Effects on water quality of coal mining in the basin of the North Fork Kentucky River, eastern Kentucky

Technical Report · Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:6125838

Dyer, K L

A detailed investigation of the effects of mine drainage on stream water quality was carried out on the watershed of the North Fork Kentucky River in 1975. Specific-conductance measurements were made at 415 sites, repeatedly at some of them. Discharge estimates and pH values, were also obtained in most instances while sulfate and chloride data were obtained about half the time. Based on a daily sulfate record simulated from daily conductivity values, trends in sulfate loads were assessed for the North Fork Kentucky River at Hazard for the 1963 through 1973 water years. The mean annual sulfate concentration declined from a maximum of 140 milligrams per liter in the 1963 water year to 72 milligrams per liter in the 1973 water year, about half of what it had been 11 years earlier. The irregular appearance of acid and high sulfate discharges in the earlier years indicates that these probably originated as sudden releases of water from underground mines or as water flushed from coal washing ponds. Over the area as a while, coal mining has caused the mean annual dissolved-solids concentration to increase from about 50 to 150 milligrams per liter while the most responsive ion, sulfate, increased in concentration from about 8 to 50 milligrams per liter. The most damaging effect of strip mining on water quality appears to be the generation of sediment. The bulk of acid mine drainage produced is immediately neutralized by carbonate minerals or replaced by exchangeable bases from the aquifer material before it ever reaches the streams. The most acid water sample collected during this study had already lost 63% of the acidity presumed to have originally been associated with the sulfates in the sample. 95 references, 6 figures, 9 tables.

• Research Organization: Geological Survey, Louisville, KY (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6125838
• Report Number(s): USGS/WRIR-81-215; ON: TI85901238
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
STREAMS
WATER QUALITY
SURFACE MINING
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
ACID MINE DRAINAGE
CHLORIDES
COAL MINING
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
KENTUCKY
PH VALUE
SEDIMENTS
SIMULATION
SOLUTES
SULFATES
CHLORINE COMPOUNDS
DATA
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
FEDERAL REGION IV
HALIDES
HALOGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
MINING
NORTH AMERICA
NUMERICAL DATA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SURFACE WATERS
USA
012000* - Coal
Lignite
& Peat- Mining
010900 - Coal
Lignite
& Peat- Environmental Aspects