River Sand Mining

The Lower Ping River downstream from the Bhumibol Dam has suffered from the excessive sedimentation. The rapid growth of sandbars occurs along the 129 km of the downstream reach within the succession of weir. However, within this succession of weir severe riverbank collapses can also occur locally as rapid growth of sandbars makes the river narrower which in turn increase its flow velocity and power. The objective of this research is to assess riverbank accretion and erosion using remote sensing and GIS techniques. Comparison of satellite images from 2007 and 2017 shows that the total emerged sandbar area increases up to 5,702,557 m 2. The total area of riverbank erosion is 1,150,943 m 2 and the total area of accretion is over 10,561,530 m 2. Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) software is also used to determine the rate of changes of riverbank erosion and accretion. The DSAS output locates significant changes of river accretion and erosion along the riverbanks with the average rate of erosion at 1.24 m/year and the average rate of accretion at 4.89 m/year between 2007 and 2017. The rapid growth of sandbars along the river reach is responsible for the shallowing and narrowing of river embankment leading to rapid overflow during flooding. The result from this study enables all authorities and stakeholders to recognize the specific location, which severely affected by riverbank accretion and erosion as well as to locate the areas experienced rapid growth of sandbar and huge river channel shifting. There are several possibility implications from this study involving construction of weir, riverbank collapse prevention, and management of intense in-channel sand mining along this river.

In this project Sea sand was collected from kalpakkam beach and it was added to the concrete as a partial replacement of Fine Aggregate in the proportion 0%, 20%, 40%, 60% to find out the behaviour of sea sand in concrete under compressive strength test and split tensile test after 28 days of curing. Mix design (M40) was done as per IS 10262:2009 and then the proportion of concrete from the mix design was arrived and in this project coarse aggregate proportion of mix design consist of 75% of 20mm Coarse aggregate and 25% of 12mm Coarse aggregate. Steel fibres (1% by total volume of concrete) were added to the concrete cubes and concrete cylinders (excluding control cube and control cylinders). The test result shows that, compressive strength and split tensile strength was decreased for the sea sand proportions 20%, 40% and 60% when compared with control cube and control cylinder. The control cube has highest compressive strength 51.37 N/mm 2 when compared to sea sand proportions 20%, 40% and 60%. The sea sand proportion 20% has high compressive strength 47.55 N/mm 2 when compared to sea sand proportion 40% and 60%. The sea sand proportion 40% has compressive strength 45.24 N/mm 2 and sea sand proportion 60% has lowest compressive strength 40.80 N/mm 2. The control cylinder has highest split tensile strength 3.87N/mm 2 when compared to sea sand proportions 20%, 40% and 60%. The sea sand proportion 20% has split tensile strength 3.58N/mm 2 when compared to sea sand proportion 40% and 60%. The sea sand proportion 40% has split tensile strength 3.53 N/mm 2 and sea sand proportion 60% has lowest split tensile strength 3.38N/mm 2 .

Concrete is the widely used material in the world. This automatically creates a huge demand for ingredient of concrete (Fine Aggregate, Coarse Aggregate and cement). From the environment point of view, the huge extraction of the aggregate creates depletion and manufacturing of cement causes pollution. This scenario affects the world's ecological balance. As a civil engineer, we have planned to replace the river sand which is widely used in construction by sea shell. Sea shell is the dead remain of the marine organism. We have replaced the sea shell after grinding it to the maximum size of 4.75 mm. The IS 10262-2009 was followed for the mix design of M20 grade concrete after that optimization of cement is done. Sea shell which is used in concrete confirming to the zone II as per IS 383-1970. Then cubes were casted for the 5 parts of partial replacement as 20%, 40%, 60 %, 80%, and 100 %. All the specimens are used for 7 & 28 days and tested for compressive, flexural and split tensile strength .We have observed the maximum strength is obtained for 80% replacement of sea shell.

Sand is an important engineering material for construction works. Sand deposition in river is the biggest source of sand, in recent times there has been immense pressure on Rivers which acts as a treasure for the building sector due to rapid growth in the development activities. The main objective of the study is to investigate, recognize the sand mining areas of Papagni and Pennar River in parts Kamalapuram, Kahjipeta, Vallur, Chennur and Kadapa Revenue Mandals of YSR District, Andhra Pradesh, by using Google earth temporal data for environmental monitoring and sustainable development. A total of 9 major sites were identified demarcated from Google earth and the areal extent calculated using arcGIS10 software. The largest part of the sand mining was identified at locations of Kamalapuram and Vallur Mandals, might be due to well connecting roads nearer to the sites when compared to the other sites whereas locations of Khajipet and Kadapa mandals were least affected might be due to Geographic setting(hiily region). This study is an attempt to know the utility of Google earth, Remote Sensing and GIS software tools in the field of natural resource monitoring and environmental protection.

