LOCAL COMMUNITIES’ AWARENESS AFTER GOLD MINING TERMINATION IN SIJUNJUNG REGENCY, WEST SUMATRA

The research was conducted abandoned gold mining exploration area, situated in Limo Koto Ⅶ, Sijunjung Regency. This study was commenced with the aim of investigating Hg content in water and soil after a decade of mine termination as well as the locals’ dealing with the current environmental issues in which their understanding and perception would be third objective of this research. Therefore, the data collections were starting from December 2022 (the duration was around 2 weeks). Purposive sampling for natural resources, in which soil was sampled randomly at each of the five types of land use then socio-economics data was conducted by cluster sampling method. According to the result, Hg was still contained both in water (well, pond as well as river) and soil (oil palm, paddy, citrus plantations, bush and forest) as well. Hg in soil was ranging from 0.09 ppm to 0.15 ppm which is totally acceptable compared to Indonesia’s soil quality standard, 0.5 ppm (1995). The soil pH found as acidic to highly acidic intensity, the strongest ones could be occurred in the forest where Hg and OM values hit the largest concentration in all sample sites. Alternatively, pH of water >7 was considered basic water type where Hg was between 0.041 ppm and 0.117 ppm, significantly rose not only in International but also Indonesia Standards, 0.001 ppm. The most accumulated area of Hg was in irrigated water; however, BOD and COD values were agreed with the standard guideline. The understanding on this issue, the residents could not correlate with the specific health problems and Hg. Their perceptions on nourishing agricultural products had the positive opinion but a few might be selling those items. While some respondents felt secure consuming water, the others recommended the idea of non-using the water. The locals’ perceptions were more prefer or agree with non-consumption such food sources including water. In spite of increasing Hg concentration in water, the consumption rates were outweighed the non-consumption. Owing to the limited understanding and knowledge of Hg introducing fatal diseases, residents kept utilizing Hg rich water

Diffusion Length of Radon in Building Materials

The present work aims to find out the diffusion coefficients and diffusion lengths in some brick samples. The diffusion coefficients and diffusion lengths have been calculated using solid state nuclear track detectors (LR-115). The diffusion lengths varied from 55.4×10-3m to 924.8×10-3 m. The calculated values of radon concentration of brick samples varied from 30 ± 18.1467 Bqm-3 to167 ± 37.0239 Bqm-3 . The diffusion coefficients varied from 0.0065×10-6 m 2 s -1 to 1.79×10-6 m 2 s -1 . The annual effective doses varied from 0.52 ± 0.3121mSvyr-1 to 2.87 ± 0.6368mSvyr-1 . The value of annual effective dose was recommended by International Commission on Radiological Protection Publication (ICRP) is 5 mSvyr-1 . This study reveals that there is no serious radiation health hazard to the public using the brick samples

A Study on Some Myanmar Ornamental Fish Species in Inlay Lake

The taxonomical studies of ornamental fishes of Inlay Lake were carried out. This study has recorded the occurrence of 12 species of ornamental fishes belonging to three orders and six families representing ten genera. Five species were recorded as endemic to Inlay Lake and its environments. About four of exported species were described in detail. The status of the studied species in the lake were discussed