The karst aquifer downstream of the actively decanting West Rand Gold Field (a.k.a. the Western Basin) has for decades been receiving mine water discharge. Evidence of a mine water impact in the Bloubank Spruit catchment can be traced back to the early-1980s, and is attributed to the pumping out of so-called "fissure water" encountered during active underground mining operations for discharge on surface. Rewatering of the mine void following the cessation of subsurface mining activities in the late-1990s resulted in mine water decant in 2002.

POSTER Investigations have shown that receiving water bodies, which mainly include rivers, streams and the more complicated geohydrological system, are part of the primary end receivers of harmful contaminants from identified coal mining waste bodies. Some of these potential dangers include acid mine drainage (AMD) and sulphur mine drainage (SMD) which have dire effects on the surroundings. The need for a cost effective methodology to assess site hydrology and geohydrology, to understand the associated legal responsibility of contaminated streams and aquifers, is recognised.

The legacy of mining in South Africa in general and in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province in particular, continues to affect the quality of surface water and groundwater resources. Rehabilitation of Northern KZN abandoned coal mines and their discard coal mine dumps had been undertaken by Government in the 1990’s following the emergence of stricter environmental legislation. The purpose of this study was to study the success of the rehabilitation of these abandoned mines in improving the quality of surface water and groundwater resources around the area.

Large volumes of fly ash are generated by the coal-fired power stations and is currently disposed onto waste dumps, with already limited space. Therefore, a need for an alternative ash disposal method arises. This study evaluates the feasibility of fly ash disposed as backfill into opencast coal mines. The change in the hydraulic properties of the ash under different conditions and over time play an important role in determining this feasibility. Leachate and tracer tests are conducted in the laboratory through Darcy column tests where;

The costs of acid mine drainage (AMD) monitoring result in the quest for alternative non-invasive method that can provide qualitative data on the progression of the pollution plume and ground geophysics was the ideal solution. However, the monitoring of AMD plume progression by ground geophysics (time-lapse electrical resistance) proves to be non-invasive but also time consuming. This gave way to a study that focuses on the modeling of different scenarios of the karstic aquifer.