In recent years, urbanisation and land development have led to an increase in river sand mining activities. These activities have given rise to various problems including: river bank erosion, river bed degradation, river buffer zone encroachment and deterioration of river water quality. Excessive removal of sand may significantly distort the natural equilibrium of a river system. Thus, it is important to further investigate on the river sand mining capacity as recommendations for long-term management of sand mining activities. This paper therefore presents a study that includes the assessment of the river morphology, hydraulic and sediment transport modelling, which covers three rivers with different levels of sand mining activities in Malaysia i.e. Muda River, Langat River and Kurau River. Field works on selected sites of the three rivers are made to assess the capacity of the rivers to convey both water and sediment. Data collection on bed material is made to identify the physical characteristics of sediment in terms of river response to erosion and deposition. A detailed sediment transport analysis is conducted to determine the suitability of existing sediment transport equations for use in the selected sediment transport models. Through the analysis, it is found that Yang and Engelund-Hansen equations are able to predict the trend of sediment transport for these three rivers. Hydraulic and sediment transport modelling study are also carried out to determine possible locations of deposition along the rivers. The depth and volume of deposition will in turn determine the viability of sand extraction taking into account the ability of the rivers to replenish the sediment. The findings of this study have provided a proposal on the minimum and maximum levels of sand extraction for each river, and it is also an invaluable planning and management tool for authorities to make effective and timely decisions on sand mining applications and operations in Malaysia.

Nowadays, the mining of sand resources from rivers areas especially in Perak
state is a common practice and may lead to destruction of public assets as well as
impacts or increase stress on commercial and noncommercial living resources that
utilize these areas. This study was carried out to determine possible river sand
removal capacity and their consequences towards Sungai Perak. Van Veen Grabber
and Helley Smith sediment sampler are used to collect bed soil samples and determine
sediment transport at the time of sampling. These two methods could estimate the
suitability of available sand material and the flux of sediment transport locally. By
conducting the surveys and analysing all the collected data, it showed positive results.
Almost 90% of the grab samples were good quality of sand

Globally, small scale mining has been recognized as a major contributor to mineral production, employment, poverty alleviation, public revenue and rural development. However, the unsustainable means of resource extraction has become an environmental concern in global South. This study investigated sand mining and its effects on Ulashi River, surrounding farmlands and attendant health risks in Okija, Ihiala LGA, Anambra State. The concept of planetary health was used as a lens to examine the effects of sand mining on the environment and a pathway to address the eco-health inequalities to the vulnerable community. A mixed method approach was adopted in the case study that included qualitative (key informant interviews, field observations and photography) and quantitative methods (81 questionnaires were randomly administered to residents). Laboratory analysis was used to determine the physiochemical parameters and heavy metals (Pb, Mn and Zn) sampled from Ulashi River. Findings from the study showed that an estimated 33,235 m3 of sands have been removed from Ulashi River for the past 17 years. Also, the negative effects of mining in Ulashi River include loss of river bank vegetation, erosion, changes on the river system and lowered riverbed; effects of mining on land include loss of tree population and unquantifiable plant species. Analysed water samples showed that pH, turbidity, DO, BOD, COD and heavy metals (Pb and Mn) were above the permissible limits of NESERA/WHO, hence, Ulashi River is contaminated and community health is endangered when water is used for domestic uses without treatment. Linear Regression was used to test the economic benefits of sand mining. Results indicated that for every unit increase in monthly number of sands extracted from Ulashi River, it is estimated that the monthly income level of the respondent will increase by 0.317 units. Hence, sand mining has a significant relationship with the economic livelihood of the community. This study recommended youth partnership and education, enforcement of policies, monitoring environmental quality and community inclusion in research studies.

This is my research internship report which I worked with River Research Center on river sand mining and its socio ecological impacts. We all know sand is important mineral as economic and developmental concerns. But because of its economical value, we like to forget the importance of the same as a natural resource. besides ecological importance, the sand mining has some social impacts too.

