Describe And Assess The Importance Of Constructed Wetlands In The

Describe And Assess The Importance Of Constructed Wetlands In The Describe And Assess The Importance Of Constructed Wetlands In The Process Of Mine Pollution â€" Assignment Example > Introduction Living in industrial world has become a catastrophe to both organism and community especially when there is no effective management of contaminants from the industries. Mustafa (2013) defined industry as the processes and activities that produce goods from raw materials and in the process, there is creation of by-products which can pollute environment and have adverse effects on the ecosystem. Over the years, the mining industry has experienced a lot of burden of negative ecological criticism and resilient government regulations. Different environmental analysts has the same perception that extraction of minerals and processing is a source of contaminants to water, air and soil especially when effective environmental measures are not observed. Mining industries have also been associated with infertile and unproductive lands. Therefore, in order to reduce the pollutants and recover the environmental particularly in mine lands, different governments passed surface and m ining acts. For example, United States passed Surface and Mining Control and reclamation Act 1977 which needed mining operators to achieve the set standards of environmental sustainability and quality. One of the most challenging contaminant to the ecosystem is the acid released by industries. According to Chen, Yan, Lei Xiao (2014) the techniques which are employed to remedy water pollution is normally timely and have intense cost and in most cases these strategies go for longer years until the mining station is abandon. Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) however has seen a positive solution since the creation of wetlands to remediate pollutants induced by human (Patova Dorokhova, 2008). Constructed wetlands has a continuous system to treat acid mine drainage at low cost and this has been perceived as an effective solution to the growing pollution from mining industries (Mustafa, 2013). Acid Mine Drainage in mining industries Acid mine drainage (AMD) results when there is a reaction betw een sulfide oxide in the mines and water and air. This in turn creates sulfate and hydrogen ions. The minerals that are accounted to this reaction are coal and all metal mining solutions (Ohioline. osu. edu, 2015). It is during the process of extraction which exposes these minerals to ‘ride out’ on air, water or microbial processes. This exposure causes contamination to water which increases its acidity. There will be elevation of heavy metals and other dissolved solids which make water become toxic to the uses-both aquatic and terrestrial life. The mining industry has classification of contaminants with particular concern and they include iron, acidity and aluminum. Also, chemosynthetic bacteria are also another source of AMD which are known to catalyze pyrite oxidation process (Zheng, Gu, Zhou Li, 2013). Problems linked with Acid Mine Drainage Acid Mine drainage has metal components from mines which contaminates water. When the by-product of mining industry is released to th e water, they interact with these metals. AMD composition upsets growth and reproduction of aquatic habitats. This may lead to migration or even death of these habitats. Acid has a corroding effect and therefore it affects parts of the infrastructure like bridges and road side guards. This in turn subject public using road transport to the risk of accidents (Sehlke, Hayes Stevens, 2004).