Anthropogenic increases in the salinity of surface waters are referred to as secondary salinization. In surface waters, salinity levels can vary significantly due to various natural and anthropogenic influences. This article presents multi-decadal observations of changes in surface water salinity in the highly industrialized region in southern Poland. The case study of the Przemsza River is an example of the significant impacts of industrial, mainly coal mining, activities that have changed the chemical and biological characteristics of water bodies. The presented research revealed that impacts on salinity and water body status due to mining discharges will be difficult or even impossible to restore, considering the process of transition of the coal sector. In the Przemsza river basin, almost 42% less mine water was discharged in 2023 than in 1991. Parallelly, the salinity of mine waters discharged from deeper levels of active coal mines has increased due to the geochemical gradient (the total load of chlorides and sulfates was 534.8 MgCl−+SO42− per day in 1991, while in 2023 the total salinity load was 480.1 MgCl−+SO42− per day). Moreover, of the 19 active mine water discharges in 1991, only 11 remain in 2023, while the observed salinity of surface water in the Przemsza watershed increased rapidly from an average of 2000 µS·cm−1 to 6700 µS·cm−1 due to the significant drought and adverse hydrological conditions, which represent low flows never observed before (three times lower flows in the mouth of the Przemsza River in the period 2021–2023 compared to the previous decades 1991–2020). Impacts on water bodies will continue to occur regardless of mining activities in the area—it should be noted that at the end of exploitation, mine water rebound and flooding do not automatically reduce long-lasting impacts on surface waters. Therefore, salinization is a growing threat that might be amplified by climate change. While industrial and urban impacts on surface water change its characteristics, the future challenge of proper water management with a holistic approach is necessary with proper monitoring data collection and river flow-dependent and surface water salinity-dependent discharge of wastewater in the river basin.

Coal basin

10.3390/w16213147

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On the common occurrence of sulphate with elevated δ34S in European mine waters: Sulphides, evaporites or seawater?

International Journal of Coal Geology (2020)

David Banks Adrian J. Boyce Neil Burnside Ewa Janson Nieves Roqueñí

δ34S

δ18O

10.1016/j.coal.2020.103619

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Citations (14)

Natural Radioactivity in Polish Coal Mines: An Attempt to Assess the Trend of Radium Release into the Environment

Mine Water and the Environment (2019)

Małgorzata Wysocka Stanisław Chałupnik Izabela Chmielewska Ewa Janson Wiktor Radziejowski

The highly mineralised formation waters in the coal mines of Poland's Upper Silesian Coal Basin contain natural radioactive nuclides, mostly radium. The 226Ra concentration in the groundwater that flows into the underground mine workings reaches 390 Bq/L, and is sometimes exceeded by the 228Ra concentration. The radium-bearing water sometimes also contain barium ions, which enables coprecipitation of barium-radium sulphate. Another type of radium-bearing water contains sulphate ions instead of barium; in this case, radium is transported to settling ponds and downstream. We have assessed the daily activity of radium in waters flowing into the underground mines and being discharged to the environment. Based on 1995 data, we estimate that the total activity of radium isotopes flowing into the mines was about 1300 MBq/day, while the radium activity in the discharge waters was about 700 MBq/day. A similar assessment performed with 2016 data indicated that the total activity in inflows was roughly 1150 MBq/day, while that discharged to surface waters was about 450 MBq/day.

Radium

Barium

Nuclide

10.1007/s10230-019-00626-0

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A Preliminary Assessment of Climate Change Impacts – Implications for Mining Activity in Polish Coal Regions

Archives of Mining Sciences (2023)

Ewa Janson Małgorzata Markowska Paweł Łabaj Aleksander Wrana Paweł Zawartka

It is widely known and accepted that the global climate is changing with unprecedented speed.Climate models project increasing temperatures and changes in precipitation regimes which will alter the frequency, magnitude, and geographic distribution of climate-related hazards including flood, drought and heat waves.In the mining industry, climate change impacts are an area of research around the world, mostly in relation to the mining industry in Australia and Canada, where mining policies and mitigation actions based on the results of this research were adopted and applied.In Poland, there is still a lack of research on how climate change, and especially extreme weather events, impacts mining activity.This impact may be of particular importance in Poland, where the mining industry is in the process of intensive transition.The paper presents an overview of hazardous events in mining in Poland that were related to extreme weather phenomena.The needs and recommended actions in the scope of mitigating the impact of future climate change on mining in all stages of its functioning were also indicated.The presented analyses and conclusions are the results of the first activities in the TEXMIN project: The impact of extreme weather events on mining activities, identifying the most important factors resulting from climate change impact on mining.

Industrial chemistry

10.24425/ams.2020.134142

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Citations (1)