Due to growing environmental awareness, as well as stricter regulations on managing industrial waste, the world is increasingly turning to researching properties of industrial waste and finding solutions on using its valuable component parts so that those might be used as secondary raw material in other industrial branches. Although iron and steel slag is still today considered waste and is categorized in industrial waste catalogues in most countries in the world, it is most definitely not waste, neither by its physical and chemical properties nor according to data on its use as valuable material for different purposes. Moreover, since the earliest times of the discovery and development of processes of iron and other metals production, slag as by-product is used for satisfying diverse human needs, from the production of medicines and agro-technical agents to production of cement and construction element. Considering the specificity of physical and chemical properties of metallurgical slags and a series of possibilities for their use in other industrial branches and in the field of civil constructions, this report demonstrates the possibilities of using iron slag as partial replacement of sand in concrete. Iron and steel making slag are by products of the iron making and steelmaking processes. To date, these types of slag have been widely used in cement and as aggregate for civil works. The report presents an investigation of mechanical and durability properties of concrete by adding iron slag as replacement of sand in various percentages. The results show that the strength properties of concrete increase significantly when sand is partially replaced by iron slag.

Nowadays, the mining of sand resources from rivers areas especially in Perak state is a common practice and may lead to destruction of public assets as well as impacts or increase stress on commercial and non-commercial living resources that utilize these areas. This study was carried out to determine possible river sand removal capacity and their consequences towards Sungai Perak. Van Veen Grabber and Helley Smith sediment sampler are used to collect bed soil samples and determine sediment transport at the time of sampling. These two methods could estimate the suitability of available sand material and the flux of sediment transport locally. By conducting the surveys and analysing all the collected data, it showed positive results. Almost 90% of the grab samples were good quality of sand. The minimum total quantity of minable sand in Sungai Perak at Bota Kanan is 713,073.1 tonnes (269,084.2 m 3 ) with the maximum replenishment period of 100 days. The recharge sediment transport yield on average is in range 0.14 tonne/km2 /day to 0.53 ton/km2 /day and it is in the range of reported sediment transport yield in several Perak’s rivers (0.04 – 1.4 ton/km2 /day). By implementing this method, the negative impact of sand mining activities can be reduced and the river will be sustained.

The diversity and structure of benthic macroinvertebrates related to some physico-chemical parameters were studied in the Konglo stream, an affluent of the Nyong river in Cameroon. The benthic macroinvertebrates were collected at three stations according to multihabitat the approach and physic-chemical parameters were sampled and analyzed using classic methods between February 2014 and August 2014. During this study, 1969 individuals belonging to 3 phyla, 7 classes, 16 orders, 63 families and more than 90 genera were sampled. The class of Insects, including 9 orders, 54 families and more than 79 genera, predominates with 74.81 % of the relative abundance, followed by the class of Decapods regrouping 21.94 % of the individuals distributed in 1 order, 2 families and 2 genera, however less varied. The other classes (Achaeta, Oligochaeta, Bivalvia, Gastropoda and Arachnida) represent only 3.25 % of relative abundance. The spatial variation of taxonomical richness shows a decrease of the...

Sand is a scarce resource, extracted from rivers and coasts at rates that exceed its natural renewal. Yet, little is understood about the political economy of sand extraction, the livelihood vulnerabilities produced, or why sand grabbing is occurring at unprecedented rates in particular locations. Drawing together literature on global production network approaches in economic geography and debates on sustainable livelihoods in development geography--two literatures rarely in conversation with one another--we reveal the links between new, globalized, cross-border articulations of poverty and prosperity and the sand trade. We situate our sand case in Southeast Asia across three sites, namely in: Singapore, the world’s top sand importer; Cambodia, a top-ten global exporter of sand; and an emerging exporter, Myanmar. We examine how sand mining impacts, directly and indirectly, a range of livelihoods, specifically fisheries in Cambodia, riverbank agriculture in Myanmar, and migrant labor...

The natural process of river bed aggradation in the downstream stretch of a river due to erosion and transportation in upstream stretches of the river in Nepal necessitates extraction of deposited sand-gravel-stones from rivers. Unmanaged and excessive sand mining from river bed, however, can be cause environmental disaster. In order to prevent negative impacts of sand mining, the government of Nepal has recently promulgated draconian measures, which effectively bans any extraction of sand from river beds. This measure can backfire as flood water will flow towards the riparian settlements,

