M – Sand Policy – Burning Issues

Table of Contents

Context

In three months, the TN State government will put in place an M-sand policy.
Eliminate the pervasion of substandard products in the market through regulation of trade.
M-sand is a substitute of river sand
Produced from hard granite stone by crushing.
The crushed sand is of cubical shape with grounded edges
The size of manufactured sand (M-Sand) is less than 4.75mm.
Manufactured sand is an alternative for river sand.
Due to fast growing construction industry, the demand for sand has increased .
Due to the depletion of good quality river sand for the use of construction, the use of manufactured sand has been increased.
M-Sand is its availability and transportation cost.
it can be readily available at the nearby place
Thus, the cost of construction can be controlled
The other advantage of using M-Sand is, it can be dust free.
Usage of M-sand prevents dredging of river beds.
The UNEP has released a report, Sand and Sustainability: Finding new solutions for environmental governance of global sand resources.
It highlights a problem that has largely stayed under the radar: sand consumption globally has been increasing and we are extracting it at rates exceeding natural replenishment rates.
Sand and gravel are the second largest natural resources extracted
Sand is created by slow geological processes, and its distribution is not even.
Desert sand, available in plenty, is not suited for construction
While 85% to 90% of global sand demand is met from quarries, and sand and gravel pits, the 10% to 15% extracted from rivers and sea shores is a severe concern due the environmental and social impacts.
Their extraction often results in river and coastal erosion and threats to freshwater and marine fisheries and aquatic ecosystems.
The report notes that China and India head the list of critical hotspots for sand extraction impacts
Most large rivers of the world have lost between half and 95% of their natural sand
Better spatial planning and reducing unnecessary
It calls for investing in infrastructure maintenance and retrofitting rather than the demolish and rebuild cycle, embracing alternative design and construction methods
Large-scale multipronged actions from global to local levels, involving public, private and civil society organisations.
This will mean building consensus, defining what success would look like, and reconciling policies and standards with sand availability, development imperatives and standards and enforcement realities.