Reducción de los aportes difusos de Drenaje Ácido de Mina de la Mina de Riotinto a las cuencas de los ríos Odiel y Tinto (Huelva)
- Rafael León 1
- Jonatan Romero-Matos 2
- Francisco Macías 1
- Emilio Sanjuan 1
- José Miguel Nieto 1
- 1 Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra y Centro de Investigación en Recursos Naturales, Salud y Medio Ambiente. Universidad de Huelva. Huelva
- 2 Atalaya Mining-Proyecto Riotinto, Minas de Río Tinto, Huelva
ISSN: 0213-683X
Any de publicació: 2023
Número: 73
Pàgines: 63-66
Tipus: Article
Altres publicacions en: Geogaceta
Resum
Water pollution by acid mine drainage is a great concern worldwide, especially in historical mining areas where little or no waste management was done. The Riotinto Project is an example of a historical mining area where environmental liabilities greatly pollute the Tinto and Odiel rivers basins. European water regulations and the environmental permit (Autorización Ambiental Unificada) granted to the new operator (Atalaya Mining) enforce action to face this inherited problem. In this regard, the new company has implemented preliminary measures focused on the closure of galleries and has established an integral management system for drainage waters with the aim of reducing the flows generated as much as possible. After monitoring different discharge points in both basins and evaluating the chemical and hydrological results, it can be concluded that since the reopening of the mine in 2015, the previous hydrological trend and behaviour has been broken, reducing the flows and metallic load contributed to the rivers. This is considered as a fundamental first step to mitigate the environmental liabilities pollution-derived in the area.