Sand is a scarce resource, extracted from rivers and coasts at rates that exceed its natural renewal. Yet, little is understood about the political economy of sand extraction, the livelihood vulnerabilities produced, or why sand grabbing is occurring at unprecedented rates in particular locations. Drawing together literature on global production network approaches in economic geography and debates on sustainable livelihoods in development geography--two literatures rarely in conversation with one another--we reveal the links between new, globalized, cross-border articulations of poverty and prosperity and the sand trade. We situate our sand case in Southeast Asia across three sites, namely in: Singapore, the world’s top sand importer; Cambodia, a top-ten global exporter of sand; and an emerging exporter, Myanmar. We examine how sand mining impacts, directly and indirectly, a range of livelihoods, specifically fisheries in Cambodia, riverbank agriculture in Myanmar, and migrant labor in Singapore. Drawing on our empirical work, we argue that linking these two literatures with empirical data on sand provides an approach which is broad in its connections and simultaneously grounded in specific practices, places, and people.  This enables us to better account for often overlooked aspects in the production, erosion, and transfer of value.

Globally, natural resources are under intense pressure especially in Africa where high consumption levels have brought changes that have driven the economies of rural communities towards reckless exploitation. The main drivers for increased ecological footprints of extractive industries have been identified as population growth, increased demand for construction works and city expansion. Sand removal is largely practiced all over world and it covers over 80% all natural resource exploration. It is estimated that the sand industry is worth over 4.0 billion dollars with a fast increasing rate of about 6% annually. In Nigeria, sands and aggregates are the most common and easily withdrawn natural resources even above the extraction rates of crude oil. It is cheap, readily available and easily extracted from using a simple shovel in remote areas in global South regions and its transition to the world’s largest multinational mining companies in global North countries. The most desired sands are sand removed from river beds and coast due to their ability to bind with concrete for construction purposes. This has placed the natural environment especially river resources in danger since it underpins the economy and sustains life in most developing countries specially fishing, irrigating agricultural lands and other domestic uses. River mining has gained global attention due to high consumption levels that by far outweighs the levels of sand renewal as a time-constrained resource. Basically, it is considered as the least regulated mineral processing activity with high destructive tendencies. This present chapter examined the impact of river sand mining and its ecological footprint at odor river, Amaokpala, Anambra State, Nigeria. A mixed method approach was adopted in the case study that included qualitative (in-depth interview with 30 sand miners, transect walks, field observations and photography) and quantitative methods (160 questionnaires were randomly administered to residents). The concept of ecological footprint was used as a lens to further inform the effects of commercial river sand mining on the environment. Findings from the study showed that an estimated value of 156,400 m3 of sands have been removed from Odor River for the past 40 years. Also, the ecological impacts of mining in Odor River include loss of river bank vegetation, increased turbidity, erosion, river shrinking and lowered riverbed. There is need to enhance biocapacity of our sands while ensuring ecological security in riverine and coastal environments. Hence, policy enforcement, education on human lifestyles towards resource consumption rates, youth engagement and community based participation research (CBPR) among others were recommended.

As the river sand is widely used in construction industry, the demand for fine aggregate is increasing rapidly. River sand has been the most widely used as fine aggregate around the world and to meet the demand has led to various harmful consequences such as increase in the depth of the river bed, lowering of the water table and salinity intrusion into the rivers. As a result, there was an immediate requirement for alternatives to river sand such as manufacturing sand which is prominently used as alternative material. An experimental study is made on the strength aspects of cement mortar by partially replacing river sand with Sea Sand and desert sand as fine aggregate. This study gives a comparison on the relevant material properties of Sea Sand (SS), Desert Sand (DS) and River Sand (RS).Different fine aggregate materials (SS, DS and RS) were used in 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 100% proportion to make cement mortar blocks and tested for compressive strength at 3, 7, 28 and 56 days of curing. The Sea Sand was partially replaced with the River Sand (10% SS and 90% RS) mortar blocks were cast and similarly for desert sand (10% DS and 90% RS). For each proportion of Fine Aggregates (FA) cement mortar blocks were cast and tested for compressive strength at 3, 7, 28 and 56 days of curing. The compressive strength results for both the sets of replacements (SS+RS and DS+RS) were tabulated and graphs were plot for compressive strength v/s curing period.

Being cheapest in earlier days the natural sand used in concrete without any alternate even though natural sand
containing organic impurities, clay and silt content more than permitted level. Due to excessive mining the river basin
environment got affected, the demand for fine aggregate increased and the prevailing market unable to meet the need. Nowadays
crushed sand also called as manufactured sand being used as an alternate to natural sand partially or fully. an attempt has been
made to experimentally study the properties of concrete by replacing the 100% natural sand with artificial sand. The results
have shown that the natural sand can be replaced with the artificial sand to produce concrete of Satisfactory strength and
durability. Experiments conducted on M30, grade concrete with fine aggregate replacement proportion 10%,20% 30%,
40%,50%,60% and 70%. We have investigated workability, compressive strength for all different cases and cost analysis between
artificial sand and Natural Sand.

