2-day natnl seminar on mining river sand, environmental impact

Kozhikode, Feb 17 (PTI): Around 175 delegates from acrossIndia are expected to attend a two-day national seminar on''mining of river sand and its impact on enviroment'' fromtomorrow, a top official of the Centre for Water ResourcesDevelopment and Management here said today.

Speaking to reporters here V Jayakumar, Executive Directorof the centre, said is vital vital for existence of rivers.

Indiscriminate mining of sand may lead to many effects on theriver system like changes in velocity of flow, flow regime,river bed level and bank erosion, he said.

Quarying of river sand has become an important economicactivity in our country, with river sand forming a crucial rawmaterial for the construction industry, he said.

''A complete ban on river sand mining is not feasible now,considering the socio-economic aspects involved in the issue,until suitable alternatives are development for sand'',he said

Awareness on river sand mining and its impact on riversare essential to understand the serious problems facing thesector, he said.

The focal theme is the adverse impact of sand mining inrivers, hydrological status of rivers, sand budgeting,enviromental impact of sand mining and legal and socialaspects of sand mining, he said.

About 23 technical papers would be presented by experts,he said.