Sustainable water management in Iraq (Kurdistan) as a challenge for governmental responsibility

During the last few decades, a critical scarcity of water has occurred in the Middle East due to climate change and the mismanagement of water resources. The situation is complicated by the absence of an effective legislative framework at the local level as well as by the incapability and disrepute of the local water authorities. Most Iraqi citizens depend on the surface waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which have their sources in upstream neighbouring countries. Water crises concerning the shared waters urgently require a solution at the international level. Unfortunately, Iraq has faced several wars in a row (1980-2003), which has prevented the country from establishing its institutions. The rapid increase in the population of the transboundary countries on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, and the high demands on agriculture, are accelerating water exploitation. In this paper, the present state of water management in Iraq from the viewpoint of the legislative framework, water balance, and transboundary issues will be discussed, with special attention to Kurdistan. Many legislative documents have been established or amended by the Iraqi and Kurdistan parliaments since 2003. In 2015, the Kurdistan Government Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources, in cooperation with the EU, issued a guide for environmental legislation related to all environmental components such as air, water, and soil. The recommendations on actions needed in the water management in Kurdistan will be presented; they are inspired by the Water Framework Directive (WFD) (2000/60/EC) implemented in EU member states.Web of Science1011art. no. 165

Impact of mining activities in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin on surface water and possibilities of its reduction

Due to the deposits of quality hard coal, the area of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB) has been one of the most industrialised regions in Europe for centuries. One of the most significant issues in terms of environmental impact and risks related to mining activities are the discharged mine waters. Mine water is pumped to the surface in great amount from mine workings of active underground mines both in Czech and Polish part of the USCB. In the past, the mine waters used to be discharged to nearby watercourses without systematic control of their amount and quality. It resulted in uncontrolled impacts on quality of the main rivers in the USCB. This is why a technically and economically demanding solution was adopted: discharging of mine (but also waste) waters through an artificial channel - so-called "Olza Collector" - directly to the Oder River, i.e. away of the Olza River and its minor tributaries. Automated control and dosing of waters to the Oder River depending on quality of the discharged waters and quality and quantity of the Oder surface water ensures maintaining of the total content of chlorides and sulphates in Oder below 500 mg/dm(3) with the efficiency of more than 90% of days in a year.Web of Science163696

Quantitative assessment of mine water sources based on the general mixing equation and multivariate statistics

It is sometimes necessary to quantify the different sources of water entering a mine, based on the hydrochemical nature of the waters from individual aquifers that contribute to the mine water mixture. In order to solve the general mixing equation, a software tool, KYBL-7, was developed; its computational methodology is generally based on the balance of selected components of mine waters in steady state conditions, without considering chemical reactions. This approach was applied in the Sokolov Coal Basin, which is situated in the immediate vicinity of Carlsbad (Karlovy Vary), a worldwide renowned spa in the northern part of the Czech Republic. The technology and coal mining methods used in the Sokolov Coal Basin are limited due to its proximity to the Carlsbad thermal springs. Because of their social and economic significance, these springs are protected. Calculations proved that the Carlsbad waters contribute approximately 3 % to the mine water. The imbalance in the mine water mixture using known source waters was quantified by including an ‘unknown source’ in the mixture simulation. Geochemical modelling demonstrated that the water quality is a result of geochemical reactions of waters in contact with the atmosphere and the reverse dissolution of the accumulated precipitates in the open pit areas. Those results have been used to assess future technical measures that can be taken to protect the Carlsbad thermal waters.Gelegentlich ist es notwendig, das mengenmäßige Verhältnis verschiedenen Quellen von Wässern zu bestimmen, die einem Bergwerk zufließen. Dies geschieht auf der Basis der hydrochemischen Eigenschaften der Wässer der unterschiedlichen Aquifere, die zur Zusammensetzung des Grubenwassers beitragen. Um die allgemeine Mischungsgleichung zu lösen, wurde die Software KYBL-7 entwickelt. Dessen numerische Methode basiert auf dem Gleichgewicht ausgewählter Parameter des Grubenwassers unter stationären Bedingungen ohne dabei chemische Reaktionen in Betracht zu ziehen. Vorgenannte Methode wurde im Sokolov Kohlebecken angewandt, das sich in unmittelbarer Nachbarschaft zu Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary) befindet; einem weltweit bekannten Thermalkurort im Norden der Tschechischen Republik. Die Thermalquellen selbst sind aufgrund ihrer gesellschaftlichen und wirtschaftlichen Bedeutung geschützt. Daher sind im Sokolov Kohlebecken aufgrund der Nähe zu diesen Thermalquellen manche Technologien und Methoden zum Kohlenabbau nur begrenzt einsetzbar. Berechnungen haben jedoch belegt, dass die Karlsbader Wässer etwa 3 % des Grubenwassers ausmachen. Dem Ungleichgewicht in der Grubenwasserzusammensetzung unter Verwendung der bekannten Wassertypen wurde dadurch Rechnung getragen, dass eine „unbekannte Quelle“in das Modell einbezogen wurde. Eine geochemische Modellierung hat gezeigt, dass die Wasserqualität ein Ergebnis geochemischen Reaktionen der Wässer mit der Atmosphäre einerseits und Rücklösung von Ausfällungsprodukten andererseits ist. Diese Ergebnisse wurden verwendet um potentielle technische Maßnahmen zu prüfen, mit denen die Karlsbader Thermalwässer künftig besser geschützt werden können.Web of Science31426525

