Abstract:
In the course of extraction, production and processing of the minerals, pollutions such as particulate matters, noise and ground vibration are generated and constitute serious health and environmental problems to the people who are working and living around the quarries. The aim of this study is to assess the air and noise pollution emanating from selected quarries in Ondo state. Dust particulate matters (PM) plume, gas and noise levels were monitored in the quarries at different locations of 10 m interval away from the rock drilling machine, aggregates crushing plant, air-compressor machine and industrial generating plant. The combination of PM counter, Gas analyser and the Noise level meter devices were used to determine the concentration of the dust particulate matters in (μg/m3), gas constituents in (ppm) and the magnitude noise level (dB) respectively. The chemical property of the dust were determined using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopic (AAS) and it was discovered that, the chemical composition of the dust are .SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, CaO, MgO, K2O, and TiO2. The result from the field data revealed that, crushing activities produced the highest level of PMs concentration of dust particulate in the selected quarries. Specifically, quarry C recorded the highest concentration of the dust PMs in the crushing and drilling sections with an average means value of 930.7 μg/m3 and 165.7 μg/m3 respectively. Subsequently, quarry C and B recorded the highest levels of noise at the drilling and crushing sections with an average means value of 77.0857dB and 76.243dB respectively. Moreover, the highest concentration of toxic gas was recorded in quarry C as its CO gas of generating plant was measured at an average means 3.1429 ppm. Hence, the comparative emission of NO2, SO2 and CO gas pollutants results from air compressors and Industrial power generating plants were tested through Independent t-test and General linear Model Univariate showed there were no significant differences (p > 0.05) in the three study areas. Therefore, workers in the quarries are free from inhaling these poisonous gases. Conclusively, it is recommended that workers in the study areas should be strictly adhere to all safety regulations to facilitate a good health and working conditions.
