The recent rescue of miners trapped by water in an underground coal mine near Somerset, Pa., brought national attention to the issue of underground mine floodinga topic now under extensive study by researchers at West Virginia University.
The Monongahela Basin Mine Pool Projectmanaged by the West Virginia Water Resources Institute (WVWRI) at WVU is a $2 million multi-phase endeavor sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Energys National Energy Technology Laboratory and Parsons Inc. Assisting WVU scientists on the project are researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University.
“Mine flooding occurs when deep mines that are no longer active fill with groundwater,”said Paul Ziemkiewicz, director of the WVWRI .”In this project, we are looking to answer questions regarding when and where mine water from flooded underground mines in the Pittsburgh coal seam will discharge, what the effects on surface water quality will be, how the water will need to be treated and how much it will cost.”
Study areas covered in the project include the Morgantown mine pool area, which extends from Marion County in West Virginia to southern Greene County in Pennsylvania; the Monongahela and upper Ohio River valleys in West Virginia and Pennsylvania; and the Irwin Basin in Pennsylvania.
“We have completed the task of mapping underground mine pools, monitoring mine water levels and water chemistry, measuring rates of water rise and determining differences between shallow cover near outcrops compared to that in the central basin,”said Joseph Donovan, associate professor of geology at WVU and one of the lead researchers on the project.”We have also produced a series of maps containing multiple layers of hydrological, geochemical and other related information.”
Most people are unaware of how extensive mining in the Pittsburgh seam is, Donovan said.
“In Monongalia and Marion counties alone, about 40 percent of the area at one time was underlain by Pittsburgh coal, and about 52 percent of that is now mined-out,”Donovan said.”Further, nearly all of the mines are right up against each other. These mines and the water in them are really widespread.”
In the Somerset, Pa., incident, the Quecreek Mine was flooded when miners tapped into an adjacent inactive mine that had filled with water.
The researchers are currently conducting field characterization/mapping studies integrating modeling syntheses, piloting remediation experiments and developing a water quality database.
“We cant predict the future, but using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and computer modeling of groundwater flow, we should be able to project what the fate of mine water is in the basin before problems develop,”said Donovan.
Joining Ziemkiewicz and Donovan from WVU on the research team are Tamara Vandivort and James Stiles, program coordinators with the WVWRI ; Jerald Fletcher, professor of resource management; and Bruce Leavitt, hydrogeologist and consultant for the Hydrology Research Center at WVU .