— River bank erosion is one of the major natural disasters being faced by the state of Assam, located in the Northeastern part of India. With the increasing popularity of geotextile materials in construction industry several pilot projects to control bank erosion of major rivers of Assam have recently been executed with the application of geotextile bags, geotextile tubes. But very little scientific study on the post-construction performance of these works is available. In this paper the findings of a study on the post construction performance of one of these recently completed bank protection works is presented. In order to ascertain the erodibility of the bank soil characterisation of geotechnical properties of the bank soil is carried out. The bore log obtained by adopting a simplified method of boring suitable for this investigation is presented along with detailed laboratory test results and analysis. The change in river flow pattern near the bank after installation of the bank protection work and the resultant siltation is studied in this work. In order to predict progressive development of sand bar due to the induced siltation during the first 1 year after installation of the protection work the siltation area is surveyed and the contours are prepared. The resultant flow pattern is reasonably determined from the siltation area contours. Satellite images of the study area for a period of 3 years after installation of the protection work are analysed and presented before arriving at a final conclusion on the performance of the protection measure.

Nowadays, the mining of sand resources from rivers areas especially in Perak state is a common practice and may lead to destruction of public assets as well as impacts or increase stress on commercial and noncommercial living resources that utilize these areas. This study was carried out to determine possible river sand removal capacity and their consequences towards Sungai Perak. Van Veen Grabber and Helley Smith sediment sampler are used to collect bed soil samples and determine sediment transport at the time of sampling. These two methods could estimate the suitability of available sand material and the flux of sediment transport locally. By conducting the surveys and analysing all the collected data, it showed positive results. Almost 90% of the grab samples were good quality of sand. The minimum total quantity of minable sand in Sungai Perak at Bota Kanan is 713,073.1 tonnes (269,084.2 m 3) with the maximum replenishment period of 100 days. The recharge sediment transport yield on average is in range 0.14 tonne/km 2 /day to 0.53 ton/km 2 /day and it is in the range of reported sediment transport yield in several Perak's rivers (0.04-1.4 ton/km 2 /day). By implementing this method, the negative impact of sand mining activities can be reduced and the river will be sustained.

Nowadays, the mining of sand resources from rivers areas especially in Perak
state is a common practice and may lead to destruction of public assets as well as
impacts or increase stress on commercial and noncommercial living resources that
utilize these areas. This study was carried out to determine possible river sand
removal capacity and their consequences towards Sungai Perak. Van Veen Grabber
and Helley Smith sediment sampler are used to collect bed soil samples and determine
sediment transport at the time of sampling. These two methods could estimate the
suitability of available sand material and the flux of sediment transport locally. By
conducting the surveys and analysing all the collected data, it showed positive results.
Almost 90% of the grab samples were good quality of sand.

Sand mining adversely behaves with changing river system, especially in the bedload transport process. This study aims to find out the relationships between river water flows, sediment transport regime in bedload transport and also tries to determine how instream mining affect the sediment inflow and channel planform change. The field study has been conducted in three selected sites on Kangsabati River situated in the lower, middle and upper course. Several established equations were applied to derive the results from water flow and sediment regime. GSTAT was used to prepare coarse medium (CM) diagrams and tractive current deposits to analyze the trend of sediment throughout the river course. Sediment and bedload transport were measured using Ackers and White (J Hydraul Eng Div ASCE 99(hy11):2041–2060, 1973) and Meyer-Peter–Muller methods (IAHSR 2nd meeting, Stockholm, appendix 2. IAHR, 1948). Shear stress and critical shear stress were computed using Shields (Application of similarity principles and turbulence research to bedload movement, 1936) and DuBoys equations whereas Friend and Sinha’s method (Braiding and meandering parameters, vol 75, No 1, Geological Society, London, 1993) was used to detect irregular planform response caused by sand mining. Regression analysis denotes that mining intensity can be change the shear stress (R2 = 0.972); velocity (R2 = 0.683); grain diameter (R2 = 0.555) and sediment concentration (R2 = 0.997) on bedload transport. Mining activities can be changes of hydraulic responses as well as interruption of sediment and bedload transport throughout the channel. In context of sand mining, planform response denotes that thalweg shifting leads to massive sandchar deposition in upper course, huge channel incision causes river bank erosion in middle course and pool–riffle alteration expanded in channel and pit area in lower course.