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The monitoring and modelling of mine water recovery in UK coalfields

Abstract This paper draws together the information that has been obtained on mine water recovery since the large-scale closure of coal mines in the 1980s and 1990s. The data show that, following cessation of pumping, mine water recovery follows an exponential curve similar to the recovery of an aquifer following a pumping test. Several previously unpublished examples of mine water recovery data from around the UK are included in the paper and there is a detailed assessment of mine water recovery in the East Fife Coalfield in Scotland. The reasons for this type of mine water recovery are discussed and examples are given of the use of the data for both the interpretation and modelling of mine water recovery. In coal mining areas where no water-level recovery data are available, methods for the prediction of mine water inflow and recovery modelling are proposed and the problems associated with mine water recovery modelling are discussed. The paper concludes that modelling of mine water recovery, based on mine water inflow and estimated void space, can be used to give reasonably accurate predictions of recovery times and flows, but that water level monitoring is essential for precise predictions. The control of mine water during the period when coal mining was a nationalized industry was generally based on a safety first principle. This meant that when doubt existed about underground connections between modern mines and old abandoned areas of workings, mine water pumping always continued in the old areas. The result of this policy was a general lack of experience of mine water recovery and continuing doubt about underground connections. The large-scale closure of mines in the 1980s and 1990s mean that in many cases whole coalfields were abandoned and that the pumping of mine water either completely stopped or was greatly reduced. Estimations of mine water recovery made by British Coal at the time of these closures were generally based on a water inflow related to the volume of water pumped from a mine and a residual void-space calculation. The void-space was calculated using roadway dimensions for supported excavations and a figure of 10% of the original extractions thickness for unsupported (total extraction) workings (National Coal Board 1972). Using this principle it was assumed that mine water recovery would proceed as a series of steps, with very little recovery when water was ‘filling’ a large void, followed by a period of more brisk recovery until the next large void was reached. The monitoring of mine water recovery by IMC Consulting Engineers on behalf of the Coal Authority (the government agency set up to look after the non-privatized areas of coal mining) has shown that, at least at large scales, mine water recovery follows precise exponential curves that appear to be independent of the distribution of mining voids. These curves are very similar to the recovery curves observed following an aquifer pumping test.