Advanced Planning Tools for Optimization of AMD Treatment

Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) is gaining increasing recognition as a major water quality problem in current and former coal producing areas. Crucial to the evaluation of AMD treatment alternatives is the prediction of a measurable effect on a receiving stream. The current paper proposes a technique to estimate a pH in a receiving stream that can be expected from a treatment measure. An ongoing study being conducted by the Baltimore District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is used as a case study to demonstrate this analysis.