AMD Response Plan

From Left: Camilio Calabaza. Alex Rossi, Arlette Ramos, Sami Stroud, Willa Correia-Kuehn

Our Team

Planning Manager: Alex Rossi

Natural Resources / Environmental Planner: Sami Stroud

Community Development Planner: Willa Correia-Kuehn

Physical Planner: Arlette Ramos

Indigenous Community Planner: Camilio Calabaza

What is AMD?

Why and how does AMD happen?

Acid Mine Drainage (AMD), the production of acidic water from abandoned sub-surface mines, is commonly thought of the largest environmental problem facing the mining industry. Sub-surface mining usually occurs beneath the water table, which means that while the mine is active, water must be constantly pumped out. However, once it is abandoned, the mine fills with water, which reacts with oxygen and the metals exposed by mining to create acid, which is sped up by the presence of common bacteria. This acid drains out of the mine and into reservoirs and waterways.

What are the consequences?

AMD has heavy consequences for humans, animals, and the environment. For humans, AMD's main impact is through pollution of community water sources. Contact with AMD contaminated water can result in skin irritation, kidney disease, neurological diseases, radiation poisoning, and even cancer, depending on which metal contaminants are present. AMD polluted waterways also become too acidic to sustain wildlife, and can remain biological dead zones for decades afterwards. To make matters worse, the toxic metals in AMD bio-accumulate, which means they do not leave the body naturally. Ecologically, AMD produces toxic silt which clogs stream-flow and corrodes other metals it comes into contact with, often leftover mining machinery.

Most disturbingly, AMD producing mines can continue to produce acid for up to 10,000 years after they start. Without proactive remediation and mitigation plans, AMD could happen again at any time, in any one of the over 50,000 abandoned mines in the American Southwest.

Fig. 1: "The Animas River, before and after the Gold King Mine Spill"

Our (Hypothetical) Community

Our hypothetical community is a “small New Mexican rural town” with about 20,000 residents - think Gallup or Deming, NM. Residents include farmers, agricultural laborers, office workers, and indigenous people. Our town gets its water from underground reservoirs, wells, and from a nearby river, all of which would be threatened by AMD.

In the event of AMD, we anticipate our town’s needs as such:

clean water (for drinking, for household and business use, and for agriculture)
a remediation plan they can understand and trust, by a team they can trust
assurance/protection that this will either not happen in the future, or that if it does, they will be protected
open communication between planners and the community
inclusion of indigenous interests and promotion of indigenous leadership in the solution
economic development

Our Solution: Bacterial Sulfate Pump + Constructed Aerobic Wetland

Fig. 2: "Example of constructed aerobic wetland in India."

The treatment is in two stages:

1) First, a bacterial sulfate pump raises the pH of the water, removes sulfates, and pumps water into the constructed wetland.

2) Next, water in the wetland is treated by wetland plants, which absorb the remaining metals through their natural processes of phytoextraction and rhizofiltration, leaving the water purified.

This water is then ready for drinking, household and agricultural use, and will flow into the existing municipal water system.

Fig.3: "Diagram of Bacterial Sulfate pump."

Environmental Impacts of Plan:

+ Improves aesthetics of intervention location

+ 99% effectiveness in stabilizing water quality

+ Increases biodiversity

- May affect water flow in river

- Plan is either limited to local plant species or risks introducing invasive species to the area

- Possible unknown ecological impacts due to relatively new technology

Community & Indigenous Engagement Strategies

Draw on available Indigenous knowledge
Involvement through all stages of the water planning cycle
Address diversity of Indigenous interests in water and the broader landscape
Build capacity for Indigenous representatives to capably fulfill a demanding role
Include Indigenous people in environmental flow assessment and management
Indigenous water requirements need to be determined for each water plan as a matter of priority

Encourage discussion in online and in-person settings
Hold local events to get people to come and see the difference
This development can offer employment opportunities to the community
Get community members to take initiative in leading forums

Full Technical Planning Proposal

Click the PDF icon to view the full version of our planning proposal.

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