ACID MINE DRAINAGE AS ENVIRONMENTAL RISK FOR SURFACE WATER

11th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM2011, www.sgem.org, SGEM2011 Conference Proceedings/ ISSN 1314-2704, June 20-25, 2011, Vol. 3, 175-182 pp

ABSTRACT

Anthropogenic activities produce a lot of chemical, physical and biological pollutants,
which penetrate by different ways into environment and influence the living organisms
and ecosystems negatively. In present it does not exist universal method for
environmental risk assessment. Most countries use various procedures in field of risk
analysis oriented to the specific problem solutions close connected with the chosen
factors, which have negative influences on the individual environmental parts.

The paper deals with environmental risk assessemnt focused on evaluation of the
surface water quality related to acid mine drainage (AMD) producing from abandoned
sulphide mine in Smolnik (Slovak Republic). Overflowed mine Smolnik produces
AMD with high metal concentrations and low value of the pH (about 3-4) as a result of
chemical oxidation of sulphides and other chemical processes. The aim of risk
assessement is to find a contribution of the polution source on contamination of surface
water over legislative limits by aplication of multivariate statistics for interpratation of
surface water data from Smolnik creek. Data set was analysed using factor analysis.
This study underscores the value of multivariate statistical analysis for evaluation and
interpretation of the data with a view to stimulating better policy outcomes and
decision-making that positively impacts water quality and thus prospectively diminishes
the pollution caused by hazardous toxic elements in mining environments.

Keywords: acid main drainage, heavy metals, factor analysis