Impact of uranium mines closure and abandonment on groundwater quality

The aim of the study is to assess the evolving mine water quality of closed uranium mines (abandoned between 1958 and 1992) in the Czech Republic. This paper focuses on the changes in mine water quality over time and spatial variability. In 2010, systematic monitoring of mine water quality was performed at all available locations of previous uranium exploitation. Gravity flow discharges (mine adits, uncontrolled discharges) or shafts (in dynamic state or stagnating) were sampled. Since the quality of mine water results from multiple conditions—geology, type of sample, sampling depth, time since mine flooding, an assessment of mine water quality evolution was done taking into account all these conditions. Multivariate analyses were applied in order to identify the groups of samples based on their similarity. Evaluation of hydrogeochemical equilibrium and evolution of mine waters was done using the Geochemist’s Workbench and PHREEQC software. The sampling proved that uranium concentrations in mine waters did not predominantly exceed 0.45 mg/L. In case of discharges from old adits abandoned more than 40 years ago, uranium concentrations were below the MCL of US Environmental Protection Agency for uranium in drinking water (0.03 mg/L). Higher concentrations, up to 1.23 mg/L of U, were found only at active dewatered mines. Activity concentration of 226Ra varied from 0.03 up to 1.85 Bq/L except for two sites with increased background values due to rock formation (granites). Radium has a typically increasing trend after mine abandonment with a large variability. Concerning metals in mine water, Al, Co and Ni exceeded legislative limits on two sites with low pH waters. The mine water quality changes with a focus on uranium mobility were described from recently dewatered mines to shafts with water level maintained in order to prevent outflows to surface water and finally to stagnating shafts and discharges of mine water from old adits. The results were in good agreement with published experience on mine water stratification, its disturbance by pumping or natural water decant and the “first flush” phenomenon after mine flooding.Web of Science20117602759

Příspěvek k poznání příčin seismicity v OKR

Import 20/04/2006Prezenční výpůjčkaVŠB - Technická univerzita Ostrava. Fakulta hornicko-geologick

Metodologické problémy hodnocení prostorových a časových změn kvality důlních vod

An important, but largely neglected hydrogeological issue is the timing of mine water sampling during mining and after mine closure. Significant temporal and spatial changes in the “ageing“ of information, neglected effects of dynamic changes in the quality of mine water and its resources are causing severe degradation of information from mine water analyses and their possible misleading interpretation. Hydrogeological data are typical examples of multi-parametric information and if any hydrogeochemical data bases and their further processing are to be undertaken it is advisable to use methods of multi-parametric analyses followed by hydrogeochemical reaction models. Another limiting factor affecting the validity of results is the assessment of the issue of the representativeness of samples. The methodology applied on various mining sites is widely discussed in the paper.Důležitý, ale velmi opomíjený je problém časového rozvržení vzorkování důlních vod v pracovním cyklu dolu a v období po jeho likvidaci. Významné časoprostorové změny ve "stárnutí" informací, opomíjené vlivy dynamiky na změny kvality důlních vod a jejich zdrojů jsou příčinou silné degradace informací z analýz důlních vod a případných i zavádějících interpretací z nich. Hydrogeologické objekty jsou typickým příkladem multiparametrických objektů, a proto pro vyuţití jakékoli hydrogeochemické databáze a její dalšího zpracování je vhodné pouţití metod multiparametrických analýz, následně hydrogeochemických reakčních modelů. Další limitující vliv na reprezentativnost závěrů je posouzení problematiky reprezentativnosti vzorků. Metodologie aplikovaná na různých důlních lokalitách je obšírně diskutována v příspěvku

Využití matematického modelování proudění a transportu kontaminace v ochraně podzemních vod

Import 20/04/2006Prezenční výpůjčkaVŠB - Technická univerzita Ostrava. Fakulta hornicko-geologická. Institut geologického inženýrství (541

Methodological problems of Assessing Spatial and Temporal Changes in the quality of Mine Water / Metodologické Problémy Hodnocení Prostorových A Časových Změn Kvality Důlních Vod

Důležitý, ale velmi opomíjený je problém časového rozvržení vzorkování důlních vod v pracovním cyklu dolu a v období po jeho likvidaci. Významné časoprostorové změny ve "stárnutí" informací, opomíjené vlivy dynamiky na změny kvality důlních vod a jejich zdrojů jsou příčinou silné degradace informací z analýz důlních vod a případných i zavádějících interpretací z nich. Hydrogeologické objekty jsou typickým příkladem multiparametrických objektů, a proto pro využití jakékoli hydrogeochemické databáze a její dalšího zpracování je vhodné použití metod multiparametrických analýz, následně hydrogeochemických reakčních modelů. Další limitující vliv na reprezentativnost závěrů je posouzení problematiky reprezentativnosti vzorků. Metodologie aplikovaná na různých důlních lokalitách je obšírně diskutována v příspěvku