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Acid mine drainage, acid and metalliferous drainage (AMD), or acid rock drainage (ARD) is the outflow of acidic water from metal mines and coal mines. [citation needed]
A creek affected by abandoned mine drainage. Abandoned mine drainage (also known as AMD [1]) is a form of water pollution involving water that has been polluted by contact with mines, typically coal mines. [2] Although it is sometimes called "acid mine drainage", not all abandoned mine drainage is acidic. [3] [4]
The Eastern Pennsylvania Coalition for Abandoned Mine Reclamation gained $150,000 from the Office of Surface Mining for the project. The treatment cost approximately $1,900,000 and is the largest acid mine drainage treatment system in the Coal Region. [6] Around 2000, plans were made to reroute Catawissa Creek away from the tunnel. [1]
Acid mine drainage results when surface and ground water combine with sulfuric rock from the mines, causing a sulfuric acid. The sulfuric acid causes leaching of iron, manganese, lead, copper, zinc and cadmium from the rock it interacts with. [3] Acid mine drainage is caused by both abandoned mines and mines in current excavation.
The load of acidity in the tunnel is also greater than the aforementioned acid mine drainage discharges. [3] The tunnel causes Wetzel Creek to be acidic as far downstream as its mouth. [ 4 ] Between 1979 and 1980, the pH of the discharge of the Quakake Tunnel ranged from 3.4 to 4.6, with an average of 3.9.
During the 1920s, a bore hole was drilled in order to remove water from multiple coal mines in the area. That hole was subsequently capped during the 1950s. This proved to be an unsatisfactory maintenance situation, however, because, over time, pressure gradually built up beneath the cap.
Acid mine drainage from the mines leads to severe environmental problems because the acidity (low pH) dissolves heavy metals into the water. It is not clear how much acid drainage has come from natural processes and how much has come from mining. There are severe environmental concerns over the pollution in the river. [2]
Spring Creek Debris Dam is an earthfill dam on Spring Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River, in Shasta County in the U.S. state of California.Completed in 1963, the dam, maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, serves primarily to collect severe acid mine drainage stemming from the Iron Mountain Mine. [1]