Why Is Stagnant Water Bad In Mines And Quarries?
Walking through water, especially stagnant water, at a mine or quarry could be more hazardous than you might think.
Water collects in quarries and mines from both rainfall and groundwater seepage. Stagnation occurs when water stops flowing. It becomes stagnant because the oxygen works its way out, becoming fouler with time. With the oxygen dissipating, the standing water absorbs gases, and these remain until it is disturbed – and that is when the hazard occurs.
Why Is Stagnant Water Bad In Mines?
When someone walks through stagnant water it releases any trapped gases. The gases rise behind the walker and remain an unseen danger if the person retraces their steps. But walking through stagnant mine water isn’t the only hazard.
Problems With Stagnant Water In Mines
As well as absorbing gases, standing water can absorb metal, causing metal pollution.
Impounded water may contain high levels of alkaline or acid, causing burns when it comes into contact with skin.
Water may be deep and cold, contributing to hypothermia. This has led to countless tragedies when people have been tempted to swim in quarries.
Standing water can also absorb contamination from a surrounding area. For example, when it rains falls on an area being treated with lime, the run-off could cause alkaline to leech into nearby water.
Lead and iron from disturbed mines can still leech into nearby watercourses.
The Solutions
At Atlantic Pumps, we know full well why stagnant water is bad in mines. We have the solutions to not only solve it but solve it in a sustainable way.
We’ve made it our priority to understand and grasp energy waste at a site level. We’ve invested a huge amount of time studying and reporting on this. Now, with the results to hand, we are confident that our sustainable approach to our work will reduce energy wastage from pumps by 20 per cent at the average site.
Our range of dewatering pumps – some powered by diesel and some by electric - have been used and tested in the most arduous applications to transport water off-site into a watercourse to solve the problems associated with stagnant mine water.
With large volumes of water needing to be moved over a long period of time your pumps need to be as efficient and sustainable as possible. Pumps are one of the world’s biggest users of energy and also account for a huge amount of energy waste, so give our experts a call to find the best and most sustainable solution for your site.
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