Quarry activity begins to generate ecological problems

 

However, precautionary measures have been ignored and this activity is beginning to create some problems, mainly environmental.

 

Take for example, the Dura Quarry C, in Ngoma Village, Kanara parish, Nyabani sub county, Kamwenge District, it is located within the boundaries of Mining lease 0248 in Queen Elizabeth National Park.

 

Dura quarry is subdivided into three quarry sites (A, B and C) with only quarry C being currently mined. A section of quarry B, approximately 40 ha falls within a Ramsar site. Quarry C covers approximately 520,625m2 and is the only active quarry in Dura Quarry area.

 

The quarry area has got many drainage features falling within the catchment of Lake George and include Dura River, which drains into the Nsonge River and eventually Nsonge swamp. Rwenkerebe River divides the deposits as it flows westwards into the Dura River.

 

 

(i) Habitat modification; The large disturbances caused by mining have disrupted the environments around the quarry, adversely affecting the aquatic habitats (streams and rivers), terrestrial habitats (grasslands, forests), and riverine wetlands that many organisms rely on for survival. Ecosystems and the communities and species they support need to be able to interact and exchange genetic material with other ecosystems, communities and populations of species in order to remain viable.  Also, species need to be able to shift their ranges in response to climate change, allowing their continual adaptation.

 

The limestone quarry has broken up the continuity of the forest with the grassland. This has already resulted into disappearance of species and loss of particular ecosystem-specific functions. For instance, next to the quarry is an abandoned nest of Chimpanzee probably due to habitat modification.

 

 (ii) Waste management issues: At the quarry, Oils and lubricants have no clear store and are just placed in an open environment. There is a possibility of contamination of the soil with oils and lubricants for the excavator with consequent significant impacts on the environment. (See Photos of oil containers, and other waste disposal sites).

 

 (iii)  Discharge of dissolved limestone and associated waste water into Dura River: The water with dissolved limestone from the four pumps operating 24 hours a day at the quarry is discharged directly into River Rwenkerebe a tributary of Dura River without treatment or even passing through settlement ponds. This effluent finally ends up into Lake George and definitely affects aquatic life.

 

iv) Biodiversity conservation and scenic viewing challenges: The current large scale quarrying activity generates stress to the wild animals around Dura quarry consequently affecting their abundance and distribution.  As the case of DURA C site, it is clearly reported by the mining workers and quarry supervisors that the destroyed patches of the chain link around the quarry site (approximately four square km chain link)  is a result of the stressed elephants and buffalos that normally  invade the quarry area after observing foreign objects in their habitat.

 

There is thus an urgency to restrict the land take under quarrying activities in the park because large scale mining in protected areas defeats the legal provision for protection of wildlife in gazzetted parks.