Selection of Indicators for A Sustainable Management of Water esources in Mining Areas

摘要

In mining areas,both during the live cycle of the mine and after the mine has been closed,the potential dispersion of pollutants to reach surface waters and groundwater makes necessary the search of selected indicators,which could give precise information about the real level of pollution generated by the mining activities. The definition ofglobal pollution indicators at a catchment scale is a very complex task,since there are a great number of factors and variables in the environment that take part in the generation and dispersion of pollutants.In addition, the generation and dispersion of pollutants are usually inclined to change with the time. The definition of key parameters constitutes the so-called mining pollution indicators,which are turning into tools more and more used in order to have a sustainable water management in mining areas. The selected indicators must allow the evaluation of both the pollutants generation and the potential affection level of the environment in the area of the mine.In spite of the great variety of cases that can be found in the different mining environments,in this communication are proposed some general indicators that could be applicable to most of them.Some parameters such as sulphates,pH,iron,arsenic,etc. Are the principal factors generators of the waters pollution in these environments,and therefore they constitute the main group of pollution indicators. These indicators are the grounding and the power supply of the so-called Decision Support Systems(DSS),whose purpose is supporting and improving the process to take decisions in order to solve complex problems.For the development of these Decision Support Systems,which are tools more and more necessary for a sustainable management of the hydric rosources,it is essential the selection of a group of indicators type which,in a reliable and consistent way,can be representative and reflect the current situation of the basin. The effectiveness of the selected indicators is fully linkedto the quality of the data entry and that is why it is necessary to make a strict selection of the indicators which will be used.In order that the application of the DSS allows having the most suitable water management, the selected indicators must be representative of the mining area under study;they must be clear and completely reliable.