samples collected from the nearby villages of the power plant. A detailed study report and useful suggestions regarding water treatment shall be submitted. |