Mining water management - Essay Example

Maximizing Safety and Productivity with Surface Waters While Minimizing Effects on Other Consumer Water Resources The mining industry has come a long way in protecting contaminated water discharge from mining processes, and in also managing natural surface water flows, to maintain a clean resource for other non-mining consumers to use safely (Mining Facts, 2014). Water discharge from all parts of the mining site are constantly monitored for levels of contamination throughout the processes. Surface water found in streams, rivers and lakes, are especially important for keeping the resource safe and this usually means, designing the water infrastructure in mining processes before anything is even built.

It is also designed for safety after the mine is no longer in used and is rehabilitated back to nature, or to its previous condition (Mining Fact, 2014; Mining Facts, 2014a). Mine Water refers to the surface or groundwater that occurs in its natural state. Best practices in managing surface water resources are: Diverting natural water sources away from the mining site and its process lines; Using diversion channels above ground that provide a constant flow of natural water to inhabitants in the region; Isolating mining water discharges to controlled areas for monitoring, cleaning, and recycling again in some mining processes; Ensuring that mining process water lines will not leach into the soil and make its way back into natural water resources.

The last consideration is one of the most important parts of closing down a mine, in that contaminants of any sort, will not absorb into soils and eventually integrate with naturally running underground aquifers (Watson & Furey, 2013).ResourcesMining Facts. (2014). What are the Water Quality Concerns at Mines? Miningfacts.org Online. Retrieved from http://www.miningfacts.org/Environment/What-are-the-water-quality-concerns-at-mines-/. Mining Facts. (2014a). How is Water Managed and Treated in Mining?

Miningfacts.org Online. Retrieved from http://www.miningfacts.org/Environment/How-is-water-managed-and-treated-in-mining/. Watson, A., & Furey, R. (2013). Water Management: Life of Mine and Beyond. Mining Magazine Online. [December 2013]. Retrieved from http://www.mwhglobal.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Water-management-Life-of-mine-and-beyond-MM-Dec-2013.pdf.