Understanding The Future Of Canadian Mine Water

As this natural resource becomes scarcer while demand rises, and at the same time it is becoming increasingly more contaminated, how we use, treat and manage this valuable resource will have a greater and greater affect on us all. Not only from a health and environmental stand point, but also an economic and sustainability perspective.

The effect of this growing concern over water quality has of course already been extensive within the municipal water and wastewater treatment industry. With mounting research about the harmful effects that contaminated drinking water and wastewater pose to public health and our environment, stricter water quality regulations are continuously being implemented.

For example, drinking water quality goals now not only have to be concerned about whether or not the water is safe to consume from a microbiological perspective, in that the water is not going to cause any acute illnesses, but that lowered allowable levels of contaminates that cause harmful long-term health effects, such as cancer, are being met.

In addition, there are increasingly tighter regulations for the maximum allowable levels of contaminants in wastewater effluent not only for the municipal sector but industrial sectors too, and that certainly includes the mining industry.

Every owner and operator of a mine, regardless of its size or location, knows that water is an integral part of a successful operation. We all know that it’s widely used for various purposes throughout the mining process.

Everything from extraction, to dust suppression, to the cooling of workers and their equipment requires water in some form or another. Its use, however, is dependent on the size and type of mine, among other factors.

Just as mines differ, so too do their sources of water. Again, depending on the mine’s location, it can obtain its water from various sources such as groundwater, surface water, a public water supply, or through recycling or reclaiming its own process water.

Attention to this latter point will increase in importance even here in Canada with our seemingly endless access to fresh water sources when compared to other parts of the world where water reuse and conservation play a much more vital role.

This way of thinking, however, is beginning to change in Canada as we continue to strengthen our understanding and appreciation for our water and its sources.

In addition, given the many processes within a mine which require water, there can be numerous effluent discharge sources such as tailings ponds. Historical methodologies for dealing with contaminated mine water which could just be discharged freely and uncontrolled causing extensive pollution of our environment and natural water sources is thankfully a thing of the past.

Incredible attention is now required to really understand and take into account the impact that mine water has and how to best deal with it from both an economic and environmental perspective.

In recognition of this, the government of Canada has already taken action through its National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE). By creating the ‘Water and Canada’s Natural Resource Sectors’ research program, it has specifically designed a program to further investigate the relationship and impact of water and the mining industry as well as our other natural resource sectors in Canada.

The process for treating mine water does have its own interesting and unique issues and will involve various treatment processes which can range in complexities depending on the water quality being treated and quantity of water being processed. Improvements in technologies for managing, treating and monitoring of water will help with a mine’s ability to purify water for potable use as well as reclaim process water effectively and efficiently, and ensure proper treatment of mine effluents being discharged back into our lakes and other water sources.

The Canadian mining industry’s advancement towards a better understanding of the true value of water will allow for much continued future success.

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Water is now being referred to as the petroleum of the next century. It’s not only vital for supporting human life but for supporting that of our environment in which we all live.